Montreal, QC (My Sportsbook) - Montreal Canadiens team captain Saku Koivu is expected to miss at least three to four weeks with a sprained right knee.

An MRI revealed that Koivu has a sprained ligament in the knee. He will most likely miss the regular season opener against the Ottawa Senators on October 9.

Koivu sustained the injury when he was checked by Ottawa's Todd White in the second period of Saturday's 4-3 preseason loss. Koivu left the game and didn't return.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound forward agreed to a two-year contract earlier this month, keeping the team's leading scorer in Montreal through the 2004-05 season.

Koivu, 28, led the Habs in scoring in 2002-03 with 71 points (21 goals, 50 assists) in 82 games. Koivu also paced the Canadiens with five game-winning goals.

In 429 NHL regular season games, he has scored 106 goals with 237 assists.

Koivu was named the recipient of the Bill Masterton Trophy, awarded to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey in 2001-02, after making a remarkable comeback from a battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma cancer.