Prospect Info: Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Part 9

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OldCraig71

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Feb 2, 2009
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The most important prospect that this team needs to pan out (assuming no top 3 lottery win this year) in a decade.
We should just trade the pick if Bergevin is remaining as GM, get a current NHLer and a plug or two to keep clode happy, the same thing for our second-rounders, trade them, we should scrap development entirely.
 

Pompeius Magnus

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May 18, 2014
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Obviously I'm not saying that Kotkaniemi is going to be as good as Draisaitl, but an important point that I saw on twitter this morning, and why you shouldn't call players busts at 19.


Big Leon was an arguably much worst skater at that point in his career as well. He was downright bad as a 17-18 year old, like well below NHL average.
 

Andy

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Jun 26, 2008
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Obviously I'm not saying that Kotkaniemi is going to be as good as Draisaitl, but an important point that I saw on twitter this morning, and why you shouldn't call players busts at 19.


I'm not sure what this proves. Draisaitl doing it doesn't guarantee KK will follow the same path.

Just look at Galchenyuk:
Points at 19: 31 in 65
Points at 24: 41 in 72

Brett Connolly:
Points at 19: 15 in 68
Points at 24: 23 in 66

Jonathan Drouin:
Points at 19: 32 in 70
Points at 24: 15 in 27

It's a silly comparison that creates unreasonable expectations. Kotkaniemi will follow his own path. What that path will be, no one knows. We just need to be patient. Right now, he's where he should.
 

LastWordArmy

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I'm not sure what this proves. Draisaitl doing it doesn't guarantee KK will follow the same path.

I never said it guaranteed anything.... in fact I said quite the opposite, "Obviously I'm not saying that Kotkaniemi is going to be as good as Draisaitl" That was the very first sentence of my post. You clearly didn't read that, or ignored it, if your only point is to respond and say that, "Draisaitl doing it doesn't guarantee KK will follow the same path."... Wow, great revelation there.

As for what it proves.... I was going back on the last thread where there was an article posted questioning if he was a bust, and my only point is that no player should be called a bust at 19.
 

DAChampion

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May 28, 2011
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I've enjoyed watching Kotkaniemi's Laval Rocket games. I appreciate that Bouchard is giving him a lot of minutes, including the 1st unit PP and starting on OT. I suspect that Lefebvre would be playing Kotkaniemi on the 3rd or 4th line.

What I have liked of Kotkaniemi is that he makes nice passes, he's good at gaining the zone, and I've seen good forechecking from him which indicates a high compete level. IMO he hasn't scored because he's snake bitten, he's actually made a lot of shots, more than 2 shots a game, and some of them were well-timed. I'm curious to see how he does in the last 17 games, and if he'll play with Ylonen. Kotkaniemi had good chemistry with Evans and Hudon, but many AHL centers would and they're gone now. It will be a good indicator if he does well with different players.

What I have not liked of Kotkaniemi are the penalties. It seems that he's always in the box. But I might be mistaken? TheAHL website has him at 14 penalty minutes in 11 games, which is not as high as it seemed to me.

I didn't watch any AHL games prior to Kotkaniemi being sent down, so I'm going to use stats to check something:

Between February 1st and February 26th:
Charles Hudon had 11 points in 11 games, prior to that, he had 24 points in 35 games.
Jake Evans had 8 points in 5 games, prior to that, he had 30 points in 46 games.

OK, so this small sample suggests that Kotkaniemi did not simply coast off of having great wingers, as the performance of those two wingers improved substantially once they got Kotkaniemi as their center.
 

Andy

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I never said it guaranteed anything.... in fact I said quite the opposite, "Obviously I'm not saying that Kotkaniemi is going to be as good as Draisaitl" That was the very first sentence of my post. You clearly didn't read that, or ignored it, if your only point is to respond and say that, "Draisaitl doing it doesn't guarantee KK will follow the same path."... Wow, great revelation there.

As for what it proves.... I was going back on the last thread where there was an article posted questioning if he was a bust, and my only point is that no player should be called a bust at 19.
I wasn't speaking to you directly. It was just a more general commentary about these comparisons because I've seen it thrown around quite a few times now on multiple platforms.

It's just incredibly silly.
 
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justafan22

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Jun 22, 2014
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What? Sam Bennett is a terrible comparable for KK. Very shifty and good skater but with rocks for hockey IQ. KK is the complete opposite, much more like Drai.

In terms of top 5 picks struggling and not getting better. Draisaitl's more of the exception than the rule
 
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LastWordArmy

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In terms of top 5 picks struggling and not getting better. Draisaitl's more of the exception than the rule

In terms of players not being great at 19, and getting better later in their career... there are tons of examples of this. Calling a player a bust at 19 is very short-sighted.

There are more players who struggle as teens (or arent even in the NHL yet) and eventually grow, then there are players who come in and light the league on fire as teenagers.
 

Hins77

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I remember Drasaitl at the beginning of his career. He was big and not the fastest skater. Very far from it. But certainly, he wasnt all the time on his ass on the ice. He was strong, even at 18 years old, And he had a good hockey IQ too. A Nick Suzuki at 215 pounds. Now, he just a beast. Big guy take more time to develop. KK. Is a tall guy but hes not a draisaitl/barkov type of guy.
 

Andrei79

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I remember Drasaitl at the beginning of his career. He was big and not the fastest skater. Very far from it. But certainly, he wasnt all the time on his ass on the ice. He was strong, even at 18 years old, And he had a good hockey IQ too. A Nick Suzuki at 215 pounds. Now, he just a beast. Big guy take more time to develop. KK. Is a tall guy but hes not a draisaitl/barkov type of guy.

More skilled than KK as well.
 

Ozmodiar

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Oct 18, 2017
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I remember Drasaitl at the beginning of his career. He was big and not the fastest skater. Very far from it. But certainly, he wasnt all the time on his ass on the ice. He was strong, even at 18 years old, And he had a good hockey IQ too. A Nick Suzuki at 215 pounds. Now, he just a beast. Big guy take more time to develop. KK. Is a tall guy but hes not a draisaitl/barkov type of guy.

bingo!
Drai and Barkov were big and strong, while KK gets tossed around.
 

Sam of Montreal

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Drai and Barkov were big and strong, while KK gets tossed around.

So they are different. KK is a big kid also, he just hasn't filled up nearly as much. In the next 3 years, he should start looking more like a "finished product".

He falls a lot especially because of how lanky he is. I am annoyed to see him on his ass all the time, but it's very fixable. A summer workout can do wonders for this aspect of his game.

The comparison to Draisaitl is interesting. Not because we expect the same level of production, but because they didn't have an instant impact and some were jumping the gun with their criticism.

Kotkaniemi may not look great for a guy that was in the NHL last year, but he looks great for a 19yo in the AHL.
 
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26Mats

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Jun 23, 2018
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KK will get traded for less than he's worth and end up an effective 2nd line C

Wow!

They're playing am interview now with KK. He says in the AHL they're teaching him all the details of the game. It's more about learning. In the NHL, it's more about figuring it out on your own.

If true, no excuses for this. Sure the NHL is about winning. But you still have to find the time and resources to teach the youth...
 

Hannibal

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Feb 11, 2007
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Still think KK, at his peak will be a Eller-like.

Was a bad pick, will still be a bad pick.

Still dreaming of Tkachuk on this team.
 
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