Player Discussion Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Part 11

[Mike Hasselhoffman]

Would love to see KK get some more ice time and a slight reconfiguration of the lines. Something along these lines (assuming Perry sticks in the lineup for now with Armia out):

Drouin - Suzuki - Anderson
Tatar - Kotkaniemi - Toffoli
Perry - Danault - Gallagher
Byron - Evans - Lehkonen

it’s clear that from watching KK so far this season he’s much stronger on the puck and much more adept at making decisions with it. Let’s get him some more ice time and see what he can do!

 

[Ozmodiar]

This is pure BS. Watched every one of KKs AHL games and he was really good.

Well, I watched them too and even went live a few times and brought people with me. Everybody would disagree with you but obviously, I am polite enough to not call your observation as pure BS.

I watched 2 of his AHL games. (TV)

In one of them, either post-game or between periods, Bouchard was being interviewed and was very critical of KK for his lack of commitment to both ends of the ice / back checking.

... so, it might depend on which games you've seen.

Looks like KK has straightened things out. You can see the results on the ice and JB has since had good things to say.

 

[JuicyHam]

No, the vast majority did not, the vocal minority made it seem that way.

What do you think i'm basing my assumption on. The only thing I have to read the room on is what people posted here. They may be the vocal minority of actual habs fans but on this board i'm just telling you what I saw

 

[WeThreeKings]

What do you think i'm basing my assumption on. The only thing I have to read the room on is what people posted here. They may be the vocal minority of actual habs fans but on this board i'm just telling you what I saw

What you saw was the regulars in the draft thread getting into progressively hotter takes as the year wore on. Myself included.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

There are so many factors to consider from the KK selection.

1) the habs were drafting top 5 for the first time since 2012 and usually it is there you can draft a franchise center.

2) Suzuki(not yet traded for Pacioretty) and Domi still was just traded for Galchenyuk and still an unknown.

3) Kotkaniemi had the making of a potential top center but he was very raw.

4) Tkachuk had question marks about his goalscoring abilities and he was more considered as a luxury complementary player. Agitator/Top 6 forward in the Gallagher mold.

In the end, the habs went with the selection which made the more sense (center, higher potential, fill a humongous org need) but I would not have been surprised if they had gone for Tkachuck had they knew they would have traded Patches for Suzuki and that Domi could fill in as center.

 

[Ozmodiar]

There are so many factors to consider from the KK selection.

1) the habs were drafting top 5 for the first time since 2012 and usually it is there you can draft a franchise center.

2) Suzuki(not yet traded for Pacioretty) and Domi still was just traded for Galchenyuk and still an unknown.

3) Kotkaniemi had the making of a potential top center but he was very raw.

4) Tkachuk had question marks about his goalscoring abilities and he was more considered as a luxury complementary player. Agitator/Top 6 forward in the Gallagher mold.

In the end, the habs went with the selection which made the more sense (center, higher potential, fill a humongous org need) but I would not have been surprised if they had gone for Tkachuck had they knew they would have traded Patches for Suzuki and that Domi could fill in as center.

dominoes ..

if Suzuki's acquired first, perhaps they see him and Domi down the middle, along with PD.
then, draft Tkachuk, and no need to acquire Anderson.

so we have
KK - Anderson
instead of
Domi - Tkachuk

I prefer what we have, because KK > Domi in the long run.

 

[Ozmodiar]

True since most games were on the road, but last game he barely played against the Tkachuk line, and that line dominated at even-strength (according to xGF). Kotkaniemi mainly played against the Backlund line.



Took a quick look at ice times at naturalstattrick, against Pittsburgh his main opposition were McCann/Blueger/Lafferty as centres. Against the Flyers, it was Couturier/Thompson (pretty impressive IMO that he did well against Couturier's line).

Not saying he didn't do well against those Malkin/Hayes since he did have ice time against them, they were just never a main matchup

interesting website ... top 2 opposing centers from the playoffs:

KK (1. McCann, 2. Blueger)
Suzuki (Malkin, Crosby)
Danault (Crosby, Malkin)

KK (1. Thompson, 2. Grant)
Suzuki (Hayes, Grant)
Danault (Couturier, Hayes)

 

[RandomTask26]

interesting website ... top 2 opposing centers from the playoffs:

KK (1. McCann, 2. Blueger)
Suzuki (Malkin, Crosby)
Danault (Crosby, Malkin)

KK (1. Thompson, 2. Grant)
Suzuki (Hayes, Grant)
Danault (Couturier, Hayes)

It's a great site! Always interesting seeing deployments and how players fared against each other

 

[Ozmodiar]

It's a great site! Always interesting seeing deployments and how players fared against each other

Yes indeed. Especially with the secondary matchups. It’s obvious who the top match-ups are (Suzuki v Malkin , Hayes) ... but the others aren’t notable unless you’re really watching for them. thanks!

 

[BB88]

Man he looks good out there this year.

His confidence is growing and he’s holding onto the puck more, creating/controlling in the offensive zone.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

Man he looks good out there this year.

His confidence is growing and he’s holding onto the puck more, creating/controlling in the offensive zone.

Thought he was our best Center last night against Calgary by a fair margin.

 

[Scriptor]

Would love to see KK get some more ice time and a slight reconfiguration of the lines. Something along these lines (assuming Perry sticks in the lineup for now with Armia out):

Drouin - Suzuki - Anderson
Tatar - Kotkaniemi - Toffoli
Perry - Danault - Gallagher
Byron - Evans - Lehkonen

it’s clear that from watching KK so far this season he’s much stronger on the puck and much more adept at making decisions with it. Let’s get him some more ice time and see what he can do!

You'll have to change the head coach first. This is neither the team nor the coach to start playing two lines top minutes and go down from there.

Whether you put Tatar on the line with KK and Tofolli or not, Julien will still look to roll out his lines.

I'm not against playing Tatar with KK at all (I would put Lehkonen up with Danault and Gallagher, though) but, it won't change the TOI all that much, IMO.

 

[Scriptor]

Thought he was our best Center last night against Calgary by a fair margin.

That's not saying much.

 

[ZUKI]

I wondered if you were going to bring up the Danault agenda. Seems ironic.

I have not noticed overt criticism of KK.

No need to ask yourself that question. We all know the answer.
I agree with you and didn't notice negative criticisms about KK . The kid is young and to say that he's still learning isn't a bad mouthing of his game.

 

[ZUKI]

13 minutes last game

because the hit he's received on his head. He left the ice before the end of the period. But look at the other games and his time is very close to the one of Danault and Suzuki

 

[Deebs]

Man he looks good out there this year.

His confidence is growing and he’s holding onto the puck more, creating/controlling in the offensive zone.

Agree. The only thing I don't like about his game right now is how long it takes him to get the puck off his stick.

 

[Mrb1p]

because the hit he's received on his head. He left the ice before the end of the period. But look at the other games and his time is very close to the one of Danault and Suzuki

Maybe you can look at the date, i dont know though.

 

[Geecko]

Agree. The only thing I don't like about his game right now is how long it takes him to get the puck off his stick.

Luckily, this is something that can be worked on. So far, he has been able to rectify any weaknesses he had, I have no doubt he can do it for this as well.

 

[Mrb1p]

You'll have to change the head coach first. This is neither the team nor the coach to start playing two lines top minutes and go down from there.

Whether you put Tatar on the line with KK and Tofolli or not, Julien will still look to roll out his lines.

I'm not against playing Tatar with KK at all (I would put Lehkonen up with Danault and Gallagher, though) but, it won't change the TOI all that much, IMO.

Rolling four lines is the reason why people hate on Danault so much, he's just playing too much and fanning on too many chances, too much of a good thing turns into a bad thing sometimes, and thats what playing Danault too much is. He does not need to be out there for 18 minutes a night, especially since he's not relied upon heavily for the PK, hes there for the FOs only.

 

[26Mats]

Rolling four lines is the reason why people hate on Danault so much, he's just playing too much and fanning on too many chances, too much of a good thing turns into a bad thing sometimes, and thats what playing Danault too much is. He does not need to be out there for 18 minutes a night, especially since he's not relied upon heavily for the PK, hes there for the FOs only.

Danault set up some of the best chances last night. I forgetting it was Tatar or Gallagher who got a pass from Dabault from behind the net right to them as lone in the slot. In a a game where the team wasn't creating offense, I don't think Danault was the problem.

Having said that, once Anderson went down, it could be argued Suzuki didn't have good enough wingers and thus should have been given Tatar and/or Gallagher.

 

[Big Empty]

I saw someone talking about putting KK on PP1 and loading up. I actually like the unit he’s on right now but here’s how it would go IMO.

Drouin
Kotkaniemi - Toffoli - Suzuki
Petry

Weber never really commits low enough to open himself up to Suzuki’s amazing cross seam passes. Putting KK there would actually maximize Suzuki’s ability. Drouin down-low can feed any of the other three forwards especially Toffoli in the slot. Petry is very mobile and is great at zone entries. This would actually be an amazing unit.

for unit 2 it could be this

Anderson
Weber - Gallagher - Tatar
Romanov

But then who takes faceoffs on unit 2?

 

[26Mats]

Would love to see KK get some more ice time and a slight reconfiguration of the lines. Something along these lines (assuming Perry sticks in the lineup for now with Armia out):

Drouin - Suzuki - Anderson
Tatar - Kotkaniemi - Toffoli
Perry - Danault - Gallagher
Byron - Evans - Lehkonen

it’s clear that from watching KK so far this season he’s much stronger on the puck and much more adept at making decisions with it. Let’s get him some more ice time and see what he can do!

This is why I wanted one more top 9 forward this offseason. Even in your reconfiguration, Gallagher has to play with Danault and Perry. That's not a good use of Gallagher's talent. If, for example, we had moved Byron and added Granlund, kk could have been playing with Granlund and Toffoli.

 

[Mrb1p]

I saw someone talking about putting KK on PP1 and loading up. I actually like the unit he’s on right now but here’s how it would go IMO.

Drouin
Kotkaniemi - Toffoli - Suzuki
Petry

Weber never really commits low enough to open himself up to Suzuki’s amazing cross seam passes. Putting KK there would actually maximize Suzuki’s ability. Drouin down-low can feed any of the other three forwards especially Toffoli in the slot. Petry is very mobile and is great at zone entries. This would actually be an amazing unit.

for unit 2 it could be this

Anderson
Weber - Gallagher - Tatar
Romanov

But then who takes faceoffs on unit 2?

The toffoli in the slot never set play never works, they need to end that crap, they need a big body that will move on the crease not some weak random shots from the slots.

 

[MD thaivuN]

lol the clowns at RDS trying to justify Dube's hit and saying it was KK's fault for turning.

 

[MarkJ]

F this league.