I have to say I'm surprised at the emotional outpouring coming out today. I understand it tough. A player doesn't become a longtime fixture without bringing something special to the ice, and it's inevitable such a player leave a void once gone. What stings with Koivu is, you have to think there was a place for him in there somewhere between Gomez, Pleks and Lapierre. Gainey knew that of course; it tells us something about strongly he felt about giving the team a good dose of shock therapy.
As for falling out of love with the team, well... After the Nords left, I ended up rooting for the habs, so I think you'll be fine 
.
Maybe that's why I don't feel that bad about Koivu going away; I was too busy grousing about those Denver Jackals getting mysty-eyed about the one and only #88 that ever mattered.
See? I'm grousing again...
As for who will (believe it or not, someone will...) replace him, well, the crown is up for the taking.
Won't see till the puck drops.
I think Robert L put it very well when he said he was starting to feel more like an onlooker and less a fan..
I guess I'll watch some Anaheim games this year..
Great post.
I can certainly relate with your attachment to the team through these years... and wondering how you will feel about the "new" team.
I'm optimistic. I really want to see the new guys play, even though Cammalleri and Gionta are small... they play a bit bigger....
May this year bring some new people that we can develop that same "love" for.
But it will take some getting used to... not seeing our #11.
This is why I don't grouse when players leave or demand a trade. The team wants a hometown discount to keep him, but when it is time to cut him loose they say, "It a business." I am not a Habs fan, but always liked getting to see Saku play... For your sake I hope the Ducks visit the Habs this season so the fans get a chance to show their appreciation.
I don't even know what to say...I echo your sentiment. There is a feeling of emptiness....a void. I don't even know what to say.....
Wow, so much emotion....
My first ever souvenir related to hockey goes back to March 1955 when as a 6 years old, I listened on the radio to someone reporting the events that were happening, just a few blocks away, on Ste-Catherine street. A couple of days later, I saw my first game on TV and I was hooked.
Since then, I have watched just about every game at the Forum, Bell Center or on TV.
My favorite player of all time was Dickie Moore. I was sad when he left (I was just a kid) but I have never been emotional about any of the hundreds of players that came and left, since then.
A long time ago, hockey was just a business where players were treated like meat, with a relatively short expiring date. Since the salaries of the players have been revealed for the first time, these guys are just mercernaries, going to whomever offers the most money (with a few exceptions).
All this show of emotion for Koivu is very strange for me. He was a more than decent player with a heart much bigger than his talent. He was unfortunately placed in an impossible position when they traded Turgeon and let go Damphousse, to give him the first line center job. From there, everything went downhill.
Seems to me it was easy to see that Koivu was out of breath after the first 20-25 seconds of his shifts and was starting to look at the bench for a replacement. Playing on a third or fourth line in Anaheim is the best place for him, at this stage of his career. Playing second or third fiddle here would have seriously challenged his ego and might not even have been fair to him and to the team.
Goobye Saku. Thanks a lot Saku and now it's time to move on.
Over the years I have seen many of my favourite players leave either by trade or retirement. Sometimes I didn't even know why a player was no longer with the team having been traded over the summer. No internet in the 70's and 80's! I didn't know where Mike McPhee went or Guy Lapointe. But the Canadiens were still my team. I liked Koivu. He was a smaller player who played before the "new NHL" and he was the ultimate underdog coming back from serious injuries and even cancer. I would not be surprised to find out that he had fans amongst people who cheered for other teams. I will miss him but Mtl is still my team and much like when Dryden, Lafleur, Robinson, Lemaire, Big Pete Mahovlich, Naslund, and now Koivu left the team I looked and found someone else to be my favourite. For the 2009-10 Canadiens an opportunity has arisen, I can't wait to see who steps up.
Maybe Microfox, you have seen a lot more than us and that is why you don't feel the same way.
I do chuckle when you regurgitate the same myth that keeps getting tossed around that Koivu was not fit enough to last. It started with a season, then a game. Now apparently, according to you it's a single shift.
Koivu has been precisely the opposite for me. So many times the very last player standing, battling. In fact, I like to see him run out of gas occasionally. I wonder how many other players ever even flirt with their last dregs of energy.
Thanks for your view.
I never said that Koivu was "not fit enough to last".
I merely stated that last season he was constantly out of breath and keeping most of shifts under what his teammates usually would. I also noticed that by the end of most games he would hardly be effective.
All in all, he was the best player we've had in all these years and IMHO, that's the problem and also why we haven't won anything, all this time.
Nice post, he has been my favorite for the last decade. Being that I live in the southern US, I did not get to see many Habs games during that dark period when Saku was the shining light. When the Habs made the playoffs, I could see them on TV. One image I remember is being eliminated by Buffalo (really Hasek), but the last game was close and Buffalo had just scored the empty netter to make a 2 goal lead (lights out), but there was Saku digging intensely as the clock ticked down on our season, trying desperately to solve Hasek. Others were trying, but my eyes would always seek out and find #11, a condition that was not caused by an accident or favoritism, he just shined brighter than anyone else we had.
Microfox, you and I have a different definition of fitness then.
First you said: "Seems to me it was easy to see that Koivu was out of breath after the first 20-25 seconds of his shifts and was starting to look at the bench for a replacement."
Now you say you never said he was unfit, but that "he was constantly out of breath and keeping most of shifts under what his teammates usually would. I also noticed that by the end of most games he would hardly be effective."
Pardon me for saying so, but your description is my definition of unfit. Never mind that it goes against what I saw from Koivu. How can you say that you never said he wasn't fit to last. You've said it twice, in several different ways now.
Anyway, it's one theory. One that I don't subscribe to, and one that I might suggest flies in the face of his reliable step up in performance in OTs and indeed each time the Canadiens made the playoffs.
I suppose we'll have to watch how he does in Anaheim to see for sure.
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