Player Discussion Jesperi Kotkaniemi - (On Loan to Liiga)

[Runner77]

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

Not significant in the grand scheme. Not in terms of the degree of influence some are ascribing to Bouchard.

 

[Runner77]

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.

I don't know how one qualifies "best". Best based on how paltry this D corps was that year, I don't think I'd even go that far. It's not that the deadwood we had was all that hard to beat. On most other team, he'd be eating hotdogs or better still, he'd be spending more time in the minors.

Mete's done well relative to his draft position but he's no more than a borderline third pairing D for now. We'll see. Lots of dreadful play against the Pens in the prior series.

 

[Runner77]

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.

Not saying Bouchard didn't help but not to the extent that is being alluded to in some posts in here. Twelve games don't develop a player. Plus, Bouchard's coaching was last year, before he lost the rest of the season to a major injury. He's not the same player now -- I believe whatever he did in his rehab and more particularly while he has been in Finland, is not only the most proximate influence but the most direct and compelling -- a time when Bouchard was not involved with him at all.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I don't know how one qualifies "best". Best based on how paltry this D corps was that year, I don't think I'd even go that far. It's not that the deadwood we had was all that hard to beat. On most other team, he'd be eating hotdogs or better still, he'd be spending more time in the minors.

Mete's done well relative to his draft position but he's no more than a borderline third pairing D for now. We'll see. Lots of dreadful play against the Pens in the prior series.

That narrative is full of holes. It was the season we missed the playoffs by 1 point. Habs finished 13th for GA. The who-else-was-there argument is a bit ridiculous considering his usage and the results. Between the age of 19 and 21, he played over 1000 ES minutes with Weber, was +16. 700 of those minutes in 18-19, +7. A typical regular pairing will play between 700 and 1000 minutes together in a season. No matter who else was there, the fact remains he and Weber tilted the ice more than any other left D we've had on that pairing since Markov left.

Either people didn't take notice, or they forget. Recency bias can be for everyone.

 

[KevSkillz4]

He got everything right now! He can hit, he can skate, he can shoot, he can passe, he can deking and he can fight Hagg!!!

 

[Habs178]

Has Domi replaced KK at Center?

 

[BehindTheTimes]

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.

I don’t think there were too many serious posters that thought he was a bust. I mean come on, people aren’t this out of touch. He came into his 2nd year recovering from a knee injury. His skating was already seen as his one real weakness. It’s not surprising that he struggled, just like it’s not surprising that having a 4 month break would be beneficial to him.

I don’t think many seen him as a bust, some question if he was the right pick, some question if Tkachuk is the better pick, which is still a valid question imo. I prefer kk, but too soon to know the answers.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Not saying Bouchard didn't help but not to the extent that is being alluded to in some posts in here. Twelve games don't develop a player. Plus, Bouchard's coaching was last year, before he lost the rest of the season to a major injury. He's not the same player now -- I believe whatever he did in his rehab and more particularly while he has been in Finland, is not only the most proximate influence but the most direct and compelling -- a time when Bouchard was not involved with him at all.

I agree with 100% of this.

 

[DAChampion]

I don’t think there were too many serious posters that thought he was a bust. I mean come on, people aren’t this out of touch. He came into his 2nd year recovering from a knee injury. His skating was already seen as his one real weakness. It’s not surprising that he struggled, just like it’s not surprising that having a 4 month break would be beneficial to him.

I don’t think many seen him as a bust, some question if he was the right pick, some question if Tkachuk is the better pick, which is still a valid question imo. I prefer kk, but too soon to know the answers.

There were several serious posters who saw him as a bust, probably more than those who saw him as say, a future 1st like C.

 

[Supersonic]

Almost wired that wrist shot in the first from the top of the circle (inside bar and out), he’s got some great velocity on his shots

edit: two posts LOL

 

[BehindTheTimes]

There were several serious posters who saw him as a bust, probably more than those who saw him as say, a future 1st like C.

Love to see the list.

 

[DAChampion]

Love to see the list.

I'm not going to go scavenging through old friends, plus by quoting those posts I'd be shaming those posters. You know they were there.

Bustniemi.
Bambiniemi.
We're lucky if he turns into a 3rd line center / if he turns into Lars Eller.

I couldn't make that up.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Has Domi replaced KK at Center?

No. He is taking the faceoffs on the weak side and KK is going back to the middle the first exchange they make.

 

[Runner77]

That narrative is full of holes. It was the season we missed the playoffs by 1 point. Habs finished 13th for GA. The who-else-was-there argument is a bit ridiculous considering his usage and the results. Between the age of 19 and 21, he played over 1000 ES minutes with Weber, was +16. 700 of those minutes in 18-19, +7. A typical regular pairing will play between 700 and 1000 minutes together in a season. No matter who else was there, the fact remains he and Weber tilted the ice more than any other left D we've had on that pairing since Markov left.

Either people didn't take notice, or they forget. Recency bias can be for everyone.

OK, let's put it another way.

On how many teams would Mete have had the same role as on the Habs that year? Is the narrative still "full of holes?"

I've seen your past posts about how you value Mete via advanced stats. I can't really comment on that except to say that advanced stats are not the be all and end all. Who cares how old Mete is, he's not an elite D. He's a third pairing guy who happens to be on your radar just cause he's a Hab. You probably wouldn't even value him if he had been drafted on some other team and spending time in the minors or in the stands.

Back to KK, don't want to derail the thread. I respect your Mete passion but beg to differ. Let's move on.

 

[Supersonic]

Judging by this Philly series, I think the biggest thing that stands out negatively for him based on this would be how he gets pinned standing up often on the boards but that will come with more strength and some coaching.

Kid is unreal

 

[JohnLennon]

Kotkaniemi has looked these playoffs to be on track to be that player we'd hoped we had drafted day 1. Always been a big believer in this kid ever since watching him in Finland before we drafted him.

...But even I didn't know he had a laser shot like the one he ripped in the first period.

Kid's a stud.

 

[CauZuki]

Kotkaniemi has looked these playoffs to be on track to be that player we'd hoped we had drafted day 1. Always been a big believer in this kid ever since watching him in Finland before we drafted him.

...But even I didn't know he had a laser shot like the one he ripped in the first period.

Kid's a stud.

He was already showing his solid shot at the U18s , I hope he can become a consistent 70-80 point guy.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

It was always going to come down to if he could greatly improve his strength and skating. No doubt it looks like he’s turned those weaknesses into strengths- to my surprise.

 

[ForeverHabs97]

Unpopular opinion, he's still a little lanky.

But no doubt he has all of the elite skills to make it.

 

[ahmedou]

 

[LaTenderness]

Kid has a nasty shot and was our best skater by a mile tonight

 

[Mrb1p]

We rushed him, imagine where he’d be if he went back to Finland

Crazy what physical development does to a player.... which is exactly why he shouldve went back to Finland in year one.
I didnt think he was good enough to carry himself out of that hole

 

[CoopersFalls]

I’m not going to lie, I started to believe he was never going to be that difference maker we had hoped. Tonight was one of his best games of his career, confident all over the ice and finally using his dangerous shot, even though he didn’t bury one.

 

[greygoosevodka]

Why doesn't KK play right circle on the power play? Domi will never score from there.

 

[Canadienna]

Kotkaniemi looks like a legitimate #1C right now. I think he might be done playing third line minutes with the Habs.