Prospect Info: Jesperi Kotkaniemi Part III

[76]

Good game again. Tough again for him in the dots but it's part of the process and completely normal at his age. Still a bit shy but it's also understandable. Should have take the shot on the 2 on 1. First goal is about to come.

Just a great kid, living great moments growing with the next successful core of the team.

 

[Cobra Commander]

It's nice to invent things but he had 3:17 of pp time. Only two guys on the team had 4 minutes.

2nd pp unit time

 

[Video Coach]

As many have said, I'd like to see him without Armia. I think he's way better with Lehkonen, so I'd think about switching those RWs.

Hope his confidence is still high. He's making nice plays but not getting results and his ice team and usage isn't great.

One good sign from last game - he was out there with under 2mins to go in a tie game. That's a very good sign.

 

[Cobra Commander]

As many have said, I'd like to see him without Armia. I think he's way better with Lehkonen, so I'd think about switching those RWs.

Hope his confidence is still high. He's making nice plays but not getting results and his ice team and usage isn't great.

One good sign from last game - he was out there with under 2mins to go in a tie game. That's a very good sign.

Even Lehkonen isn’t good enough for him, he should have Tatar and Gally, our 2 best finishers wasted on Danault, just like Radulov and Max were.

 

[admiralcadillac]

2nd pp unit time

Apparently 3:17 on the second pp unit equates to "gets no pp time" and "barely nothing" now.

He's still playing almost as much time, on the actual powerplay, with the man advantage. So he's on the ice more than all but 3 other forwards, on the powerplay.

 

[HOPE]

Why does he need quality offensive minutes right away? Why can't he adapt to the NHL slowly, and get offensive minutes after he's proven he's too good for anything less? It didn't seem to hurt him in Finland where he started from the bottom and worked his way up.

This isn't a mentally fragile prospect like we've had previously. You can see it in his eyes and the way he plays the game. He's ready to be here. And soon enough, he'll be ready to produce offensively.

Personally, I think the AHL would do nothing for Kotkaniemi. I think he's too good already for that.

I don’t care if he stays, but if he does my point is not about being strong mentaly or not, my point is the younger you are the better your learning curve is, when you send a kid down it’s when he needs to work on something and it’s mostly defense and usualy when sent down from the NHL you play big minutes wich mean you are usually involved in puck plays ALOT. Kotkaniemi doesn’t need to work on his defense that much it’s only maturity and physicality, he already has the smarts. While his offensive is clearly not a weakness, in my honest opinion, he needs to be working with the puck alot more than he is right now, if he plays at the NHL level he needs to play with puck possession who won’t kill the play as soon as he’s ready to join the attack, as of right now most of his learning is defensive purposes, he goes back in his zone, gets his man, does a little nice play, zone exits, armia loses the puck, repeat.

Take for example de la rose, before you say anything i know kotkaniemi is 5 times the prospect de la rose was but he was also a shit ton better offensively than he showed with us and i feel like it’s because he was rushed into the NHL in a strict defensive game and i feel like it can happen to a certain degree to Kotkanieni, not as in he bust but not reaching his full offensive potential. If a prospect is that good defensively you should be able to give him realy good offensive opportunity because you know he won’t put you in trouble.

I know domi is doing very well at center right now but with his type of play he could be good anywhere, why not try something like domi - kotkaniemi - drouin

That would be a massive puck possession, dynamic and defensively reliable line.

 

[Fazkovsky]

I dont know if we saw the same game but i thought yesterday was his best game

He was involved, he had a few scoring chances. CJ is slowly trying to increase his icetime i hope
He scores his first goal soon

 

[tooji]

Coach isn’t sheltering him that much. I saw him on the ice with under 2 minutes left in a tie game in the 3rd last night

Also what I noticed is that although he is on the 2nd wave, he is sending kotka out first even when there is more than a min left in the PP, this way he gets some time with PP1 (like 20-30 seconds) before his unit comes on

 

[Mrb1p]

Even Lehkonen isn’t good enough for him, he should have Tatar and Gally, our 2 best finishers wasted on Danault, just like Radulov and Max were.

I think one of Gally or Tatar is enough, plug either a playmaker on the other wing, like say, Domi. Now that's a first line.

Domi-Kotkaniemi-Gallagher.

Or
Tatar-Kotkaniemi-Drouin

I hate Drouin but he's shown some nice things in preseason on Kotkas wing.

But to me, the most important thing moving forward, is that Jesperi is used on the first PP, and as a staple there. He's money in the upper hashmarks, behind the net, on the halfwall, in the slot. He can do it all, he's really our most skilled forward.