Unable to regain enough of his health after fracturing his ankle in January, Minnesota Wild captain Mikko Koivu announced Friday that he won’t represent his home country of Finland in the Olympics.
“I just don’t feel healthy enough to feel that I can play at the level that I want,” Koivu said, via the Star Tribune. “I really think it’s not fair for my teammates with Minnesota, with Team Finland, the management in Team Finland and most important it’s not fair for myself either. It’s been going on the last two weeks, but for sure the last week, just back and forth the emotions have been up and down. Had a good day, then following day it would be worse. Just the level that I’ve been skating by myself, I haven’t been practicing with my team that’s here, I just don’t think it’s fair to anyone to play for Team Finland.”
According to the Pioneer Press, Koivu said it became increasingly clear over the last week that his ankle injury wouldn’t be healthy enough to allow him to play in Sochi, Russia. Were he to play, he likely would have been named captain of Team Finland.
Koivu has missed 15 consecutive games since injuring his ankle while blocking a shot in a game Jan. 4. He had surgery two days later. He’s still third on the team with 35 points, and plans on being 100 percent healthy when the Wild returns from the Olympic break later this month.
