Renaud Lavoie: According to sources the idea of an offer sheet to Jesperi Kotkaniemi came from Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon and not from GM Don Waddell. Don’t think that would be a surprise to anyone.
Darren Dreger: There were some back in early July who were close to Jesperi Kotkaniemi predicted that he had played his final game with the Montreal Canadiens after he was made a healthy scratch in the Stanley Cup Final.
A trade had seemed like the most likely scenario but the Carolina Hurricanes went with a more entertaining approach to acquiring him.
- Gord Miller: “I’m being asked about this because of what I said at the time: it was a mistake by Montreal to put Kotkaniemi in the NHL as an 18 year old. All that has happened since—being sent to the AHL, being healthy scratched in the playoffs—flows from the Canadiens rushing his development.”
- Gord Miller: “This was my argument at the time: Kotkaniemi hadn’t dominated at any level to that point, and generally that’s what you need to do before you play in the NHL. Yes, his Finnish club team was terrible, but the Canadiens could have sent him back on the condition that he be moved.”
- Derek Neumeier: “I generally lean against rushing 18-year-olds into NHL duty, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi is a good example of why He was fantastic in his draft season and flashed a ton of potential, but his development since then hasn’t progressed as smoothly as it should have.”
Cap Friendly: If the Montreal Canadiens do match the offer sheet they are not allowed to trade Kotkaniemi “for one year from the date that the right of first refusal is executed.”
Puck Pedia: Next offseason either the Carolina Hurricanes or Montreal Canadiens could file for Club Elected salary arbitration for Kotkaniemi and request 85 percent of his current salary. That would come in at $5.185 million. They would retain his rights and wouldn’t have to send him a $6.1 million qualifying offer.
Brian Lawton: “The 1 year offer is really a hard kick to the you know what. It really is what @CanadiensMTL should have done with Aho but they didn’t. They went with the same philosophy the @NHLFlyers did with Weber which didn’t work. Teams can always come up with SB if the $$’s are right.
Now there is nothing to prevent @CanadiensMTL from matching the offer, watching KK for half a year & re-signing him for a lower number that KK can grow into. Of course @Canes could do the same & a player might be more inclined to do that for 1 team over the other!”
