Canadiens pick Koivu ‘super pumped’ to play for father’s former team

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.”

But he was at Bell Centre for his father’s last game in Montreal on Oct. 24, 2013. At 7 years old, he was old enough to absorb the scene.

“I’ve heard only good things about Montreal -- the fans, the city, the Bell Centre, everything,” he said. “I’ve heard only good things from my dad and my mom and my whole family. I don’t think I’ve heard anything bad about Montreal, so of course, I’m super pumped that they picked me, and I’m very happy about that.”

Aatos heard about his father often growing up. He said opponents used to yell at him about him.

It toughened him.

“It’s kind of just something I got used to,” he said. “It doesn’t really bother me anymore. I wouldn’t say I got any pressure. I mean, in some way, maybe I got more, like … It pushed me to want to become a good player myself and not just be Saku’s son, make a name for myself. So, it kind of motivated me to, from a young age, work myself all the way up and make a name for myself.”

That will be important in Montreal, where the fans and media are intense, where they know and revere the Canadiens’ history.

“I mean, of course, people are going to know who my father is and where he played and when,” he said. “It’s always going to be that way, definitely in Montreal, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing, and I think I can just kind of make a name for myself there as well. It’s not going to be any different than in any other place.”

Saku had 832 points (255 goals, 577 assists) in 1,124 games in the NHL, including 641 points (191 goals, 450 assists) in 792 games for the Canadiens. Aatos said he has some of the same strengths and weaknesses, but listens to what his father taught him.

“I think the best advice he’s given me is just that there’s no rush,” Aatos said. “Everyone has their own path. This is my path.

“I was kind of small and didn’t have any strength when everyone else did, so I kind of just had to concentrate on the training and let myself grow and not rush anything too much and just kind of stay patient.”

Aatos didn’t travel to Las Vegas to see his name on the huge screen inside Sphere so he could say home to train. His goal is to make TPS’ Liga team next season.

“Listen, he’s been in the household where pressure was pretty common,” Bobrov said. “The type of person his dad is and the family, this kid knows what it’s all about, and we felt he’d be comfortable in that environment, and he was a pretty easy pick for us.”