Mikko Koivu could be just what the New York Rangers are looking for.
Free Agency frenzy is upon us and the New York Rangers have been busy, although they have put a lot of emphasis on adding cost effective role players to the roster.
On a day where franchise icon Henrik Lundqvist signed for the Washington Capitals, the Rangers have made a splash for all the wrong reasons by signing former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson, much to the bemusement of pretty much the entire Twittersphere.
Anyway, there’s still work to be done by the Rangers who need to get tougher and there could be a perfect stop-gap option out there on the open market.
Former Minnesota Wild Captain Mikko Koivu is currently an Unrestricted Free Agent and, at the time of writing, he’s still hanging out there for a team to take him.
Let us explain why it would make sense for the New York Rangers…
Grit & Experience
For all of the dazzling skill and bright young talent on this Rangers roster, they are lacking in two key areas:
Experience and size.
We saw with the St. Louis Blues in 2018-19 that hard-nosed hockey still wins the day, and the Tampa Bay Lightning hammered that point home this year after going all out at the Trade Deadline to get tougher.
The Rangers must now do the same in order to compliment their stable of elite stars and young studs, because the likes of Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere will need some help out there.
That’s why Mikko Koivu could be an intriguing option. Boasting a wealth of experience with 1028 career regular season games, all with the Wild, the center would be a good mentor for some of the franchise’s younger players and he would be a good fit inside the room.
He could take on a leadership role both on and off the ice and he could be the ideal mentor for fellow Fin Kaapo Kakko, taking the sophomore under his wing and being a father-like figure to lean on.
Then there’s the on-ice attributes. At 6-foot-3 and 219 lbs, Koivu would add some beef to that bottom six and he battles hard in the dirty areas, something that is lacking on this current roster.
He can play in all situations and could play a key role on the penalty kill, a huge factor especially if Jesper Fast signs elsewhere in Free Agency.
Also important is Koivu’s ability in the faceoff circle, something that won’t regress or disappear with age.
Koivu boasts a career win percentage of 54.2 in the circle, and he could dramatically help a team that was ranked 19th in draws (47.2%) in 2019-20.
While he’s 37-years-old and is clearly nearer the end of his career than he is to the beginning of it, Koivu would tick a lot of boxes for the Rangers as a shutdown center who would excel in the faceoff circle, play a key role on the PK, be a leader in the locker room and bring some much-needed grit and steel to the bottom of the lineup.
Also, two other things to consider; he averaged 15:34 minutes of ice time per game for the Wild last season and he ranked 52nd out of 432 forwards with at least 200 minutes played in 2019-20 in even-strength expected goals against regularized adjusted plus/minus – basically placing him in the upper echelons of forwards when it comes to defensive impact, while he can still log big minutes in key situations if needed.
The key to all of the above is the fact that, still hungry to play and have an impact on a team, Koivu would likely command a $2-$2.5 million AAV on a one-year deal. That would work for the Rangers given their cap constraints.
We will see what happens but Mikko Koivu ticks a lot of boxes for the New York Rangers when looking at the short-term, and the front office could do worse than bringing in a seasoned and respected professional on a team-friendly deal as a stopgap option.