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Canes offer sheet Kotkaniemi


radoran

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9 hours ago, radoran said:

https://www.si.com/hockey/news/hurricanes-sign-jesperi-kotkaniemi-to-offer-sheet

 

One year $6M - matching has significant cap implications for the Habs.

 

I honestly hope we see more offer sheets  This is fun.

 

They could slap him on the top line at LE and have a Finn line.

 

JK - Aho - Teuvo

 

It might do him better to play Wing down the middle.

 

:fi:

 

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I like Koktaneiemi's potential, he's seemed to play better in the playoffs and has some punk to his game.

He makes that 'Canes forward corps really deep .

 

the $20 signing bonus is such a wonderful middle finger. 

 

This move seems super petty and if it turns into a trend could make the league's offseason more interesting for certain.

I do think if this does turn into a trend then the league should adjust to the NBA's rookie/midlevel/franchise model for the salary cap. 

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31 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

This move seems super petty and if it turns into a trend could make the league's offseason more interesting for certain.

 

Yes seems like this would work more in the advantage for the players with a cap.

 

Will other teams utilize this though for fear of their chicken coop being raided in return?

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2 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

$20 signing bonus is such a wonderful middle finger

 

Yeah. Aho's jersey number. Luv it.

 

And the $6,100,000.15.

 

15 JK's number. How funny.

Edited by OccamsRazor
#boubonup
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1 hour ago, mojo1917 said:

This move seems super petty and if it turns into a trend could make the league's offseason more interesting for certain.

 

It is what we had been "warned" about in terms of retaliation from other GMs being a worry - see: Holmgren, Paul.

 

Sometimes it's good to take a big swing, but there is going to be backswing whether you "win" or "lose" the actual offer sheet itself.

 

Kotkaniemi has been seen as the Habs' "1C of the future" since he was drafted and he's all of 21. If he pans out in Carolina the Canes have stolen a potential Couturier from them (he's all of -11 in 171 career games; -1 in 29 career playoff games, 9g, 12 points) whether he pushes Trochek down now or in a few years presuming they intend to re-sign and have agreed on basic parameters. 4Y/$4.5-75M per? Works out to $5M/year for five years which c/should be about right? Also doesn't need to be signed until Spring at the earliest.

 

It likely doesn't hurt and isn't a coincidence that this brings three top, young, Finns together. Can't hurt the ol' National Team, neither.

 

And I don't get Montreal in this situation leaving him hanging. This is potentially Buffalo "not negotiating in season" with Briere and Drury level bad.

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29 minutes ago, radoran said:

If he pans out in Carolina the Canes have stolen a potential Couturier from them

 

Would Montreal be pissed and try and offer sheet? Martin Necas next year?

 

Or what if to make matter worse the Canes offer sheet Suzuki next offseason?

 

This could get interesting with the back n forth....

 

:PopcornSmiley2:

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Just now, OccamsRazor said:

This could get interesting with the back n forth....

 

:PopcornSmiley2:

 

I've got a $20 signing bonus that says it gets worse.

 

And, for that matter, what does that say about how Kotkaniemi feels about Montreal??

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Why Canadiens should refuse to match Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet

 
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Getty

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When the Montreal Canadiens signed Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet two years ago it was a no-brainer decision for the Carolina Hurricanes to match it.

 

Aho was already their best player, and the offer sheet itself not only saved the Hurricanes from having to go through a tough salary negotiation, it gave them their best player at a below market salary. In a lot of ways the offer sheet from Montreal did Carolina a favor.

 

On Saturday, the Hurricanes still tried to exact some sort of revenge for the attempt and signed restricted free agent Jesperi Kotkaniemi to a one-year, $6.1 million offer sheet.

 

Montreal now has seven days to match, or walk away with some much needed salary cap space, a first-round pick, and a third-round pick.

That, also, should be an easy decision.

 

That decision should be to let Kotkaniemi go, save the salary cap space, and take the draft picks.

 

Let’s start with this as it relates to Kotkaniemi specifically.

 

The Canadiens made a huge investment in him by selecting him with the No. 3 overall pick in 2018 and immediately pushed him to the NHL.

 

He has shown flashes of the potential that made him such a high pick, and he does have a lot of elements to his game that still indicate he has a bright future ahead of him. But the actual on-ice results have been very mixed.

 

He has not developed his offensive game much in three years, the Canadiens themselves are not entirely confident he is ready to be a top-two center in their lineup right now, and he was healthy scratched in the Stanley Cup Final.

 

He is still young. But if a player picked that high in the draft is going to become an impact player you would probably like to see more signs of it by now.

 

Have the Canadiens been perfect with his development? No. Have they made mistakes and rushed him? Probably. But he is not a $6 million player right now. Probably not even close to it.

 

If the Canadiens match that offer they are locking themselves into, a) having to keep him for the entire year, and b) be faced with the prospect of giving him a $6 million qualifying offer next offseason or allow him to become an unrestricted free agent.

 

When it comes to the first point, the CBA does not allow to trade a player for one year after matching the offer sheet. If he plays out the year, does not show any more development (a contingency you have to at least prepare for), there is no way Montreal can justify another $6 million investment. It is an outrageous price for a player that, simply, has not yet played anywhere close to that level and may never play at that level.

 

It would make him the fifth highest paid player on the Canadiens this season with a completely unproven track record.

 

Losing Kotkaniemi and Philip Danault in the same offseason would be, on the surface, a significant blow to the team’s center depth and bad PR after a surprising Stanley Cup Final run. What it could do though is create a lot of other avenues for the team to get a better, more impactful player.

 

If the Canadiens took Carolina’s first-and third-round picks it only adds to their trade capital.

 

They would have 12 draft picks in the 2022 class, including six in the first three rounds (two first round picks, a second round pick and three third round picks) and with some salary cap flexibility would be in the market for an upgrade.

 

That could be a modest upgrade like Arizona’s Christian Dvorak, or a significant upgrade like getting back into the Jack Eichel sweepstakes. Those two first-round picks and another young player or two might certainly get Buffalo’s attention.

 

Everything about this situation seems like Carolina’s attempt at revenge for signing Aho to an offer sheet.

 

From the signing bonus being $20 (Aho’s number), to general manager Don Waddell using the exact same quote in the press release that Bergevin used in signing Aho, to the team tweeting out the announcement in French.

 

Even if you believe the report that Carolina wanted to trade for Kotkaniemi and likes him as a player, they have to know he is not a $6 million player this season and that his trade value is not at a first-and third-round pick.

 

This seems like it is mostly about sticking it to a team that tried to take their star. It all reeks of pettiness and trying to leave Montreal in a tough salary cap situation and a spot where they have to make a significant decision on Kotkaniemi next season.

 

The Canadiens should call that bluff and let Carolina worry about the cap hit, the qualifying offer, and whether or not Kotkaniemi ever develops into the player they thought he could be.

 

Save the money, do not worry about if Kotkaniemi can show real progress this season or not, and use your newfound draft capital to add a better player from somewhere else.

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3 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

Myself i would have waited and done this with Nick Suzuki instead i think he is the better player.

 

He's absolutely the better player.  If I'm Montreal I counter on Suzuki.   I don't on KK.   

I take the picks and walk away.   I bet they flip them to Buffalo for Pain in the Neck.

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7 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

 

He's absolutely the better player.  If I'm Montreal I counter on Suzuki.   I don't on KK.   

I take the picks and walk away.   I bet they flip them to Buffalo for Pain in the Neck.

 

I agree because after this season his qualify offer will have to be more than 6.1 mill so he needs to have a very good season.

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11 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

I agree because after this season his qualify offer will have to be more than 6.1 mill so he needs to have a very good season.

 

Or they re-sign him at a reasonable bridge deal and get to UFA rather than worrying about the qualifying offer. 4Y/~$16M or so wouldn't be outlandish.

 

This offer sheet was made primarily because of where Montreal is cap- and roster-wise right now. There's no guarantee that the Habs find themselves in the same predicament once Suzuki is up, nor that Montreal lets him be in a position to take an offer sheet.

 

That said, did y'all know Suzuki's brother in the Canes' system? I didn't.

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5 hours ago, JR Ewing said:

Montreal would have to make a Qualifying Offer of $6.1M on Kotkianiemi next season. Take the picks and let Carolina have him.

 

 

Or they negotiate a lower number on a multi-year deal...

 

That said, Montreal couldn't get a 1 and 3 for JK now.

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1 hour ago, radoran said:

 

Or they negotiate a lower number on a multi-year deal...

 

That said, Montreal couldn't get a 1 and 3 for JK now.

 

Exactly. This is over, and I'm sure the Habs have just decided to play the clock out on this one.

 

 

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10 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

 

Exactly. This is over, and I'm sure the Habs have just decided to play the clock out on this one.

 

If Kotkaniemi pans out the Canes can look great in all this.

 

If he's a dud they were just being petty.

 

I applaud them for taking the swing.

 

It's all about results not hot media takes.

 

Should be fun. 😃

Edited by radoran
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