Retired Wild captain Koivu criticizes former team, points to Burns trade as the team's downfall

The franchise icon gives us a look behind the scenes in Minnesota.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Retired Wild captain Koivu criticizes former team, points to Burns trade as the team's downfall
Zuma Press

Mikko Koivu had two surprises up his sleeve for hockey fans this year. 

Not only did the longtime Minnesota Wild captain leave the franchise that he'd been a major part of since 2005, but he also decided to to abruptly retire after just seven games with the Columbus Blue Jackets. This guy is all over the place...

In any case, it's hard to be critical of a guy who has given so much to the Wild franchise during his 15 years with the team. This is a guy who put his entire being into representing the Minnesota Wild. In other words: he's a warrior.

Now, freshly retired the 37 year old is finally opening up and reflecting a bit on his career. On the Finnish language Kimanttia Podcast hosted by former NHLer Kimmo Timonen published earlier today Koivu spoke about his favourite NHL teammates and even offered up a slightly veiled criticism of his former team.

His choices for his favourite teammates:

Goalie: Niklas Backstrom

Defence: Brent Burns and Nick Schultz

Wingers: Marian Gaborik and Andrew Brunette

Concering Burns though, Koivu was somewhat critical of the Wild saying essentially that his trade to the San Jose Sharks was a major mis-step by the franchise.

"[The Burns trade]... did not go well for us, as Burns was an exceptional talent and he could have helped us in the long term."

For the record Burns was traded along with a 2nd round pick (Chris Tierney) for Devin Setoguchi, then top prospect Charlie Coyle and a 1st round pick (Zack Phillips). Burns would go on to be a three time Norris Trophy nominee, winning the award in 2017. He's a six time NHL All-Star and was is a perennial point-producer for the Sharks. While Coyle was an impact player during his time with the Wild... it's hard not to want a do-over on this deal if you're a Wild fan.

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