Mikko Koivu: 57th Best in the NHL?

There are few people at ESPN that give a rip about hockey. The number drops considerably when you want to discuss the number of people at ESPN that actually know something about hockey. Sure, they are getting better, especially with their online content, picking up writers like Craig Custance and Katie Strang. This new found bolstering of the World Wide Leader's interest in hockey is still anchored by the great John Buccigross.

Buccigross used to host NHL 2Nite. He has written books about the game. Good ones. He can likely tell you everything you would ever want to know about the game from stats to birthdays. The guy is a veritable encyclopedia (real ones, not like wikipedia) of hockey knowledge.

Here is the entry about Koivu from Buccigross on his post:

An ideal number two center? A number two? Huh. Are there a great number of teams out there who wouldn't put a seventy point player, who also plays in every situation and also serves as a shut down defensive player, and wins 1000+ faceoffs a year on the second line?

I do not follow these teams close enough to know, but the guess is that, save for Zetterberg, most of these guys aren't expected to also be shut down defensively.

There are far too many teams without even a number one center in this league for Koivu to be an "ideal second line center."

The List

At this point, you start to get to an actual debate. Would you rather have Zetterberg or Mikko Koivu? I could go both ways, to be honest. Zetterberg is damn good. One of the best. But is he the top guy? Maybe. I'd take either. Jeff Skinner is at 25. He's good. Darn good. And young. But is he better than Koivu right now? Maybe. It's a debate worth having. If I am building a brand new team, I would consider my options carefully in that one.

Mikko Koivu isn't a top 10 guy in the league. No one is under the impression he is. He has to be top 25 on anyone's list outside of the folks at ESPN.

I hate to argue with greatness, but on this one, Bucci is dead wrong.