Koivu signs one-year, $1.5 million contract with Blue Jackets

Mikko Koivu
signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

The 37-year-old forward scored 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) in 55 games with the Minnesota Wild last season and did not have a point in four Stanley Cup Playoff games.
"I think as a player you want to join a team that is hard to play against, and I believe that and they proved that over the last couple years. I think that's obvious," Koivu said. "They've been in the playoffs now for four straight years. They played Tampa [the past two seasons] and really if you look at the game and look at the series, not just the year before but also this year, it was very tight.
"I think what I like about it, too, is the core has been there for the most part for each and every year and the young talent that they have and all that combined, and then (they're) well-coached. … So I think those were the kind of the things that I would look at as a player and something you want to be a part of. I think it's not just my opinion. I think if you ask any players, you see how they improved over the years and really are a well-respected organization throughout the League."
Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said contract offers to free agent defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and forward Taylor Hall were made but weren't accepted. The Blue Jackets have limited NHL salary cap space and need to protect themselves against an offer sheet to center Pierre-Luc Dubois, who is a restricted free agent. They also want to sign defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a long-term contract.
The NHL salary cap will stay at $81.5 million for next season, which is targeted to begin Jan. 1, 2021.
"Every pitch we make is serious," Kekalainen said. "I'm not going to get into any details about confidential conversations. We take our pitch very seriously when we do one, but we know the market prices and we know what we have available for cap room and what we need to keep available for cap room to get Pierre-Luc Dubois and Gavrikov comfortably within the structure and the cap so that we're not vulnerable for an offer sheet, or anything like that. It hasn't worked out with [Hall and Pietrangelo], but we added Mikko and we're very happy about that."
The Blue Jackets acquired forward Max Domi in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens for Josh Anderson on Oct. 6 and the next day signed Domi to a two-year contract worth $5.3 million per season.
"Even though it may look like we have a lot of cap space, we don't because we have to make sure that we're not vulnerable in any way for offer sheets, or something like that, so we have to keep that cap space and flexibility moving forward here so that nobody gets any silly ideas," Kekkalainen said. "And I think we're very well-protected now after the moves that we made. We're not vulnerable at all, so I think we're in a good situation."
The Wild announced on Sept. 18 that they would not re-sign Koivu, and he said then he wasn't sure if he would remain in the NHL, play in his native Finland or retire.
"I think [the Wild not offering a contract] took me a couple days, a couple weeks to sink in, and kind of mixed emotions when you think about it, and things like that," Koivu said. "But that's the nature of the business."
Koivu played 15 seasons with the Wild and became the first player to play 1,000 regular-season games for them on Dec. 1, 2019. His 21 points last season were his fewest since he scored 21 (six goals, 15 assists) in 64 games as a rookie in 2005-06.
"I talked to Mikko at length. He's very hungry to prove that he's still a good player in this league," Kekalainen said. "He didn't have his best season last year. He had the knee injury the year before and that bothered him a little bit this year and gave him a little bit of other trouble with the compensating for the knee that had been injured. He's working extremely hard to get ready for this season, and with that hunger to prove he's still a good player in this league."
Koivu, the No. 6 pick in the 2001 NHL Draft, had been captain of the Wild since 2009. He is their all-time leader in points (709), assists (504) and regular-season games (1,028), and is second in goals (205), behind Marian Gaborik (219). Koivu played in a Wild-record 59 Stanley Cup Playoff games, scoring 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists).
NHL.com staff writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report