Around the NHL Summer 2021

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

lol wut

It was a $20 signing bonus. Not a $20 million signing bonus.

WHAT! Oh man...nevermind. I completely misread. I thought they were giving him the old Sergei signing bonus.
This is straight up a troll job by Dundon.

 

[jaster]

WHAT! Oh man...nevermind. I completely misread. I thought they were giving him the old Sergei signing bonus.
This is straight up a troll job by Dundon.

Haha yeah. When I first saw the news I read it as $20M and was like "there's no way that's allowed by the CBA".... right as I read the next line about it being a symbolic middle finger

 

[FabricDetails]

WHAT! Oh man...nevermind. I completely misread. I thought they were giving him the old Sergei signing bonus.
This is straight up a troll job by Dundon.

"The Hurricanes’ offer sheet included a $20 signing bonus, a confirmed homage to Aho’s jersey number."

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Now I feel like they should have gone up another 500k on the KK signing to f*** things up even more.

 

[golffuul]

Now I feel like they should have gone up another 500k on the KK signing to f*** things up even more.

Yeah...it's just a really weird situation, to me. And there's no way Carolina can re-sign him next year unless they're just going to let Niedereitter and Trochek walk to Free Agency.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Yeah...it's just a really weird situation, to me. And there's no way Carolina can re-sign him next year unless they're just going to let Niedereitter and Trochek walk to Free Agency.

A crazy thought: Carolina had the #2 pick in the 2018 draft when Svechnikov went 2nd and KK went 3rd. Maybe they scouted Kotkaniemi and were pretty high on him?

I could see Carolina walking away from Niederreiter. he's a good 2nd line winger but they have Jarvis coming up. Or if KK proves to be worth the money then they could let Trochek go.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Kotkaniemi is a season long TDL pickup. Either he booms and they move on from a guy they already have or they paid a 1st and a 3rd to have him for a year.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Bergevin really has made a mess of this. And I still don't think Kotkaniemi should have gone for the 1 year deal to force the situation. Getting a 3-4 year deal at 2.5-3.0 would have net him more money in the long-term and he could have possibly done a lot better on his next contract. Now he has a put up or shut up year which, if he cracks under the pressure, might mean he barely makes league minimum (due to not being qualified) or could be headed back to Europe. Gotta have a lot of confidence in your ability to take this kind of a gamble. He showed he has some potential, but hasn't shown he can do it consistently.

This way,

KK gets 6.1M now and either is guaranteed 6.1M next year (if tendered) or becomes a UFA and can chase a deal with a team he wants. Literally no downside for him unless the bottom completely falls out and he's out of the league. Even if he doesn't get qualified at 6.1M, he's shown enough and has enough draft pedigree that he's not going unsigned after this year.

I also don't think he's getting league minimum if he isn't qualified. He may not get qualified at 6.1M, but unless he's completely dogshit (like Riley Sheahan in his last full Detroit year dogshit), he would then be a FA to go to anywhere. He gets non-tendered next year, I see a team like Detroit or Buffalo or Ottawa in the market wanting to make a little splash and toss money his way. I don't see how this blows up in his face unless he absolutely folds like a cheap suit.

 

[Winger98]

This way,

KK gets 6.1M now and either is guaranteed 6.1M next year (if tendered) or becomes a UFA and can chase a deal with a team he wants. Literally no downside for him unless the bottom completely falls out and he's out of the league. Even if he doesn't get qualified at 6.1M, he's shown enough and has enough draft pedigree that he's not going unsigned after this year.

I also don't think he's getting league minimum if he isn't qualified. He may not get qualified at 6.1M, but unless he's completely dogshit (like Riley Sheahan in his last full Detroit year dogshit), he would then be a FA to go to anywhere. He gets non-tendered next year, I see a team like Detroit or Buffalo or Ottawa in the market wanting to make a little splash and toss money his way. I don't see how this blows up in his face unless he absolutely folds like a cheap suit.

If he hit the market, and assuming we don't luck our way into an elite center in the draft, I would expect Yzerman to be in on KK in a big way if KK hit the open market.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

If he hit the market, and assuming we don't luck our way into an elite center in the draft, I would expect Yzerman to be in on KK in a big way if KK hit the open market.

yep. As a Wings fan, you should actually be excited this is happening, because it’ll be difficult for Kotkaniemi to prove he’s worth 6.1M or worth more than Niedereitter/Trocheck/Staal in one year. This is likely to be a one year and then he’s a UFA.

I could very easily see a push for Kotkaniemi and a spot on this roster that would be very attractive to a guy like him. The hope should be that he plays like a 3-4M player this year. Where he’d still be overpaid enough that Carolina can’t justify bringing him back but has not fallen off so far that he’s not worth bringing in

 

[golffuul]

yep. As a Wings fan, you should actually be excited this is happening, because it’ll be difficult for Kotkaniemi to prove he’s worth 6.1M or worth more than Niedereitter/Trocheck/Staal in one year. This is likely to be a one year and then he’s a UFA.

I could very easily see a push for Kotkaniemi and a spot on this roster that would be very attractive to a guy like him. The hope should be that he plays like a 3-4M player this year. Where he’d still be overpaid enough that Carolina can’t justify bringing him back but has not fallen off so far that he’s not worth bringing in

The problem with all this is that he has shown himself to not be all that great in the regular season and unless he performs better than his 0.3 PPG career average, he'll be lucky to be in the NHL let alone have the chance at a decent contract. Cause there's no way anyone will even pay him what he could have gotten this year from Montreal (between 2-3M AAV is what they were offering IIRC). I like Kotkaniemi and think he could be decent, but this whole offer sheet business is either going to make him or break him. And if he breaks, the only team that will want him is Buffalo.

 

[FabricDetails]

Being speculated that MTL is exploring what they can get for those picks. Dvorak's name being mentioned.

 

[Konnan511]

So, does MTL have until forever to decide? I thought teams had 24 to match or not?

 

[TCNorthstars]

So, does MTL have until forever to decide? I thought teams had 24 to match or not?

They have 7 days.

 

[Bench]

They have 7 days.

Ah yes, they adapted those rules from The Ring.

 

[golffuul]

Being speculated that MTL is exploring what they can get for those picks. Dvorak's name being mentioned.

I've heard this as well. Swapping KK for Dvorak and a 3rd is actually not a bad deal for Montreal.

 

[Winger98]

I've heard this as well. Swapping KK for Dvorak and a 3rd is actually not a bad deal for Montreal.

if we had a kid like Kotkaniemi I would not want to be swapping him out for a 25 yr old Dvorak. I also wouldn't want to be paying Kotkaniemi $6m for just one year, either. Montreal is in an ugly spot right now.

 

[golffuul]

if we had a kid like Kotkaniemi I would not want to be swapping him out for a 25 yr old Dvorak. I also wouldn't want to be paying Kotkaniemi $6m for just one year, either. Montreal is in an ugly spot right now.

Yeah...I just figured with Montreal's window being the way it is, that Dvorak looks pretty good about now in that kind of a deal.

 

[Bench]

Unless Montreal has definitive plans for Kotkaniemi as part of their core, I'd take the picks and run. If you're on the fence about his development, this could be the best offer you receive. Another middling season and you're not getting an unprotected 1st rounder back.

But so much depends on your relationship with the player and his motivation behind signing the deal. Such a signing could be a clear indication he wants out... Or simply a too good to pass up offer and no hard feelings. I don't really have that context to weigh in on.

 

[TCNorthstars]

Unless Montreal has definitive plans for Kotkaniemi as part of their core, I'd take the picks and run. If you're on the fence about his development, this could be the best offer you receive. Another middling season and you're not getting an unprotected 1st rounder back.

But so much depends on your relationship with the player and his motivation behind signing the deal. Such a signing could be a clear indication he wants out... Or simply a too good to pass up offer and no hard feelings. I don't really have that context to weigh in on.

Those are lackluster picks. 3rd overall picks have a bit more goodwill than 3 seasons post draft.

 

[Bench]

Those are lackluster picks. 3rd overall picks have a bit more goodwill than 3 seasons post draft.

Lackluster today. Not so much if Kotkaniemi continues to not look like he deserved his 3rd overall selection.

Sunk cost fallacy and all that.

 

[FabricDetails]

People referring to Kotkaniemi as "KK" has me misremembering his first name as Kasperi.

 

[Bench]

People referring to Kotkaniemi as "KK" has me misremembering his first name as Kasperi.

So I get why they do it but I also don't at all get why it caught on over JK.

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

if we had a kid like Kotkaniemi I would not want to be swapping him out for a 25 yr old Dvorak. I also wouldn't want to be paying Kotkaniemi $6m for just one year, either. Montreal is in an ugly spot right now.

Yeah I think you hit on exactly why it was so effective as a revenge offer-sheet. It truly put Montreal in a lose-lose situation here.

If they match, they pay the player way more than they wanted in the present and probably in the future due to the QO issue. Not to mention the big off-ice distraction.

If they let him go, they're really not getting the return they'd want at this stage. Sure, Kotkaniemi could really fail to progress and in hindsight it may look like a good return, but there's no question that they didn't want to be forced into this "take it or leave it" return. Not to mention the pretty brutal optics of basically getting revenge-mugged for your recent #3OA center.

I don't totally understand the move in terms of making Carolina better, but I think it's pretty genius in terms of making Montreal worse.

I'd let him walk too, I think the alternative is worse, but it's still not a great scenario for Montreal here.

 

[MBH]

I've heard this as well. Swapping KK for Dvorak and a 3rd is actually not a bad deal for Montreal.

Dvorak's a winger, right?
Doesn't Montreal like centers?
They just lost danault.
They traded away Domi because he floundered at C.
They've wrecked Drouin trying to make him a C.

Montreal is one of the most strangely put-together teams in the NHL.