Saku Koivu wore the C for the Montreal Canadiens for ten seasons, the first European to captain the club, and led Finland to its first world title in 1995. He played his last NHL game for the Anaheim Ducks in 2014 and went home to Turku. He still sits at the head of the table, but the rooms he sits in have no ice.
Where is Saku Koivu now?
Saku Koivu is a businessman in his hometown of Turku, where he co-owns a construction company, runs his own property firm and chairs or sits on the boards of several development companies. As of September 2026, he and his brother Mikko are among the owners of Tku-Rakennus, the Turku builder hired as design-and-build contractor for Vulcan Spa, a sauna restaurant and spa planned on the bank of the Aura river, Helsingin Uutiset reported. The restaurant group NoHo Partners will run the finished complex.
| Saku Koivu: then and now | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Canadiens captain 1999 to 2009, 1995 world champion with Finland |
| Position | Center, shoots left |
| Born | 23 November 1974, Turku, Finland |
| Drafted | 1993, first round, 21st overall, Montreal Canadiens |
| NHL career | 18 seasons, 1,124 games, 832 points, two teams |
| Last NHL season | 2013-14, Anaheim Ducks |
| Current role | Construction and property company owner and board member in Turku, as of September 2026 |
| Business | Birch Trading Oy, Tku-Rakennus Oy, Levi West Invest Oy |
His own company is Birch Trading, a small joke for anyone who speaks Finnish: koivu means birch. The Finnish trade register lists him as its managing director since 2017 and classifies it as a Turku company that rents and manages real estate.
Further north, he chairs the board of Levi West Invest, which built Levi Fjallen, a block of thirteen holiday apartments on the west slopes of the Levi ski resort in Lapland, Yle reported in September 2024. Back home, he sits on the board of Turun Ratapihan Kehitys, the company behind a new arena planned at the Turku rail yard. In May 2025, he told Yle he was very confident that construction could begin the following year.
Hockey is still part of the week. The trade register lists him as a board member of HC TPS Turku Oy, the company that runs his first club, since 2020, and Elite Prospects lists him as a senior advisor to TPS for the 2023-24 season.
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Saku Koivu’s jersey number is retired in Turku
TPS will retire Saku Koivu’s No. 11 at Gatorade Center in Turku at the home game against Lukko on 24 October 2026, the club announced in August 2026. It calls a retired number the highest honor TPS can give a player.
Koivu came through the TPS youth teams, joined the first team for the 1992-93 season and won the Finnish championship in 1993 and 1995. In 1995 he led the league with 74 points, 27 goals and 47 assists. No one has worn No. 11 for the TPS first team since he left for Montreal.
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Is Saku Koivu in the Hall of Fame?
Yes and no. Saku Koivu was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2017, but he is not in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and has not appeared in any class since 2010, including the six elected for 2026.
His international case is strong. He played 11 top tournaments for Finland and won eight medals, including Olympic bronze in 1994, 1998, and 2010, and silver in 2006. At the 1995 World Championship, he centered Jere Lehtinen and Ville Peltonen; all three were named to the tournament all-star team, and the IIHF directorate named Koivu best forward as Finland won its first world title.
Why did Saku Koivu leave Montreal?
Saku Koivu left Montreal as a free agent in the summer of 2009, after the Canadiens traded for Scott Gomez and signed Mike Cammalleri. He signed a one-year deal with Anaheim, CTV News Montreal reported, which reunited him with Teemu Selanne, his teammate on Finland’s 2006 Olympic silver team.
He stayed five seasons in Anaheim and announced his retirement on 10 September 2014. By then, the NHLPA noted, he had captained the Canadiens for ten seasons, tying Jean Beliveau for the longest tenure in club history, and had won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 2007. The channels for every Canadiens game are in our guide to how to watch the Montreal Canadiens.
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Saku Koivu’s career in numbers
Montreal drafted Saku Koivu 21st overall in 1993. His son Aatos was drafted by the same franchise in 2024, 70th overall.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995-96 | Montreal | 82 | 20 | 25 | 45 |
| 1996-97 | Montreal | 50 | 17 | 39 | 56 |
| 1997-98 | Montreal | 69 | 14 | 43 | 57 |
| 1998-99 | Montreal | 65 | 14 | 30 | 44 |
| 1999-00 | Montreal | 24 | 3 | 18 | 21 |
| 2000-01 | Montreal | 54 | 17 | 30 | 47 |
| 2001-02 | Montreal | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2002-03 | Montreal | 82 | 21 | 50 | 71 |
| 2003-04 | Montreal | 68 | 14 | 41 | 55 |
| 2005-06 | Montreal | 72 | 17 | 45 | 62 |
| 2006-07 | Montreal | 81 | 22 | 53 | 75 |
| 2007-08 | Montreal | 77 | 16 | 40 | 56 |
| 2008-09 | Montreal | 65 | 16 | 34 | 50 |
| 2009-10 | Anaheim | 71 | 19 | 33 | 52 |
| 2010-11 | Anaheim | 75 | 15 | 30 | 45 |
| 2011-12 | Anaheim | 74 | 11 | 27 | 38 |
| 2012-13 | Anaheim | 47 | 8 | 19 | 27 |
| 2013-14 | Anaheim | 65 | 11 | 18 | 29 |
| Total | 1,124 | 255 | 577 | 832 |
Figures are from Hockey-Reference. He added 59 points in 80 playoff games.
As Canadiens captain, Saku Koivu played 526 games and scored 439 points, 53 percent of his NHL career total. His ten seasons with the C include the lost 2004-05 season, so all of it came in nine seasons.
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