Player Discussion Jesperi Kotkaniemi - (On Loan to Liiga)

[ahmedou]

Dumont: Kotkaniemi came to play (nhl.com/canadiens)

In terms of shot control, Kotkaniemi is 10th in the NHL among all forwards, and is keeping pace with the best in the league in most important offensive categories.

When I see Kotkaniemi on the ice, I see a player that's overflowing with confidence, with patience, and with skill.

And I see a player who's no longer smiling all the time. There's a certain aggressive edge to his game that we hadn't seen in previous stretches. I'm not going to lie to you, Angry Kotkaniemi is a development I didn't see coming, but I'll absolutely pull out a chair to welcome him at the table

 

[Redux91]

Good little plays throughout the game, not even showing his 2 goals lol

Also, on Tatars 2nd goal if we look carefully, KK fights off BOTH philly defensemen and wins and gets the puck to Domi, who gets it to Mete, who sends it to Tatar who sent it off the post and in lol

The only knock on the kid was 1 W 7 L on the dot for the night but, giroux and couturier are 2 of the best face off men on planet earth, itll happen sometimes, thats what we have Danault for!

 

[Redux91]

I thibk it’s old stats.

He looks as tall as Weber and Petry.

Yup, if he was 6'2 and 2/3 at 17 years old at the combine..its most certainly 6"3 at minimum now, it was always about "filling up the frame" tho, but hey its 2 years later already and he's WELL on his way

 

[DAChampion]

I don’t know that it’s all that clear that those 12 games are the reason he’s looking much better today. I think it has more to do with the prolonged rest and having a chance to recover from a nagging injury.

Kotkaniemi improved substantially in the span of those 12 games, so I think that we can safely assume that he needed the confidence boost.

 

[cphabs]

Dumont: Kotkaniemi came to play (nhl.com/canadiens)

I like the “angry” Coconut!

 

[Zub]

I like the “angry” Coconut!

Crazy how many articles there is already raving about his emergence, i sortof saw this coming tbh but not this soon, the kid outworked my expectations by far.

 

[ahmedou]

 

[cphabs]

View attachment 361573

Who the hell was he pointing at? Looked like something WAY above fan seating... which were empty.

 

[ahmedou]

Who the hell was he pointing at? Looked like something WAY above fan seating... which were empty.

Pointing at the haters. Huge goal celebration.

 

[Runner77]

The thing with Bergevin that really hurt him was hiring his buddies and hanging on to them too long. Case and point is Sylvain LeFebvre who had no business being the guy primarily assigned to develop our top draft picks.
The work Bouchard did with Evans, Fleury, Primeau, Mete (short stint really helped him), Kotkaniemi (short stint but beneficial) has really helped this franchise

Don’t want to derail the thread but as much as we like to give Bouchard credit, he’s no miracle worker. Mete barely had a few games with Bouchard, it’s really a stretch to establish a direct correlation with so little time spent.

KK got better, certainly, but how much is imputable to Bouchard? KK barely played 13 AHL games before he was injured and missed the rest of his season. KK worked hard and did other things to prep himself after his injury — did Bouchard help him post-injury?

I’d give Bouchard his due for the longer term tutelage of other players, those who spent significant time with him.

 

[Tyson]

Don’t want to derail the thread but as much as we like to give Bouchard credit, he’s no miracle worker. Mete barely had a few games with Bouchard, it’s really a stretch to establish a direct correlation with so little time spent.

KK got better, certainly, but how much is imputable to Bouchard? KK barely played 13 AHL games before he was injured and missed the rest of his season. KK worked hard and did other things to prep himself after his injury — did Bouchard help him post-injury?

I’d give Bouchard his due for the longer term tutelage of other players, those who spent significant time with him.

I would counter that Mete was a much better player after his quick time in Laval.

 

[Runner77]

I would counter that Mete was a much better player after his quick time in Laval.

Is that so? Better how, like now?

I'd counter that it takes a lot more than a handful of games to bring a player up to the next level. What level has Mete reached, he's regressed.

KK worked in Finland after his injury and became a totally different player than when he spent 13 games with Bouchard last year. Should Bouchard get credit for all those months of work in Finland, where KK raised his game to what it is now?

 

[Runner77]

Who the hell was he pointing at? Looked like something WAY above fan seating... which were empty.

KK made his gesture as he was passing in front of the Philly bench.

There are no "haters", that's just a meme hyperbole.

And yes, Flyers took exception to KK's gesture as well.

You have to ask yourself what else will the Flyers take exception to. Nothing but mind games.

 

[jiboy]

Think his time in the AHL helped him feel good again about playing hockey and being an important player. And those months of break after seemed to have helped him heal his body and also fill it up.

He really falls a lot less so far and plays quicker.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Don’t want to derail the thread but as much as we like to give Bouchard credit, he’s no miracle worker. Mete barely had a few games with Bouchard, it’s really a stretch to establish a direct correlation with so little time spent.

KK got better, certainly, but how much is imputable to Bouchard? KK barely played 13 AHL games before he was injured and missed the rest of his season. KK worked hard and did other things to prep himself after his injury — did Bouchard help him post-injury?

I’d give Bouchard his due for the longer term tutelage of other players, those who spent significant time with him.

Yeah maybe not Bouchard himself but I think the small stint helped. Probably not as much as the healing and the strength and skating gains like you mentioned though. Good point.

 

[cphabs]

Flyers will be hammering on him tonight. Going to be incredible game !

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Kotkaniemi improved substantially in the span of those 12 games, so I think that we can safely assume that he needed the confidence boost.

Let’s agree to disagree.

 

[Redux91]

Who the hell was he pointing at? Looked like something WAY above fan seating... which were empty.

It was the "count it and the foul" gesture, it was G plain and simple lol

It wasnt directed at anyone really

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Is that so? Better how, like now?

I'd counter that it takes a lot more than a handful of games to bring a player up to the next level. What level has Mete reached, he's regressed.

KK worked in Finland after his injury and became a totally different player than when he spent 13 games with Bouchard last year. Should Bouchard get credit for all those months of work in Finland, where KK raised his game to what it is now?

I agree with everything here except that Mete regressed. I think he’s up and down, not unusual from a young dman, we’ve yet to see the best from Mete imo.

 

[Zub]

I see KK's development as such that it could have gone south, but i think his experience in the NHL at a young age mixed with his laval games had him knowing exactly what he needed to do and work on while in Finland, and you see it now how the results are, he's very smart on the ice but he's very smart off the ice aswell.

 

[Runner77]

I agree with everything here except that Mete regressed. I think he’s up and down, not unusual from a young dman, we’ve yet to see the best from Mete imo.

I don’t see the projection for a diminutive D with paltry offensive ability, no physicality and whose sole attribute is skating. We’ll wait and see on that, I hope I’m wrong.

What I’ve learned from seeing KK now is that Mete should be training in Finland and do whatever KK did.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Don’t want to derail the thread but as much as we like to give Bouchard credit, he’s no miracle worker. Mete barely had a few games with Bouchard, it’s really a stretch to establish a direct correlation with so little time spent.

KK got better, certainly, but how much is imputable to Bouchard? KK barely played 13 AHL games before he was injured and missed the rest of his season. KK worked hard and did other things to prep himself after his injury — did Bouchard help him post-injury?

I’d give Bouchard his due for the longer term tutelage of other players, those who spent significant time with him.

At the very least, I'd credit Bouchard for pointing him in the right direction. He did spend a month over there.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I don’t see the projection for a diminutive D with paltry offensive ability, no physicality and whose sole attribute is skating. We’ll wait and see on that, I hope I’m wrong.

What I’ve learned from seeing KK now is that Mete should be training in Finland and do whatever KK did.

Mete needs a pure PMD to show him the ropes. Btw, Mete has arguably the best breakout pass on the team, skating is not his only attribute. He might not have the confidence to try to pull off things he used to do in junior, but he does have good hands and playmaking skills. He's a smart kid and playing so early while also being dimunative might have stalled his offensive growth. Pretty sure he would've been better served playing in the A in the last few years. Like Behindthetimes, i believe we haven't yet seen the best of Mete, who just turned 22.

18-19 Mete was one of our best Ds that year. He didnt pull that off with just skating.

 

[DAChampion]

Don’t want to derail the thread but as much as we like to give Bouchard credit, he’s no miracle worker. Mete barely had a few games with Bouchard, it’s really a stretch to establish a direct correlation with so little time spent.

KK got better, certainly, but how much is imputable to Bouchard? KK barely played 13 AHL games before he was injured and missed the rest of his season. KK worked hard and did other things to prep himself after his injury — did Bouchard help him post-injury?

I’d give Bouchard his due for the longer term tutelage of other players, those who spent significant time with him.

The Kotkaniemi we're seeing now did not emerge from the aether. He is the logical continuation of the Kotkaniemi that we saw in his rookie year. His play his first year was dynamic, based on high hockey IQ, and it fell off a cliff when Nate Thompson showed up.

Through most of this year Kotkaniemi was playing with less and left confidence. Half or more of this forum thought that he was a bust. We had endless discussions about Tkachuk, Hughes, Zadina, Galchenyuk, skating, poor balance, fire Timmins, long-term project, etc.

The primary issue with Kotkaniemi was that he was lacking confidence. Bouchard allowed him to play and allowed him to make mistakes. And over 12 games, Kotkaniemi improved. He grew more aggressive at both ends of the ice. He took more shots. He forechecked better. He made nicer passes. That wasn't due to bodybuilding or increased IQ, or whatever, it was due to confidence.

And now, Kotkaniemi is back, Nate Thompson is gone, and we're seeing his smile again. I'm glad his smile came back.

 

[Zub]

The Kotkaniemi we're seeing now did not emerge from the aether. He is the logical continuation of the Kotkaniemi that we saw in his rookie year. His play his first year was dynamic, based on high hockey IQ, and it fell off a cliff when Nate Thompson showed up.

Through most of this year Kotkaniemi was playing with less and left confidence. Half or more of this forum thought that he was a bust. We had endless discussions about Tkachuk, Hughes, Zadina, Galchenyuk, skating, poor balance, fire Timmins, long-term project, etc.

The primary issue with Kotkaniemi was that he was lacking confidence. Bouchard allowed him to play and allowed him to make mistakes. And over 12 games, Kotkaniemi improved. He grew more aggressive at both ends of the ice. He took more shots. He forechecked better. He made nicer passes. That wasn't due to bodybuilding or increased IQ, or whatever, it was due to confidence.

And now, Kotkaniemi is back, Nate Thompson is gone, and we're seeing his smile again. I'm glad his smile came back.

Yeah it might have been a confidence thing after all, your right.