Player Discussion Jesperi Kotkaniemi (Part VIII) - Pretty Mintniemi Edition

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BaseballCoach

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Dec 15, 2006
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Dont know what he said Tuesday but i agree with what he said Monday, KK's play lately scream's mental fatigue, the rest will do him some good

What he said Monday is that KK's game had improved a lot since the beginning of the season and that he was now ready for more responsibility and to center Jonathan Drouin.

Tuesday he was too tired to play anymore.

ChuRien wanted to get Jordan Weal into the lineup without having Dale Weise throw a tantrum.

Ridiculous. A bunch of players looked tired Saturday against Pittsburgh. KK was not even close to being one of them.
 

Estimated_Prophet

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What he said Monday is that KK's game had improved a lot since the beginning of the season and that he was now ready for more responsibility and to center Jonathan Drouin.

Tuesday he was too tired to play anymore.

ChuRien wanted to get Jordan Weal into the lineup without having Dale Weise throw a tantrum.

Ridiculous. A bunch of players looked tired Saturday against Pittsburgh. KK was not even close to being one of them.

Kotkaniemi was playing poorly, any unbiased and knowledgeable person (a rare creature on these boards) could see it. I think this is more of a mental break than a physical one. Good move by Julien imo. The kid just needed a reset, he will be fine.
 

BaseballCoach

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Kotkaniemi was playing poorly, any unbiased and knowledgeable person (a rare creature on these boards) could see it. I think this is more of a mental break than a physical one. Good move by Julien imo. The kid just needed a reset, he will be fine.

When exactly was Kotkaniemi playing poorly? Was it Tuesday in Detroit when he was flying on the ice? Friday in New York when his line was the best of the four by far? Saturday against Pittsburgh, when his line was the least bad of the four, and he was on the ice for zero goals against? 50% in the faceoff dot each game.

Here is a great play for an 18 year old; solid positional play followed by a smart flip pass to Armia to set up the two on 1. From Friday night...so tired!




I bet if Julien turned around tomorrow once again and said that KK was indeed playing well and that is why at Monday's practice he was centering Drouin, but was punished for getting back late from the Lakers game Monday night, the same fans swallowing Julien's latest revision would swallow yet another.

Saturday night against Pittsburgh, Benn was tired, Domi was tired, Weber was tired, Thompson was absolutely gassed, Weise was a big fat zero, Drouin missed assignments over and over, Petry was off, Price was sloppy as heck, but Kotkaniemi was actually ok.

Yeah I was watching. So was Julien when he said on Monday that KK's game had really gotten better.

Then what I am betting happened is they wanted to get Weal in, and decided not to make Weise cwy or the GM look bad by sitting Thompson.
 
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WeThreeKings

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Sep 19, 2006
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Wouldn't be surprised if they healthy scratched him in the Playoffs either. Ole Claude can't hide his stripes for too long just like Therrien couldn't
 

le_sean

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Oct 21, 2006
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They are playing two pathetic teams and one team they haven’t beat in 20 years. As much as I love Kotka, he shouldn’t make a huge difference in the results of any of the games (W,L,W). So, give him the break because he’s always come back strong from them and the final stretch will be intense.

People are way too worked up about it.
 
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Ozmodiar

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If the intention really was to give him a good rest, they might as well sit him out one more. Have him all set and ready to go vs Detroit on Tuesday.
 
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Chr1s97

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Lol cant believe all the cry baby that complain because KK is healthy scratch for 3 little games... He's gonna be back and it can only be good for him. Everybody outhere bashing c.j. like he just send the kid bacc to finland lol. Let him have a break for this western trip we gonna need KK in full shape for the last stretch.
 
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admiralcadillac

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What he said Monday is that KK's game had improved a lot since the beginning of the season and that he was now ready for more responsibility and to center Jonathan Drouin.

Tuesday he was too tired to play anymore.

ChuRien wanted to get Jordan Weal into the lineup without having Dale Weise throw a tantrum.

Ridiculous. A bunch of players looked tired Saturday against Pittsburgh. KK was not even close to being one of them.


Yeah I’m sure he cares about weise considering he’s ALREADY SENT HIM DOWN

Where do you come up with this stuff?
 

BaseballCoach

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Lol cant believe all the cry baby that complain because KK is healthy scratch for 3 little games... He's gonna be back and it can only be good for him. Everybody outhere bashing c.j. like he just send the kid bacc to finland lol. Let him have a break for this western trip we gonna need KK in full shape for the last stretch.

You don't get it. The idea of this year is for the kids to get experience, not for Weise and Thompson to get the ice time. Kotkaniemi was playing fine. I'm not worried about this stunting his develiopment or anything. I'm concerned because the team was being run as a meritocracy for 65 games and now it's "coddle the useless veterans" time again. The whole team was energized when we put aside Alzner and Plekanec. But suddenly now we have Manny Malhotra II playing 15 minutes and Dale "I'm a top 9 player" Weise being a fixture in the lineup despite having 0 points in 8 games.

If Julien does not get strong push back, he will be sitting Kotkaniemi in the playoffs because "rookie". It's not acceptable.
 

Habs Halifax

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Curious to see if Kotkaniemi increases his tempo and performance after sitting for 2 games. Not saying I don't like his game recently but the hunger to improve is a important ingredient in a young players development.
 

BaseballCoach

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Curious to see if Kotkaniemi increases his tempo and performance after sitting for 2 games. Not saying I don't like his game recently but the hunger to improve is a important ingredient in a young players development.
Do we know yet that KK is back tonight?

Or did his season as a regular top-9 player effectively end somewhere between Monday's practice and Tuesday's practice?
 

BaseballCoach

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Yeah I’m sure he cares about weise considering he’s ALREADY SENT HIM DOWN

Where do you come up with this stuff?

They sent Weise down for 6 days due to the 23-contract limit, and because KK can't be sent down and they chose not to go down to 6 D had they sent Mete down. But the clue to Chu-Rien's real thinking is that the slugs are playing and the talented player that helped get us here is not.

"We need to win games". To which I say two things:
  • first, NO, not at the expense of development
  • two, even if you DO want to win games this year and don't care about the young players gaining experience in the stretch run and hopefully playoffs, Weise and Thompson will not actually contribute more than Kotkaniemi
 
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cphabs

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Dec 21, 2012
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Lol cant believe all the cry baby that complain because KK is healthy scratch for 3 little games... He's gonna be back and it can only be good for him. Everybody outhere bashing c.j. like he just send the kid bacc to finland lol. Let him have a break for this western trip we gonna need KK in full shape for the last stretch.
3 little games? Seriously?
 

Habs Halifax

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Do we know yet that KK is back tonight?

Or did his season as a regular top-9 player effectively end somewhere between Monday's practice and Tuesday's practice?

No, I don't know for sure. But I think Kotkaniemi is back in cause we lost last night and Weal was a -2. Julien always makes changes after a lost.
 
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Tuggy

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I fully expect him to be the lineup tonight.

Sitting the last two games didn't bother me that much, but I won't be happy if he sits tonight.
 

BaseballCoach

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No, I don't know for sure. But I think Kotkaniemi is back in cause we lost last night and Weal was a -2. Julien always makes changes after a lost.

Weal has been better than Weise. And his speed helps compensate for Thompson being molasses. On the other hand, I'm also ok with using Weal as the FO/C specialist, and playing Weise, Deslauriers, Peca or Hudon on RW on a rotation or competitive basis.

Thompson is the Emperor with no clothes, guys.
 
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