Artturi Lehkonen arrived to Montreal with substantial hype this season as an accomplished international hockey player, but he is certainly not the first from his region to ply his trade across the Atlantic in the National Hockey League. Players such as Jyrki Lumme, Petr Svoboda, and Niklas Sundstrom all played for the Habs with varying degrees of success after coming over to play in North America.
However, there are two who have left a significant imprint on the Canadiens in their respective eras: Mats Naslund from Sweden, and Saku Koivu from Finland.
Mats Naslund
Drafted in the second round of the 1979 NHL Draft, Naslund became the first European-trained player to play with the Montreal Canadiens when he arrived in North America in 1982, at the age of 21. He felt he was too young to come over any sooner, and wanted to grow up first before crossing the Atlantic although, he was not a stranger to North American ice. In 1978 he led Sweden to the silver medal at the IIHF World Junior Championship, which was held in Montreal, being named to the tournament all-star team alongside such players as Wayne Gretzky and Anton Stastny.
During the 1982 training camp, Canadiens head coach Bob Berry was impressed with Naslund’s play. “He’s clever. He’s very good around the net, and he’s really impressed me with the way he makes a play. He doesn’t panic, he seems to know where his linemates are all the time. It’s still early in training camp, but from what I’ve seen it’s going to be pretty hard keeping that kid out of the lineup.”
Naslund solidified his position with the team to start the season a few days later when he scored a hat trick in a pre-season game against the Philadelphia Flyers. If that wasn’t enough, his willingness to go toe-to-toe with the infamous Bobby Clarke sealed the deal.
Naslund spent the next eight seasons with Montreal before heading back to Europe in 1990 to complete his career. He returned to the NHL for one final season in 1994-95, signing with the Boston Bruins, finally retiring at the conclusion of the season.
Saku Koivu
The very next season saw the arrival to North America of Montreal’s first-round pick from 1993: Saku Koivu from Finland. He was only the second ever European to be a first-round selection for the Canadiens after Petr Svoboda made history in 1984.
General Manager Serge Savard was happy that he was able to choose Koivu at the draft. “We think a lot of teams passed on him because of his size, but we believe that he will be good.” In addition, Head of Scouting for the Canadiens, Andre Boudrias, said that Koivu “played against all those guys drafted before him at the World Junior Championship, and he was the best centre there, except for maybe (Peter) Forsberg. He later played them again at the World Championship, confirming what we initially saw in him.”
During the 1995 training camp Koivu was involved in a skirmish with tough guy Donald Brashear, when the latter didn’t take too kindly to Koivu’s line outplaying his, and became active with his stick. Koivu responded and tempers started to flare up. On two occasions head coach Jacques Demers had to take Koivu aside and talk to him about containing his emotions a bit better and not be so intense. “I don’t want him running in every direction and jumping in the air hitting guys. It’s not that he’s trying to impress us, it’s just who he is. He is aggressive, it’s in his character.”
There was no doubt at the outset of training camp that Koivu was making the team. He would spend the next 13 in Montreal, of which ten were spent as team captain, before heading to the Anaheim Ducks as a free agent to wrap up his career.
Who Was Better Quantitatively?
Incredibly, there is no head-to-head data because Naslund and Koivu never played against each other despite their long international and NHL careers. The only potential opportunity was the 1994 Winter Olympic Games. Despite Sweden winning gold and Finland winning bronze, the two teams never faced off against one another in the preliminary round or the medal round.
All data comparisons are therefore from two distinct mutually exclusive periods of time.
Looking at this data at face value, it certainly suggests that Naslund has had a larger contribution to the Canadiens during his time with the Canadiens, scoring points at nearly a point-per-game rate. Koivu was definitely no slouch in that regard, scoring at a 0.81 points-per-game rate. It can be argued that Koivu would have finished up a lot higher had he not been unable to play for a better portion of his prime years, missing the majority of 1999-2000, some of 2000-2001, and almost the entirety of 2001-2002.
Comparing playoff performances tells the story that Naslund was much more successful than Koivu, however there are several factors to consider. Naslund’s points-per-game ratio decreased slightly in the playoffs from the regular season, whereas Koivu’s increased, and Koivu was clearly on much weaker teams who missed the playoffs frequently. It can be argued that Koivu elevated his level of play during the playoffs which can be weighted more when trying to determine which player was better.
Another method that can be used to compare their performance, eliminating the difference in play between the high scoring years that Naslund played in and the ‘dead puck era’ from Koivu’s time, is to calculate individual contribution as a percentage of total goals scored by the team.
I calculated two values for Koivu, one for every season he was an active member of the team, and the second removing the three aforementioned seasons. You will notice that in either case, Koivu’s contribution is less than Naslund’s, which hovers around the 10% mark for both regular season and playoffs.
If your counter-argument is that Naslund was the goal scorer while Koivu was the playmaker, therefore the assist contribution would be heavily in Koivu’s favour, the results may not be as conclusive as you would expect. Koivu’s assist contribution, again discounting those seasons when he was dealing with health concerns, was 10.23%. Naslund on the other hand was 9.22%. So Koivu did contribute to more goals, just not significantly more than Naslund.
From a quantitative point of view, Naslund has quite arguably had a much more important imprint on the Canadiens during his time than Koivu.
Who Was Better Qualitatively?
There is no doubt that Naslund played on better Canadiens teams than Koivu. Koivu, it can be argued, played during the absolute worst period ever in franchise history, and was one of the few shining lights during this time, serving proudly as team captain. One of the first memorable moments at the Bell Centre since their move in 1996 was Koivu’s return from his battle with cancer in 2002. The crowd’s reaction and sustained cheer was a franchise-defining moment.
Naslund played for the Canadiens in a time where there were a lot of historically significant players on the team such as Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, Guy Lafleur, and Patrick Roy, and therefore he was relatively less prevalent in the minds of the fans. As a cog in a much greater machine, Naslund is missing that memorable moment that helps to maintain his legend in the memories of fans. His choosing to lead a low-key post-career life is also causing events to fade from the minds of fans.
This is why there is much more talk of retiring Koivu’s #11 jersey than there is of retiring Naslund’s #26, given their relative importance to the team during their particular era.
But Naslund’s legacy goes beyond a single direct memorable goal or event. It is tied to his long-term influence on the League with their acceptance of smaller players who can contribute with skill while the game was still being played by clutching, grabbing, and hitting. Players like Saku Koivu.
Who Was Better?
Before passing a final verdict, it is important to note that both players are among an elite group of the best who have ever worn the Canadiens jersey.
It can be argued that Koivu was much more important to his teams due to how terrible they were. Koivu also certainly represents the most recent idyllic figure for fans who had increasing access to coverage of games in the late 90s, while Naslund, because of being overshadowed within stronger teams, may get lost in the shuffle when discussing the best players from his era.
However, at the end of the day when discussing who was ultimately better as a player, and the best European to ever play for the Montreal Canadiens, it is Mats Naslund who produced more for his team in fewer games. He contributed to the team’s results the most, and helped to pave the way for other players like Saku Koivu and Artturi Lehkonen to come to the NHL and be given the opportunity to become one of the best. He was a trailblazer, a difference maker, exciting to watch, and beloved by fans of the team.
