Saku Koivu - International Play

International Play

Koivu has represented Finland on several occasions and was the national team's captain. Koivu was named the successor of a long-time captain Timo Jutila after he retired from international play in 1997. Koivu's first duty came in 1998 when the 1998 Winter Olympics took place in Nagano. He has held the post ever since, with one exception in 2008 when he joined the team in the middle of the tournament. He was offered the C letter but declined pleading "it would only stir things up and the team has already a great captain, Ville Peltonen."

Koivu won a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and bronze medals at the 1994, 1998 and 2010 Winter Olympics. He was also on the 2004 World Cup team, which advanced to the final but lost against Canada, thereby winning the silver medal.

Koivu's most renowned achievement with Team Finland is as first line center in the 1995 IIHF World Championships, where Finland won its first IIHF men's gold medal. Koivu played in the first line with Jere Lehtinen and Ville Peltonen (the "Huey, Dewey, and Louie" line), who were all selected as tournament all-stars.

Koivu was regularly partnered with Teemu Selänne and Jere Lehtinen in a line if all three were available. The trio has been a key factor to Finland's success at many bigger events. The line plays mainly to the excellent chemistry Koivu and Selänne seem to have and this has also affected the NHL; after 1999 World Championships Selänne said in an interview on a Finnish TV program: "It would be great to play with Saku" which led to speculation about Koivu being traded to Anaheim. This finally became true a decade later when Koivu signed with Anaheim in July 2009.

On February 23, 2006, Koivu was elected by his fellow Olympic competitors as a member of the Athletes' Commission of the IOC.