C/W Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Ässät, Liiga (2018, 3rd, MTL)

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Ippenator

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It's not just that one season, Barkov's production was amazing even during his 16-year-old season in Liiga. And consensus is consensus when it comes to Finnish players, I had him #1. Also, Seth Jones definitely was expected to go before Drouin. In any case, the point is that Barkov was quite a bit stronger a prospect than Kotkaniemi.
Barkov was better than Kotkaniemi by some margin for sure. Although his production (because so much inflated by the chemistry and ice time with Ville Nieminen) was not really THAT much better after all. And honestly after watching a lot of Barkov’s play just recently from that season, it refreshed my memory of how awful skater he really was at that time. When comparing just skating, Kotkaniemi is a clearly better skater than the draft time Barkov.

Barkov was though having by some margin a better hockey IQ, which after all is always the most important thing about players being really succesful, so that alone should in my opinion make Barkov a bit better prospect than Kotkaniemi. But I dont definitely see the gap as big as many Finnish Barkov fans easily like to see. Barkov has always been a bit overrated in my opinion.
 
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BB88

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It's not just that one season, Barkov's production was amazing even during his 16-year-old season in Liiga. And consensus is consensus when it comes to Finnish players, I had him #1. Also, Seth Jones definitely was expected to go before Drouin. In any case, the point is that Barkov was quite a bit stronger a prospect than Kotkaniemi.

He was, but even Barkov lite would be a massive win for Montreal.

Kotka could be a lot closer to Barkov in October than he was at the end of season, again due to Barkov missing the whole offseason with injury, as he did the next few and I feel Kotka has more room to develop, he has more room to grow than Barkov did.
 
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417

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Media does a great job at juxtaposing EVERYTHING the Habs do as horrible...

And when the opposite actually ends up happening, they can point to screenshots like this to say how stupid Habs fans are.
 

TheFinnishTrap

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HFBoard's experts haha, funny to read these now that it's over.

Conclusion, he would've been picked by the coyotes at 5, happy we didn't risk it by trading down.
Hindsight is funny, I had no idea Arizona was that desperate for a center. I guess the real scouts saw the top-10 group after Dahlin and Svechnikov as a very even group. Well, hopefully Kotkaniemi’s rise will continue even after the draft.
 

ijuka

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HFBoard's experts haha, funny to read these now that it's over.

Conclusion, he would've been picked by the coyotes at 5, happy we didn't risk it by trading down.
Why do you think he'd have been picked by Coyotes at 5? Chayka says he was their guy and they've been following him for 2 years. You still think they'd go for Kotkaniemi over him? I don't see it.

IMO Coyotes were set on that pick after Svechnikov was picked.
 
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BB88

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Why do you think he'd have been picked by Coyotes at 5? Chayka says he was their guy and they've been following him for 2 years. You still think they'd go for Kotkaniemi over him? I don't see it.

IMO Coyotes were set on that pick after Svechnikov was picked.

Maybe they knew Kotka was going before them.

Last night teams like to add value prospects in their system.
 

Esko6

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Sep 14, 2004
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His mother is an actor and grandfather a director. He has lots of family connections to both theater and hockey. Kotkaniemi could be a fan favourite if he ends up being a good player, he can make people laugh with his interviews.
 
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FinlandPanther

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Mar 16, 2009
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Barkov was better than Kotkaniemi by some margin for sure. Although his production (because so much inflated by the chemistry and ice time with Ville Nieminen) was not really THAT much better after all. And honestly after watching a lot of Barkov’s play just recently from that season, it refreshed my memory of how awful skater he really was at that time. When comparing just skating, Kotkaniemi is a clearly better skater than the draft time Barkov.

Barkov was though having by some margin a better hockey IQ, which after all is always the most important thing about players being really succesful, so that alone should in my opinion make Barkov a bit better prospect than Kotkaniemi. But I dont definitely see the gap as big as many Finnish Barkov fans easily like to see. Barkov has always been a bit overrated in my opinion.
Yeah Barkov is super overrated. Lmao. Just an al around pretty terrible post on all aspects. I’m actually not even mad I’m impressed.
 

kelsier

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Wow amazing. I heard the rumours but didn't really think too much of them. All I can say is I hope the Habs fans can remain patient with him as it will take at least another year of FEL before he'll be even close to ready for the NHL. Really liked him even before the draft year and although I've been a bit critical of his production this year, I hope that the Eagle we saw in the U18 WJHC is the player we will see in the NHL a few years from today.

That makes the third consecutive Finn drafted in the NHL in 3 years' span.

2016: 2nd overall - Patrik Laine @ Jets
2017: 3rd overall - Miro Heiskanen @ Stars
2018: 3rd overall - Jesperi Kotkaniemi @ Canadiens

Who would have ever thought? Also lets not forget about Kakko, he's going in the top 3 next year, just book it! That makes 4th consecutive top 3 pick within 4 years.

The Golden age.
 

Legend123

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Jul 3, 2016
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Wow amazing. I heard the rumours but didn't really think too much of them. All I can say is I hope the Habs fans can remain patient with him as it will take at least another year of FEL before he'll be even close to ready for the NHL. Really liked him even before the draft year and although I've been a bit critical of his production this year, I hope that the Eagle we saw in the U18 WJHC is the player we will see in the NHL a few years from today.

That makes the third consecutive Finn drafted in the NHL in 3 years' span.

2016: 2nd overall - Patrik Laine @ Jets
2017: 3rd overall - Miro Heiskanen @ Stars
2018: 3rd overall - Jesperi Kotkaniemi @ Canadiens

Who would have ever thought? Also lets not forget about Kakko, he's going in the top 3 next year, just book it! That makes 4th consecutive top 3 pick within 4 years.

The Golden age.
Kako is going 2OA unless we see another C heavy drafting draft. But bo wsh that future superstar goes beyond the top 3
 

Korkki

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Mar 6, 2002
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His mother is an actor and grandfather a director. He has lots of family connections to both theater and hockey. Kotkaniemi could be a fan favourite if he ends up being a good player, he can make people laugh with his interviews.
No, his mother is not an actor (or actress in correct words), but his grandmother is. His father is from cultural family from the downtown Helsinki.

(Hope this works now - tried to reply earlier but the site crashed)
 

Korkki

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Mar 6, 2002
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Come on, it is not the 50's anymore.
If thinking about offensivity, why the general word should be actor. Why not actress? "Actress Hugh Grant" sounds pretty good? "Actress Sylvester Stallone" isn't sounding as good. And won't even try to mix Chuck Norris with this...

So lame game going on at WChamps. Time to play with words :)
 
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The Winter Soldier

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Apr 4, 2011
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Wow amazing. I heard the rumours but didn't really think too much of them. All I can say is I hope the Habs fans can remain patient with him as it will take at least another year of FEL before he'll be even close to ready for the NHL. Really liked him even before the draft year and although I've been a bit critical of his production this year, I hope that the Eagle we saw in the U18 WJHC is the player we will see in the NHL a few years from today.

That makes the third consecutive Finn drafted in the NHL in 3 years' span.

2016: 2nd overall - Patrik Laine @ Jets
2017: 3rd overall - Miro Heiskanen @ Stars
2018: 3rd overall - Jesperi Kotkaniemi @ Canadiens

Who would have ever thought? Also lets not forget about Kakko, he's going in the top 3 next year, just book it! That makes 4th consecutive top 3 pick within 4 years.

The Golden age.

Thanks for the run down. I hope he does well for the Habs. Wasn't crazy about their 2nd rd picks with the players they passed on, but maybe Koltkanieni can save their draft.
 

Hockeyisl1fe

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Dec 8, 2016
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These Zadina comparisons are like Drouin vs Barkov all over again. I don't think everybody understands that the difference in scoring in the CHL is massive compared to the pro leagues in Europe... Petrus Palmu scored 98p in 62 games in the OHL in 16-17, this season in the FEL he scored 36p in 59 games (pretty similar pace to Kotkaniemi). And while I'm at it, where was Zadina ranked before the season? He scored 2p in 25 games in the Czech league before moving to the CHL. It wasn't his draft season yeah, but he was only 4 months younger than Kotkaniemi was in his draft season.
 
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MrNasty

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Jun 13, 2007
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Why do you think he'd have been picked by Coyotes at 5? Chayka says he was their guy and they've been following him for 2 years. You still think they'd go for Kotkaniemi over him? I don't see it.

IMO Coyotes were set on that pick after Svechnikov was picked.
Arizona approached Montreal to swap picks. Not a chance they wanted to move from 5 to 3 in order to draft Hayton.
They had to have either wanted Kotk or Tkachuk. I would wager on Kotk.
 

ottawa

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Hindsight is funny, I had no idea Arizona was that desperate for a center. I guess the real scouts saw the top-10 group after Dahlin and Svechnikov as a very even group. Well, hopefully Kotkaniemi’s rise will continue even after the draft.

I remember you originally saying Kotkaniemi wouldn't even go top 20 but you slowly brought him down to top 10. Your whole post history about prospects is inaccurate
 

Kaako Kappo

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I remember you originally saying Kotkaniemi wouldn't even go top 20 but you slowly brought him down to top 10. Your whole post history about prospects is inaccurate
Aren't most amateur lists inaccurate too, if you start looking at the whole year & the changes? :laugh:
 

TheFinnishTrap

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Apr 10, 2012
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I remember you originally saying Kotkaniemi wouldn't even go top 20 but you slowly brought him down to top 10. Your whole post history about prospects is inaccurate
I really can't find a post where I say he won't go even top-20, but I guess that might be from the beginning of the season when I wasn't really familiar with Kotkaniemi at all. I've had him in the top-10 since March, and I think the last couple of months I've had him slightly below top-5. Please don't think I have something against Montreal or Kotkaniemi, I hope he does great for you, and I don't think he is a bad pick at all.

Also you are wrong, I had Kupari right around 20 ;)
 

ottawa

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I really can't find a post where I say he won't go even top-20, but I guess that might be from the beginning of the season when I wasn't really familiar with Kotkaniemi at all. I've had him in the top-10 since March, and I think the last couple of months I've had him slightly below top-5. Please don't think I have something against Montreal or Kotkaniemi, I hope he does great for you, and I don't think he is a bad pick at all.

Also you are wrong, I had Kupari right around 20 ;)

Fair enough.
 
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