Mikko Sakari Koivu (born March 12, 1983) is a Finnish professional ice hockey center and captain of the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). Koivu was the captain for the gold-winning Finnish national team at the 2011 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships.

After playing in the Finnish junior leagues, Koivu began playing for TPS of the SM-liiga as a seventeen-year-old in 2000–01, the same team for which older brother Saku also once played. He was selected 6th overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild and continued to play with TPS Turku for three more seasons.

Koivu moved to North America in the 2004–05 to play for Minnesota's AHL affiliate, the Houston Aeros, while that NHL season was canceled. The next season, he made his NHL debut with the Wild, scoring 21 points in his rookie season. In 2006–07, Koivu improved to a career-high 20 goals, 34 assists and 54 points. Injuries slowed him down in his third season; in a game against the Vancouver Canucks, defenseman Mattias Öhlund retaliated to an unpenalized elbow from Koivu and slashed him, breaking a bone in Koivu's leg. Ohlund was given a four game suspension and Koivu missed 24 games.

Tuomo Iisakki Ruutu (born February 16, 1983) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward who plays for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. He is the brother of Jarkko Ruutu, a former NHL player currently playing for Jokerit, and retired player Mikko Ruutu.

Ruutu started out playing for HIFK in the Finnish SM-liiga in the 1999–00 season, and moved to Jokerit for the next two seasons. In 2002 he returned to HIFK for one more season. He was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, as their first-round pick, #9 overall. He crossed the Atlantic in 2003, playing a full 82 games with the Blackhawks in the 2003–04 NHL season.

He did not play during the NHL lockout, as he was recovering from injuries, but provided commentary on Finnish television during the ice hockey world championships, along with fellow NHL player Ville Nieminen. Ruutu returned to the NHL after the lockout, but his 2005–06 NHL season was cut short, first by a back injury that kept him out of the game for most of the fall, and in January an ankle injury requiring surgery ended his season.

Niklas Kronwall (born January 12, 1981) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman, an alternate captain for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He started his career in Järfälla HC in Sweden, and has played for the Swedish National Team. In the NHL, Kronwall has gained notoriety for being an open ice hitter, and the phrase "being Kronwalled" was coined to describe his signature back-pedaling boarding hits.

His younger brother Staffan plays for Severstal Cherepovets of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

I know one scout who tried to bring up Niklas Kronwall's name with his team. They just laughed at him. They never even had a serious dialogue. They just stopped him. They said 'a 5-11 Swedish defenceman?' [The Red Wings] organization is more open-minded than that.

Niklas Kronwall was selected in the 1st round, 29th overall, in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings. He continued to play for Djurgårdens IF until he came to North America in 2003. He played 20 games for Detroit in the 2003–04 season, scoring one goal and four assists for five points, to go along with 16 penalty minutes.