Player Discussion Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Staaled Out Edition

[Redux91]

I know it's bad right now.. but still only 20. The idiotic trade for Staal was a huge obstacle that we just didnt need for this kid right now

On my patience meter, he easily has 2 years left until I truly give up on him
(And even then it feels silly giving up on a 22 yr old lol..but i think we'll DEFINITIVELY know in 2 years)

 

[salbutera]

I'm sure Staal will be so much better.

He just may as 4C...which says more about how ineffective KK has been as 3C

 

[Habby4Life]

I know it's bad right now.. but still only 20. The idiotic trade for Staal was a huge obstacle that we just didnt need for this kid right now

On my patience meter, he easily has 2 years left until I truly give up on him
(And even then it feels silly giving up on a 22 yr old lol..but i think we'll DEFINITIVELY know in 2 years)

Staal has nothing to do with KKs issues. He’s gassed again, he needs to improve his skating, stop falling down, work on getting his shot off quicker, and start playing with some intensity. None of these have anything to do with Staal.

The guy needs to work hard this summer and show that he can play. It’s up to him, all this linemates, coach, toi, Staal are just excuses.

 

[covfefe]

Is this funny yet ? I mean it’s been a hockey season since it was created. It still cracks me up, I’m a simple man though.

Lost it "at nude pics of the owner"

Still a fan of KK but I am admittedly a bit of a masochist

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

Staal has nothing to do with KKs issues. He’s gassed again, he needs to improve his skating, stop falling down, work on getting his shot off quicker, and start playing with some intensity. None of these have anything to do with Staal.

The guy needs to work hard this summer and show that he can play. It’s up to him, all this linemates, coach, toi, Staal are just excuses.

He definitely has a lot to work on in the offseason, however losing a roster spot to Staal, who has been much much worse than any other player on the entire team, does have a lot to do with Staal, hence sitting Kotkaniemi for Staal is beyond idiocy...

 

[Redux91]

Staal has nothing to do with KKs issues. He’s gassed again, he needs to improve his skating, stop falling down, work on getting his shot off quicker, and start playing with some intensity. None of these have anything to do with Staal.

The guy needs to work hard this summer and show that he can play. It’s up to him, all this linemates, coach, toi, Staal are just excuses.

I wouldn't say NOTHING to do with Staal, ever since we threw him on the wing his game faltered off, and yes he is gassed, he was one of 2 habs to play in ALL 56 games this year

But most of his problems are self made sure, but the coach is NOT helping

 

[Habby4Life]

He definitely has a lot to work on in the offseason, however losing a roster spot to Staal, who has been much much worse than any other player on the entire team, does have a lot to do with Staal, hence sitting Kotkaniemi for Staal is beyond idiocy...

Staal didn’t cost KK a roster spot. They moved him around the lineup to try to get him going. He has been getting regular PP time. Staal is playing 4c, KK should be 3c but he has been terrible. Frankly, both Staal and KK should sit. Neither have earned a spot in the opening lineup of the PO.

Once again, the areas hurting KKs game is his conditioning, his skating, his inability to stay on his feet, his lack of intensity, and his slow release. None of these have anything to do with Staal or anyone else on the team.

KK needs to work harder and if he isn’t scoring play with passion, be physical, skate his ass off and prove he belongs. Right now he is going through the motions and doesn’t even look like an NHL player. KK controls his desire and work ethic. It’s time for him to show that he belongs. Enough with the excuses.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Nope, and has done nothing to demonstrate he should be given the benefit of the doubt.

He's played better than Staal.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

He's played better than Staal.

Yup...low bar, I know; Hell, even Youppi has been better than Staalsy...

 

[417]

It wouldn't make sense to not play Kotkaniemi, regardless of current form, this team is better with him down the middle then they are with Staal.

It's important that Kotkaniemi gets playoff games in now...I think the break will do him some good.

 

[Habby4Life]

He's played better than Staal.

Both should sit, neither have done anything to help them win down the stretch. Both arent NHL caliber right now.

 

[Scintillating10]

KK reminds me of Brian Savage. Very streaky

 

[Runner77]

Will the streak be broken?

 

[Runner77]

Been a big defender of KK, but he needs to figure this out and get his head back in the game. However, Habs are gonna Habs and haven’t helped him much either. When Suzuki sucked for a month, his line mates were still pretty stable, his role and position stayed the same. Eventually, he figured it out and is playing well again.

KK is bounced like a super ball all over the lineup and is playing like somebody afraid for his job.

How much of a factor has KK's lack of stable linemates, impacted his play:

 

[euro]

No speed, keeps falling, can’t get shot on net, have problem making tape to tape pass, always late on the play, gets out of position to finish check. Does
Not make his linemate better.
0 goals 1 pts in his last 19 games.

As far as i am concerned, he does not pass the eyes test and his stats are awful, forget the name and only think about was he is showing us on the ice...

 

[HabSgt]

KK, Suzuki, Evans, Caufield > Staal

Those 4 should all play for the experience & cuz they earned it as being part of the organization instead of just coming here, even though you never wanted to, because it was the only place you could still play on the regular

 

[salbutera]

He's played better than Staal.

Not really by any type of significant margin, over last 5-7 games, they’ve been very close to the same on ice diarrhea - if the margin of performance is that close then the vet w pedigree gets the benefit of doubt IMO...for game 1 only.

Just hope KK is ready to seize the moment game 2

 

[DAChampion]

Staal didn’t cost KK a roster spot. They moved him around the lineup to try to get him going. He has been getting regular PP time. Staal is playing 4c, KK should be 3c but he has been terrible. Frankly, both Staal and KK should sit. Neither have earned a spot in the opening lineup of the PO.

Once again, the areas hurting KKs game is his conditioning, his skating, his inability to stay on his feet, his lack of intensity, and his slow release. None of these have anything to do with Staal or anyone else on the team.

KK needs to work harder and if he isn’t scoring play with passion, be physical, skate his ass off and prove he belongs. Right now he is going through the motions and doesn’t even look like an NHL player. KK controls his desire and work ethic. It’s time for him to show that he belongs. Enough with the excuses.

Kotkaniemi does have weaknesses, but he also has strengths such as good vision, good defensive IQ, and an ability to control possession particularly in the neutral zone. Those strengths would be better emphasized if he were allowed to build chemistry with linemates.

 

[sandviper]

He definitely has a lot to work on in the offseason, however losing a roster spot to Staal, who has been much much worse than any other player on the entire team, does have a lot to do with Staal, hence sitting Kotkaniemi for Staal is beyond idiocy...

This... losing a spot to say Evans I can understand. KK has struggled and I’ve been one of his biggest supporters but statistically and what I’ve seen throughout the season does concern me.

However, his usual detractors do need to put the playoffs roster in perspective. Staal has been hot trash and less effective that KK. Sure, I get assigned roles are a thing and it says a lot that as a 4C, we expect Staal to do less. However, I say that’s the very organizational problem we have. Put KK on the 4th then FFS... him on the 4th is better than Staal ever will. No reason the 4th line has to be dog shit slow.

But like I said earlier, when slumping for over a month, the team let Suzuki work his way through his issues, even when we were losing games, which to be frank, is what they should do. KK doesn’t nearly get the same rope.

 

[salbutera]

This... losing a spot to say Evans I can understand. KK has struggled and I’ve been one of his biggest supporters but statistically and what I’ve seen throughout the season does concern me.

However, his usual detractors do need to put the playoffs roster in perspective. Staal has been hot trash and less effective that KK. Sure, I get assigned roles are a thing and it says a lot that as a 4C, we expect Staal to do less. However, I say that’s the very organizational problem we have. Put KK on the 4th then FFS... him on the 4th is better than Staal ever will. No reason the 4th line has to be dog shit slow.

But like I said earlier, when slumping for over a month, the team let Suzuki work his way through his issues, even when we were losing games, which to be frank, is what they should do. KK doesn’t nearly get the same rope.

How so? KK played in all 56GP, got more TOI than ever before including significantly more PP TOI. Even when Suzuki was slumping he produced points at a much better clip than 4-points for month of April (11-pts since March 1st or 25pts seasonal pace)

KK has not been bad...he’s been brutal. 30pts pace over 82-game season, worse than his rookie season.

 

[26Mats]

This... losing a spot to say Evans I can understand. KK has struggled and I’ve been one of his biggest supporters but statistically and what I’ve seen throughout the season does concern me.

However, his usual detractors do need to put the playoffs roster in perspective. Staal has been hot trash and less effective that KK. Sure, I get assigned roles are a thing and it says a lot that as a 4C, we expect Staal to do less. However, I say that’s the very organizational problem we have. Put KK on the 4th then FFS... him on the 4th is better than Staal ever will. No reason the 4th line has to be dog shit slow.

But like I said earlier, when slumping for over a month, the team let Suzuki work his way through his issues, even when we were losing games, which to be frank, is what they should do. KK doesn’t nearly get the same rope.

I agree with everything you're saying.

At the end of the day, we're only talking about the 4th line. And, Lehkonen-Staal-Perry and Drouin-Staal-Perry were both good 4th lines.

So as long as Caufield doesn't come out of the top 9, I'll be ok with things. Sitting through the playoffs could be a good slap in his face for KK to work his butt off this summer.

 

[Pierre Dagenais]

“Needs time to build chemistry with his linemates” is the new excuse for this kid. Last year it was “give him better linemates”. Kid needs to play with McDavid and Draisaitl for 82 games to produce

 

[sandviper]

How so? KK played in all 56GP, got more TOI than ever before including significantly more PP TOI. Even when Suzuki was slumping he produced points at a much better clip than 1-point for month of April.

KK has not been bad...he’s been brutal

I said it on page one. When Zuks was slumping, he typically remained with Drouin or Anderson, kept his top-6 spot and remained at center, this is what you should do, so I’m not saying to punish Zuks either.

@Runner77 posted the tweet about the consistency with trios, and we all know he was bounced from center to wing and up and down the lineup. I had also said KK does need to improve his play, so it’s not all on the lines and coaching.

 

[durojean]

I feel like it's counter productive to make him play while he is in the state that he is. He has to go back to the basics. If it means AHL time next year, so be it. We should try Poehling in the meantime. But it will all depends on what happens with Danault. We must resign him and Tatar or else, it will be a lost of assets for absolutely nothing and THAT will be on Marc Bergevin. If we knew they were going to go, we should have traded them at the deadline.

 

[salbutera]

I feel like it's counter productive to make him play while he is in the state that he is. He has to go back to the basics. If it means AHL time next year, so be it. We should try Poehling in the meantime. But it will all depends on what happens with Danault. We must resign him and Tatar or else, it will be a lost of assets for absolutely nothing and THAT will be on Marc Bergevin. If we knew they were going to go, we should have traded them at the deadline.

Depends on what the org does with the $ freed up - Tatar + Danault is over $8M