Tribute Kotkaniemi appreciation thread

[Michelangelo]

I'll admit, I was a huge fan of KK and was beyond bummed that we lost him in the offseason. I looked at his stats today.,

Soooo....he's 10th amongst CAR with 57% 5v5 on-ice GF% (20-15). Astonishing share of on-ice high danger chances over 70%. He's more productive then Aho at 5v5. And I'm sure he still does this while facing opposing top lines.

In retrospect, is it fair to say :

1) He's a high quality second line center (as in the 5v5, second line). Only 4 teams have 2 centers with more 5v5 points this year then KK. For those saying it's a small sample size, between 18-19 and 20-21 he comes 23rd in the league for 5v5 points, which is only 3 ranks below his current season.

2) He was not a product of Armia like many claimed

3) 6.1M cap hit is far from expensive for a player like him

4) Amongst all our losses this offseason, he's the costliest, above Weber and regular season wise even mor impactful then Price who posted league average stats these past seasons.

Do you guys agree with those statements? For the perpetual KK haters of the last few seasons in here, are his performances with the Canes changing your opinion on him?

Cheers​

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[habsfan92]

Don't care. He is not what we needed him to be. Let it go. Join the Canes boards.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

He is not on this team and therefore does not matter to me

 

[salbutera]

F*ck KK - he’s no longer a Hab…he’s dead to me

 

[Mandalorian]

I think the Danault lost hurted the Habs the most this season, but long term it's going to be KK loss that's going to hurt the most.

Otherwise I agree with the rest, but I would have been cool with Bergevin signing him at 1*6.1m$ and not signing Hoffman and Savard this summer.

Don't know why it took so long to sign Kotkaniemi (well, to not sign him). Bergevin and his no in-season contract negociation strategy

 

[Justin11]

These tribute threads are hilarious

 

[McGees]

 

[HabsForHire]

Why make this thread ??? Some people just can't move on. Lock her up

 

[Mackiaveli]

He's more productive then Aho at 5v5

So if you had to put only one on the ice in 5v5, you'd put KK out before Aho?

He was not a product of Armia like many claimed

I loved KK but he wasn't a product of anything. He would be a very good late 1st, he has done nothing to live up to his draft position, but neither have Zadina or Hayton so

6.1M cap hit is far from expensive for a player like him

yeah... no you lost me here. Other players in the same range: Marchand, Scheifele, Larkin, Forsberg, Guentzel, Dahlin, Meier, Hall (don't want to include the super contracts like Barkov or Huberdeau)

DeBrincat (6.4m) Schenn (6.5m), Reinhart (6.5m) Gaudreau (6.75m) Point (6.75m) are within striking range.

The only players worse than KK at that price range are also egregiously overpaid (Lucic, Johnson, Okposo) ... I would probably even take Henrique and Brown at their 5.8m over KK at 6.1m (and those contracts suck)

Amongst all our losses this offseason, he's the costliest, above Weber and regular season wise even mor impactful then Price who posted league average stats these past seasons.

No. Jesperi Kotkaniemi is not more valuable to our regular season team than Carey Price. Our biggest loss was Shea Weber, our next biggest loss was probably Danault and Tatar (our top line at 5on5) ... Danault is 20x better than J.K but Danault is also in his prime and J.K is still getting a lot better. I don't think that will last forever

 

[Habs13]

I hereby state that I do not appreciate Kotkaniemi. I blame Bergevin for him leaving but I still hold a grudge against him too.

 

[Le Tricolore]

Why make this thread ??? Some people just can't move on. Lock her up

Fine, but just because you said so.