Ducks Without Koivu

The Ducks were without Saku Koivu against the Devils on Wednesday night, because of a lower-body injury, which sounds like it could be a groin injury, since the word 'tweak' was involved in the piece that I read this morning. The injury doesn't sound terribly serious, but it did hamper the former Habs captain's skating ability, so we'll do as the team says and consider him out day-to-day.

The elder Koivu has not been the offensive juggernaut that the Ducks were hoping for when they reunited him with fellow countryman, Teemu Selanne, this season. In 15 games, Koivu has only managed two goals and six assists. That is well off his normal scoring pace, which is strange, because he does seem to get an extra minute or two than his last season in Montreal, where his points-per-game was quite a bit higher: 2008/'09 - 0.77; 2009/'10 - 0.53.

Koivu was the last pick of the 10th round this season, 170th overall, taken by John B.. John is currently mired in 13th spot in the standings, already 34 points behind 3rd place, the final money position. He's also the current Basement Dweller for Week Seven, with only 1 point so far this week, so this is not a good sign for him. He'll need all hands on deck this weekend to try and make up some points.

On the Sheet, Koivu was the most popular player picked in Box 6 this season. He was taken 10 times at the beginning of the year, but hasn't performed like the best player in that box, ranking well below the leader, Dustin Penner, who has 22 points. It might be high-time for a trade in that box, especially if the lower-body injury is going to nag Koivu.