Didn't think this warranted its own thread, but there are some quiet murmurings that the Wild could investigate trading Koivu this summer. Russo has made a couple subtle references to it in his end-of-season reporting. Evidently the concern is that he doesn't produce in the playoffs, and the ankle injury he sustained this season is slowing him down in a manner that is concerning long-term.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/259588811.html
Speaking of Koivu and the fact he has four years left on his contract at $6.75 million cap hits per, I asked Fletcher about him today. He had one goal and six assists in the playoffs after being so good down the stretch of the regular season.
“Contracts are contracts, and that creates expectations. I get that,” Fletcher said. “He’s not a prolific goal scorer, so he’s never going to make everybody happy, but he can still make plays, was outstanding defensively, played hard minutes and won big draws.
“You look at Granlund and Haula, they’re a couple small guys who can scoot, but we need a big guy that can shut down Jonathan Toews, Anze Kopitar, Ryan Getzlaf, Jamie Benn. Mikko, Granny, Haulzy, that’s pretty good balance with two smaller guys who can scoot and a big guy.”
I asked Fletcher if Koivu’s role needs to change then and he said, “It’s an open book. Mike [Yeo] did a good job this year establishing that things are fluid and that he’ll adjust and react by matchups or situations or who’s going well. We want to get three lines that can all contribute with a versatile fourth line. We want to be a two power-play unit, three-penalty kill unit team. Mikko is a big part of that.”
http://www.startribune.com/sports/wi...tml?page=2&c=y
Koivu, who had ankle surgery this year, was one of the highest-scoring NHLers down the stretch, but he wasn’t productive for a second consecutive postseason and is clearly slowing down. Because of that, and because of the emergence of Granlund and Haula, some question whether Fletcher would even consider trading Koivu, who has four years left on his deal at $6.75 million per. Koivu has a no-trade clause.
So, like I said: subtle. But this is the farthest anyone's ever gone towards the team moving Mikko, and (one way of looking at that is) that it is telling in and of itself.
