Kotkaniemi finishes the season with 27 points in 79 games.

[Stickpucker]

Did he not also get like half of them in the first 15 or so games?

He never improved really since his rookie season.

He was pretty good the first 30 games or so then just seemed to sleepwalking the rest of seasoning.

 

[Stickpucker]

This is Habs fans version of making the playoffs. Not much else to look forward to I guess.

They will watch some balls bounce around with great excitement.

Making this thread means the kid will have a great playoff just because. Canes fans will chest pump, and he goes back to a 30 point pace next season. The universe has a sense of humor.

If the Canes win the cup that works for me.

 

[bottomofthefoodchain]

Remember when Habs fans loved the pick over Brady Tkachuk. Good times

Well just imagine how many points he would've had if he played with 50 goal scorer Cole Caufield

 

[57special]

Whenever Canes fans get too high about their young prospects and players(Jarvis, Nikishin) they can reflect on Kotka to keep their egos in check.

I mean, wtf is up with Jarvis?

 

[CTHabsfan]

Remember when Habs fans loved the pick over Brady Tkachuk. Good times

To be fair, Kotkaniemi's stock was rising during his draft season, going from being projected as a late 1st-round pick to being an early 1st-rounder. KK wasn't expected to play in the NHL during the 2018-19 season but made the Canadiens roster based on his preseason performance. He showed flashes of potential during his rookie season, with 34 points in 79 games (seven more points than this year in the same number of games). I even recall a show on NHL Network talking about breakthrough players for 2019-20 with KK being projected as a 70 point scorer.

Obviously, things haven't gone as expected for Jesperi Kotkaniemi. He is still someone who has brief moments of success (12 points in his first 12 games this season), only to disappear for long stretches. I doubt the Hurricanes can afford to keep KK, or justify keeping him while letting more valuable players walk away. Unless they can trade him (good luck with that), the Hurricanes would likely be best served by buying out his contract.

 

[Derailed75]

Nah I’m looking forward to the next Canes sweep in the conference finals.

One day we can sit down and explain to what the conference finals is and how it works.

 

[le_sean]

One day we can sit down and explain to what the conference finals is and how it works.

The Habs literally beat Vegas a few years ago in one. I’m quite familiar. Winning a single game in the conference finals is something I can talk to you about in detail if you want to hear it.

 

[wgknestrick]

!NEWS FLASH!

Mediocre player is very average!

MTL won this by NOT signing him and being able to flip him for a 1st and 3rd. Imagine trading a 1st and 3rd for him now (AND getting that insane contract to boot)?

This was clearly a revenge/spite signing between owners that bypassed all of CAR's scouting + analytical departments.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I bet he hits, like, 37 points next year and makes all y’all.. continue this discussion.

 

[Ovi895]

He's not great value but looks like he's gradually becoming a replacement for Jordan Staal and even in an off season is a ~3.5 million player. Also looks like the kind of players who gets better towards his 30s. At this point buying him out just because the cap hit is 800,000 is asinine

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

!NEWS FLASH!

Mediocre player is very average!

MTL won this by NOT signing him and being able to flip him for a 1st and 3rd. Imagine trading a 1st and 3rd for him now (AND getting that insane contract to boot)?

This was clearly a revenge/spite signing between owners that bypassed all of CAR's scouting + analytical departments.

Montréal's big mistakes was parlaying those assets into Dvorak. Not backbreaking, they've drafted quite well and accumulated assets well, but sure would have been nice.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Has the perfect contract to be bought out. Then sign Guentzel long term.

I see this brought up a lot, and sure it's palatable but teams trade draft picks to get about a million in cap space every deadline. Adding 8.8 m in dead money on the cap sucks and i think they will try and find a trade partner, possibly for a short term deal guy that's useful but "overpaid" instead. As long as he's a "center" someone will be interested in that project for a year until THEY buy him out next year if he fails.

 

[The Great Weal]

Damn KoKo lives rent free in Habs fans heads. Why do you still care?

Weird how you guys went from pointing and laughing at Habs fans when he was doing well to “why do you guys care?” when he stinks.

Also once again he will outscore the entire Habs team in the playoffs this year.

Well we don’t know about that for sure if the regular season was any indication.

 

[tarheelhockey]

MTL won this by NOT signing him and being able to flip him for a 1st and 3rd. Imagine trading a 1st and 3rd for him now (AND getting that insane contract to boot)?

Hold up, if you’re going to play that game then you need to follow through with how they flipped that package for Christian Dvorak (an even worse player than Kotkaniemi) and a B prospect. It’s unlikely they end up with anything at all to show for this series of transactions.

 

[Hammettf2b]

Still had more points than Zadina!

 

[BonMorrison]

My guy got out scored by Jordan Martinook and Stefan Noesen, eh? Oof.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

I think if Carolina wasnt so stacked he would have a better opportunity to succeed.
I think he would have been a 50-60 point player if he stayed in MTL at this point

 

[LudwigVonKarlsson]

Very disappointing year for KK. He ranked 23/30 in ATOI/G for Carolina this year and regressed offensively. Watch him somehow score the SC GWG when the puck bounces off of his ass or something.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Really rough year for him after the hot start. He still did have 43 points last year (in just 14min/gm) and was +10 and great defensively. No clue what happened this year but he was truly terrible.

Easy buyout for Canes or a team potentially acquiring him. I do think a team near the bottom of the standings with plenty of cap room could benefit greatly from getting him for free if the Canes decide to move on.

 

[BagHead]

If he could play his entire career against New Jersey, Colombus, LA, and Seattle, this guy would be worth twice his contract. Whatever you do, don't put him up against the vaunted Coyotes and Wild.

Putting jokes aside, I really hope this kid's career comes together. I always have a soft spot in my heart for those who never lived up to expectations.

 

[Jared Dunn]

Montréal's big mistakes was parlaying those assets into Dvorak. Not backbreaking, they've drafted quite well and accumulated assets well, but sure would have been nice.

Every single thing Bergevin did in his final offseason was disastrous

 

[Bottomshelf]

I mean, he could have a solid playoffs and to a couple posters points he don’t have a ton of ice time (may have been warranted). The thing that stands out to me is the lack of physicality in his game compared to past seasons. I think they deal him this summer to a team with a weak forward corps along with a sweetener for a bad deal with far less term. Chicago, Sharks, Utah, Anaheim.

 

[EtLeBut2]

Really not sure why so many Habs fans are obsessed with him. It's not KK's fault he was drafted too high, mismanaged, and Carolina overpaid him out of spite. It might be his fault he sucks but all the more reasons he was right to take what will likely be the best payday of his career before he returns to Europe.

At the end of the day the Habs were right to let him go, but they still lost by wasting a draft pick on him and replacing him with Dvorak, who also sucks. Absolutely no reason to get cocky - since losing him, we've been one of the worst teams in the league and are only just turning it around now.

I don't like the Hurricanes but I have nothing against KK, who is just one of many bad Timmins/Bergevin draft picks. I will save my contempt for Marc Bergevin, who doesn't deserve a pass for cutting his loss on his own bad decisions. I hope KK improves (maybe on another team) as I still think he could be a solid third liner, but MB, I wish nothing but the worst for.

 

[Scintillating10]

Buy him out. Canes need caproom.

Is it safe to say the Canes made a mistake? 4.8M for a 4C. Do you think they will buy him out or trade him (cap dump)?

KK only 1 million dollar player

 

[EtLeBut2]

Every single thing Bergevin did in his final offseason was disastrous

I can't wait until some of Bergevin's final contracts (Anderson, Gallagher, Dvorak, Armia in particular) are off the books.