Talk about a chip off the old block. The Canadiens selected the son of former team captain , in the third round (70th overall) of the NHL Draft Saturday in Las Vegas. The 6-foot, 170-pound centre had 9-13-22 totals in 20 games last season with the TPS U18 team in Finland and had 16-15-31 totals in 28 games with the TPS U20 team.
Aatos, 18, was born on June 22, 2006 in Turku, Finland. His father played with the Canadiens from 1995-96 through 2008-09 after being selected in the first round (21st overall) of Aatos Koivu didn’t attend the draft in Las Vegas, but he did do an interview with Anthony Martineau of TVA Sports at the scouting combine earlier this month in Buffalo. Koivu said his strengths are his skating, his ability to read the game and his ability to score goals.
He said he still needs to work on his play without the puck. When asked about the role his father has played in his hockey career, Koivu told Martineau: “He kind of just tries to stay as a dad at home, which I prefer. I mean, I have my coach and my team, which is good that way, and a dad at home.
Of course, he’s very interested, he’s always at the games. He always wants to help if I have a question and I have those a lot and I always just ask him and he’s always giving his best advice. But he kind of just lets me do my own thing, which I prefer.
” Koivu told Martineau he has fond memories about his childhood in Montreal. “Definitely the coolest thing, just being at the games, being able to see e.
