LAS VEGAS -- When the Montreal Canadiens were on the clock early in the third round of the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft on Saturday, the Koivu family was watching on television in Finland, quiet.
Aatos Koivu was looking down with his eyes closed.
Then his mother jumped and yelled, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” He didn’t hear his name called but looked up and saw it on TV. The Canadiens -- his father’s former team -- had selected him with the No. 70 pick.
Saku Koivu jumped up as well, and they hugged.
“He just said to me how proud he is and how happy he is for me,” Aatos said. “I mean, we haven’t got the chance yet to talk too much about everything, about Montreal, but I think we’re definitely going to probably sit down tomorrow and talk a lot about Montreal and everything. Yeah, looking forward to that for sure.”
Montreal selected Saku in the first round (No. 21) of the 1993 NHL Draft. The center played for the Canadiens from 1995-2009, serving as their captain from 1999-2009.
But that’s not why Montreal took Aatos, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound center.
“We liked him as a player, regardless of his last name,” said Nick Bobrov, Canadiens co-director of amateur scouting.
Bobrov called the 18-year-old a late bloomer who started at U18, then quickly rose up the ranks in Finland. He had 53 points (25 goals, 28 assists) in 48 games combined for TPS’ U18 and U20 teams last season. He also played four games for TPS in Liga, the country’s top professional league.
“Clearly, his dad taught him very well,” Bobrov said. “His habits are already pro. But the body needs to develop, and our job is to project and project the physique and project where the player can get to in five years, so we felt that he is just scratching the surface, and there is a lot more to go.”
Aatos is too young to remember much about Montreal. He was born in Turku, Finland, on June 22, 2006. He remembers more about Anaheim, where his father played for the Anaheim Ducks from 2009-14.
“It was very, very cool to see my dad play at that level,” he said, “and yeah, a lot of good memories from there.”