I participated a bit more in the “Should Koivu’s number be retired” article I wrote earlier.

I did a little comparison just for fun. The reason for this comparison was that I’ve seen some people state that Saku Koivu’s performance over his career was “sub par”. So I’ve compared him to the great Dickie Moore.

Here’s the comparison as I wrote it in the forum’s thread.

I’m still trying to figure out why some people are thinking Saku was “sub par”.

I’ll trespass into the nostalgic for fun and lets compare 2 players and where they rank in the history of the Montreal Canadiens.

Saku Koivu totals – playing in the dark ages
Games played : 792 – 19th all time
Goals scored : 191 – 27th all time
Assists : 450 – 6th all time
Points : 641 – 10th all time
Career point per game : 0.80

Dickie Moore totals – playing in a golden age
Games played : 654 – 28th all time
Goals scored : 254 – 14th all time
Assists : 340 – 16th all time
Points : 594 – 13th all time
Career point per game : 0.90

The point of this is to compare Koivu to a legendary Habs player who had his number retired keeping in mind who Dickie Moore had to play with..

Some of Dickie Moore’s team mates?
Rocket Richard, Elmer Lach, Bernard Geoffrion, Doug Harvey, Émile Bouchard,Jean Béliveau, Henri Richard, Ralph Backstrom, Bobby Rousseau

Those were some of Dickie Moore’s team mates for many years.

Who could we compare to those players that played with Koivu for the last 13 years.
Not many.

Saku’s point per game is just below Moores average. I’ll bet a dollar if Koivu would have had a Rocket and a Belliveau or an Elmer Lach… his average would be a bit higher.

I honestly can’t understand how some people have stated that Saku’s performance has been sub par. Because in the history of the habs, his numbers speak quite the opposite.

If you don’t like him. That’s ok.

But please acknowledge what he’s accomplished without the team that our many greats have had.

How do you see Koivu’s career in Montreal historically? Think he deserves a look?

Trust me.

So to start, what I wanted to do was simply look at last years roster and this year’s roster (2008-2009 vs 2009-2010) and compare some numbers.

So we have 7 players coming in and something like 11 players going out. Here’s a breakdown of the numbers each player game the habs last year:

Looking at last year vs this year and taking out Mathieu Schneider’s numbers because he only finished the season in Montreal, we see something like this:
New Habs – 539 out of 574 possible games played. 35 missed games or 6.1% missed.
Old Habs – 601 out of 820 possible games played. 219 missed or 26.7% missed.

With these numbers, some things don’t really look too different if you do crunch numbers but other things kind of jumped out at me.

Did you know Scott Gomez finished 16th in the league in shots on goal last year?
Did you know Mike Cammalleri finished 25th and Brian Gionta finished 31st?

Last year’s leader (in Montreal) was Alex Kovalev who finished with 209 in 68th position overall. Tomas Plekanec was right behind him with 202 shots on goal.

Did you know that Mike Cammalleri finished 3rd in Power Play goals last year?

Alex Kovalev had 11 power play goals last season.

All those numbers are just that, they are numbers from a season gone by. All these players find themselves in new places (well, most of ‘em) and they’ll be surrouned with new teammates. So their numbers this year could vary, for better or worse.. depending on chemistry, the team’s system (or strategy), injuries…. a whole host of varialbes.

A few things jumped out at me.

1. Scott Gomez will likely shoot the puck quite a bit. Putting the puck on the net is a good thing although he’s never been scorer so much as a playmaker.
2. Mike Cammalleri will likely be shooting alot. He had 299 shots on goal in 2006-2007.
3. Robert Lang was a great pickup last year… so efficient. As was Alex Tanguay. Tanguay’s number weren’t too bad at all really. Just too bad he was hurt and seemed a bit soft in the playoffs.
4. The players coming in (7 of them) actually have a higher total of shots on goal as the ones going out (that’s 11 going out).
5. Although I was a fan of Chris Higgins and do wish him the best, I can’t seem to be disappointed in the numbers he put up last year.

I do believe this year we’ll see a more organized and tighter defensive system that will protect Carey Price. Players like Gionta and Gomez thrived in New Jersey with a similar system and if the defense is tighter it will be so much more fun for Price.

The team has a new look, the dressing room will have a new feel and the team’s culture is different. Who knows which way it will go. I’m waiting to hear more from the analysts.

Whatever they say, just remember. 2 years ago most of ‘em said the Montreal Canadiens wouldn’t make the playoffs while they finished 1st in the east. And 1 year ago most analysts picked them to go deep in the playoffs, some even to contend for the stanley cup, while they barely crawled in at 8th.

So many variables. It can’t be calculated. But the sum of the team’s efforts night after night will tell the story.

Go Habs!