Confirmed with Link: Habs Sign Jesperi Kotkaniemi to 3-Year ELC ($925K)

[Adam Michaels]

Wtf? Why now?

Why not wait for his Liiga contract to run out?

It does nothing in regards to him playing in Liiga. He can still play there.

 

[DAChampion]

Hopefully he goes back to Finland.

 

[Michelangelo]

Yeah or else it makes no sense signing him now.

He gets early incentive with the signing bonus, we just get it out of the way

 

[Draft]

Im not sure what you’re trying to do to be honest

Trying to get in on the whining today!! I feel like I'm missing out.

 

[Zorba]

Why not give him a chance? Play him between byron and Gallagher. You can’t go wrong Centring these 2.
They show up every game. Great role models

 

[schnapshot]

Why not give him a chance? Play him between byron and Gallagher. You can’t go wrong Centring these 2.
They show up every game. Great role models

He’s not NHL ready.

 

[Zorba]

He’s not NHL ready.

Shelter his minutes. Play him
With Gallagher/Byron/lehkonen. Guys who don’t take days off.
It won’t hurt

 

[Stive Morgan]

Shelter his minutes. Play him
With Gallagher/Byron/lehkonen. Guys who don’t take days off.
It won’t hurt

No need to rush him. I'm totally for playing him with those guys, but he doesn't need to be playing in the NHL this early.

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[Matteus]

Entry-Level Slide Candidates - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Does that mean his bonus will be on the cap this year even if the contract slides or did I misunderstand ?

 

[Treb]

Does that mean his bonus will be on the cap this year even if the contract slides or did I misunderstand ?

Pretty sure it just doesn't count on the cap anymore.

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[schnapshot]

Please let him develop one year in Finland

 

[NotProkofievian]

Does the ELC starts when it's signed or when the player starts his first pro game?

The contract slides unless he's playing North American pro. It specifically says ''North American.''

 

[Adam Michaels]

Please let him develop one year in Finland

I agree.

 

[Redux91]

Just awesome, happy for the kid
No rush, work out at your own pace, Poehling looks just fine at 205 from 180, Kotka should aim for about 10 more lbs than what he is now for start

I bring up poehling because hes showing me that its looking more and more like he is a leader and can handle this media, and will probably BE the number 1 center on this team in 2 years time and we wont need PPG from him as he does to start off, what we need from him is to basically take up the space and create a situation where Kotkaniemi can come in and be a sort of Kuznetsov 2nd line center until HE can transition into the top line C role himself

Poehling and Kotka up the middle in the future is super exciting, X-factor is Olofsson who has me more intrigued

 

[S Bah]

Great signing for the Habs, treating their players like human beings not #'s. This is what will entice star players once again to play in Montreal, IMHO!!!...

 

[montreal]

The contract slides unless he's playing North American pro. It specifically says ''North American.''

The contract will slide as long as he doesn't appear in more then 10 NHL games during his first 2 years. So if he plays in the AHL next year, the contract will slide as long as he doesn't play more then 10 games in the NHL.

 

[RageQuit77]

I don't get it.

Habs fans are desperately crying in their demand of future centers. Then they managed to pick the best one of the draft class, and they still cry about it. They recognize the urgency of process of real rebuilding, but they cry about their luck when actually getting highly likely a future core building block for the process taking necessarily few years.

They got also One Man Army and some auxiliaries (almost free), and they are still crying. I don't get it.

It would be probably best to send a full cohort of cheap Finnish UFAs to Montreal to fix the attitude problem, Saku being their GM. ;D

 

[Habby Patty]

Can someone explain what the point of this signing is? I get that he can play in Finland, but shouldn't we have waited until he was ready to come over? Doesn't this mean he will play in the NHL/AHL next year? He should play 1 more full year in Finland.

 

[SquiddFX]

"Sign you initial MS here."

-Marc Bergevin

 

[JianYang]

Can someone explain what the point of this signing is? I get that he can play in Finland, but shouldn't we have waited until he was ready to come over? Doesn't this mean he will play in the NHL/AHL next year? He should play 1 more full year in Finland.

It could be nothing more than a Goodwill gesture, who knows.

All I care about is that this contract does not appear to burn his entry level years, unless he actually plays here.

 

[BB88]

Can someone explain what the point of this signing is? I get that he can play in Finland, but shouldn't we have waited until he was ready to come over? Doesn't this mean he will play in the NHL/AHL next year? He should play 1 more full year in Finland.

You know for 100% you have him on contract and Kotka gets a bit of money.

 

[Habby Patty]

It could be nothing more than a Goodwill gesture, who knows.

All I care about is that this contract does not appear to burn his entry level years, unless he actually plays here.

Oh I thought it did burn the years. That's why I was concerned.