Player Discussion Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Part 10

[HOPE]

It might sound stupid but the first few years of a kids development is crucial and playing with talent that fit your vision/skillset makes a big difference. Winning Lafreniere would be a miracle for this organization, not only because you’re possibly getting franchise player, but it pushes back depth winger and allows kids who need talent around them to grow. Caufield, Suzuki, Kotkaniemi would all be playing straight up with talented player and so much different line composition possible.
Ex:

Center:
Suzuki
Kotkaniemi
Danault
Poehling
Evans


LW:
Lafreniere
Domi
Drouin
Tatar

RW:
Caufield
Gallagher
Drouin (can play there)
Ylonen
Armia

Trade baits if things fall into place:

Tatar
Domi
Drouin
Danault
Poehling

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

I think I have brain damage, some of
My posts lately are not very well thought out..

go Habs go.

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

It might sound stupid but the first few years of a kids development is crucial and playing with talent that fit your vision/skillset makes a big difference. Winning Lafreniere would be a miracle for this organization, not only because you’re possibly getting franchise player, but it pushes back depth winger and allows kids who need talent around them to grow. Caufield, Suzuki, Kotkaniemi would all be playing straight up with talented player and so much different line composition possible.
Ex:

Center:
Suzuki
Kotkaniemi
Danault
Poehling
Evans


LW:
Lafreniere
Domi
Drouin
Tatar

RW:
Caufield
Gallagher
Drouin (can play there)
Ylonen
Armia

Trade baits if things fall into place:

Tatar
Domi
Drouin
Danault
Poehling

This is what I’ve been trying to say about kotka.

I may not be the beat judge of players being able to hit their potential but I would assume it’s common knowledge that with a player like kotka, a bit of project and reach at number 3, would take a little longer to peak without being surrounded by other elite talent.

Oh and I’m not saying he was a complete reach in the draft but he did have poor skating and bad pshyical play right out of the draft unlike thachuk.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I think I have brain damage, some of
My posts lately are not very well thought out..

go Habs go.

We all have brain cramps at times. You are human

 

[Habs Halifax]

This is what I’ve been trying to say about kotka.

I may not be the beat judge of players being able to hit their potential but I would assume it’s common knowledge that with a player like kotka, a bit of project and reach at number 3, would take a little longer to peak without being surrounded by other elite talent.

I wonder the hype on Kotkaniemi if he played Liiga at 18 and AHL at 19.... Would be completely different perception.

What bugs me the most is he didn't dominate a development league and then we leap frog him to the 3C role at 18... this right after we draft him and the narrative was "long term prospect". We are roller coasting his development just like how our team in the standings. Very premature moves cause we are desperate to fill holes.

Regardless, the real Kotkaniemi will stand up from the 21-23 age range. It's just not the conservative development path other teams take

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

I wonder the hype on Kotkaniemi if he played Liiga at 18 and AHL at 19.... Would be completely different perception

For me, both galchenyuk and kotka were rushed. I understand they both had NHL ability and at least pace there first years but this is the show and if I’m Molson I completely make it a policy that our draft picks, unless they are Crosby, spend at least their d1 where they came from.. especially in the case where galchenyuk spent his draft year injured..

but what do I know haha

 

[Habs Halifax]

For me, both galchenyuk and kotka were rushed. I understand they both had NHL ability and at least pace there first years but this is the show and if I’m Molson I completely make it a policy that our draft picks, unless they are Crosby, spend at least their d1 where they came from.. especially in the case where galchenyuk spent his draft year injured..

but what do I know haha

I think we stop rushing prospects here soon and it has a lot to do with depth in our prospect pool. The drafting from 08-15 was not good at all and Bergevin made trades to fill holes. We have flaws to address still and we have inserted young guys to fill holes.

Center depth when Kotkaniemi made the team. Danault, a Declining Pleky, DLR, Peca. Think about it. Kotkaniemi just did the assignments well and he stood out over DLR and Peca very easily. Domi played center for the first time.

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

I think we stop rushing prospects here soon and it has a lot to do with depth in our prospect pool. The drafting from 08-15 was not good at all and Bergevin made trades to fill holes. We have flaws to address still and we have inserted young guys to fill holes.

Center depth when Kotkaniemi made the team. Danault, a Declining Pleky, DLR, Peca. Think about it. Kotkaniemi just did the assignments well and he stood out over DLR and Peca very easily. Domi played center for the first time.

I know I’m a dreamer but when we got Domi I was really hoping they would try McCarron on his line to see if they complemented each other as well as they did on the London Knights.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

It might sound stupid but the first few years of a kids development is crucial and playing with talent that fit your vision/skillset makes a big difference. Winning Lafreniere would be a miracle for this organization, not only because you’re possibly getting franchise player, but it pushes back depth winger and allows kids who need talent around them to grow. Caufield, Suzuki, Kotkaniemi would all be playing straight up with talented player and so much different line composition possible.
Ex:

Center:
Suzuki
Kotkaniemi
Danault
Poehling
Evans


LW:
Lafreniere
Domi
Drouin
Tatar

RW:
Caufield
Gallagher
Drouin (can play there)
Ylonen
Armia

Trade baits if things fall into place:

Tatar
Domi
Drouin
Danault
Poehling

It doesn't need to be said again but I'll say it, yeah drafting Laff is huge.

We'd have a lot of very good trade bait to shore up holes in the D.

But the D prospects are very good themselves. You'd love to have a Dahlin to point too but Romanov, Norlinder, Brook, Struble, Harris, Fleury, Juulsen and Mete has a lot of potential. There could easily be more hits than misses in this group alone where lacking a true blue chip could be made up by committee.

Primeau between the pipes and we have a pretty damn exciting group of kids/young players going forward. Good cap position. A dump truck's worth of picks in the upcoming draft and you don't have to be too rose-coloured to see we'd be in great shape.

Missing out on Laf makes it a lot harder but I still think in terms of prospects it really does feel for once in my lifetime we're at least moving in the right direction. Depends on how glacial that progress will be if no big moves are made. MB would have to get creative. Depending on your perspective it could go either way.

 

[ahmedou]

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Him losing his balance after the shot doe lol

 

[ahmedou]

 

[ahmedou]

 

[ahmedou]

NHL pause helped Kotkaniemi find his skating and confidence (Video)

After an up and down sophomore year with the Canadiens, Jesperi Kotkaniemi returned to Finland when the NHL went on paused and he used the time to focus on his skating. Now back at camp, the hard work has paid off and his new found confidence is getting noticed. John Lu has more.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Any word on what he’s weighing these days?

 

[ahmedou]

#Julien-Conférencedepresse(20/07/17):Kotkaniemi

“Ce qu'il faut reconnaitre sans trop rentrer en détail ce que le jeune joueur n'a pas connu un grand début de saison (2019-2020). Il ne faut pas oublier qu'il a eu une chirurgie au genou pas longtemps après que le camp d'entrainement avait commencé. Il n'a jamais eu l'occasion de récupérer à 100%. Alors son patin n'était pas au niveau où il est présentement. Quand ces choses là arrivent et si tu ne patines pas et que tu n'es pas capable de garder le rythme du jeu, l'adversaire te rattrape + t'enlève la rondelle + ferme le jeu rapidement. Tu perds la rondelle et tu deviens frustré. Ces choses là c'est un effet boule de neige. C'est ce qui est arrivé avec lui.”

“Présentement ce que je vois c'est qu'il est en meilleure santé. Il a tout un lancer, c'est un atout qui va être un de ses grands atouts dans le futur. Alors il y'a beaucoup de qualités dans son jeu qui semble indiqué qu'il est de retour en allant dans la bonne direction. J'aime la direction qu'il s'en va parce qu'il garde le rythme, il patine bien et il fait de bons jeux. Alors c'est encourageant ce qu'on voit.”

“Ce n'est pas de lui mettre ou de lui enlever de la pression, c'est de le supporter et l'aider à continuer à retrouver son jeu (comme ce qu'on l'a vu faire après quatre mois de repos). Il a eu un bon entrainement et il est arrivé en bonne forme.”

 

[Skip Bayless]

The most underrated part of his game. Glad he's working on it.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

#Julien-Conférencedepresse(20/07/17):Kotkaniemi

“Ce qu'il faut reconnaitre sans trop rentrer en détail ce que le jeune joueur n'a pas connu un grand début de saison (2019-2020). Il ne faut pas oublier qu'il a eu une chirurgie au genou pas longtemps après que le camp d'entrainement avait commencé. Il n'a jamais eu l'occasion de récupérer à 100%. Alors son patin n'était pas au niveau où il est présentement. Quand ces choses là arrivent et si tu ne patines pas et que tu n'es pas capable de garder le rythme du jeu, l'adversaire te rattrape + t'enlève la rondelle + ferme le jeu rapidement. Tu perds la rondelle et tu deviens frustré. Ces choses là c'est un effet boule de neige. C'est ce qui est arrivé avec lui.”

“Présentement ce que je vois c'est qu'il est en meilleure santé. Il a tout un lancer, c'est un atout qui va être un de ses grands atouts dans le futur. Alors il y'a beaucoup de qualités dans son jeu qui semble indiqué qu'il est de retour en allant dans la bonne direction. J'aime la direction qu'il s'en va parce qu'il garde le rythme, il patine bien et il fait de bons jeux. Alors c'est encourageant ce qu'on voit.”

“Ce n'est pas de lui mettre ou de lui enlever de la pression, c'est de le supporter et l'aider à continuer à retrouver son jeu (comme ce qu'on l'a vu faire après quatre mois de repos). Il a eu un bon entrainement et il est arrivé en bonne forme.”

Julien just needs to not run over him with any more buses and he will be fine

 

[26Mats]

Any word on what he’s weighing these days?

He's going to be a BEAST at 25. Like Thomas Hertl. He's already well on his way, judging by today's press conference

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

He's going to be a BEAST at 25. Like Thomas Hertl. He's already well on his way, judging by today's press conference

Hertl is 215lbs. Would be a great weight for JK, but he’s definitely got a ways to go.

 

[Scriptor]

Him losing his balance after the shot doe lol

How hard that shot was, who cares.

 

[HOPE]

Him losing his balance after the shot doe lol

You didn’t hear? The puck got a 2min call for roughin on that play.

 

[HOPE]

First off let me say i was and still am a pro-Kotkaniemi before we even drafted him. But lets get real over here, He’s the same player he was just before the season was cancelled. He’s a 20 year old kid who’s still very raw, needs work on his skating technique and needs to get much stronger. I’m sorry to break it down for you dreamers but all those praise from Julien, Danault, Gallagher, etc are ego boosters. They know what a confident Kotkaniemi can bring to the table and god knows they need his skillset in the play ins, but at the end of the day he still has the same flaws, his skating hasn’t magically got way better, he stated himself he had 4-5 skating sessions. But yeah a Healthy physically AND mentally KK is still one of our best player. I can’t wait for this whole stupid Play-ins thing to be over so we can have a solid draft and have KK going back to his off season trainings and put in the work into becoming the player i think he can be. We have a good one fellows, but patience is key here.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

First off let me say i was and still am a pro-Kotkaniemi before we even drafted him. But lets get real over here, He’s the same player he was just before the season was cancelled. He’s a 20 year old kid who’s still very raw, needs work on his skating technique and needs to get much stronger. I’m sorry to break it down for you dreamers but all those praise from Julien, Danault, Gallagher, etc are ego boosters. They know what a confident Kotkaniemi can bring to the table and god knows they need his skillset in the play ins, but at the end of the day he still has the same flaws, his skating hasn’t magically got way better, he stated himself he had 4-5 skating sessions. But yeah a Healthy physically AND mentally KK is still one of our best player. I can’t wait for this whole stupid Play-ins thing to be over so we can have a solid draft and have KK going back to his off season trainings and put in the work into becoming the player i think he can be. We have a good one fellows, but patience is key here.

5 months will have passed since the last game he played. I dont know how long it took to heal from his injury, but he still got a lot of time to train. Should make up for the training time he lost last summer because of his knee surgery.

If his skating improved by at least a little bit, and he got his confidence back then we should see a much better kotkaniemi than we saw this season. He also looks stronger, which was another issue he had.

 

[HOPE]

5 months will have passed since the last game he played. I dont know how long it took to heal from his injury, but he still got a lot of time to train. Should make up for the training time he lost last summer because of his knee surgery.

If his skating improved by at least a little bit, and he got his confidence back then we should see a much better kotkaniemi than we saw this season. He also looks stronger, which was another issue he had.

Not wrong, hence why i said a healthy and confident Kotkaniemi is one of our best player. But my point is all the medias hyping how significantly better his skating improved is what makes people have too much expectation, then get mad and say he’s a bust. KK shown some brillant flashes but he’s still young and still have skating technique, balance, strenght issues, 5 power skating session in a 5 month span will not change that, it’s a process and i’m very confident with him. Every young NHL players deals with inconsistencies but progress is what matters! Maybe he’s gonna have amazing play ins and i hope so! (Not too much, haha) but if he does, the confidence and being 100% healthy will be the reason, not those 5 power skating sessions he had!