The Carolina Hurricanes season was great, especially considering what they lost last summer. Now, with all the assets and cap space they have accumulated, the excitement of summer is obvious. As the hurricane begins to look to the future, a question mark remains imminent: Jesperi Kotkaniemi. During his tenure at Carolina, the player had a lot of noise, mostly from a fan base outside of Raleigh, but the way the Hurricane season ended left a bad taste in the mouth of fans.
Kotkaniemi arrived in Carolina from Montreal, a quote that made many Canadian fans feel distressed. When the Hurricane extended Kotkaniemi for $4.82 million per season in eight seasons after its arrival, many immediately included it in the bad contract category, but in most cases it was not. In 305 games against the Hurricanes, Kotkaniemi had 54 goals and 78 assists and scored 132 points. He averaged 35 points per season in Carolina.
Immediately, you might look at this as ridiculously, but that’s great for Kotkaniemi. Scoring is never his job. Kotkaniemi became a strong defensive center and the heir to Carolina’s older captain Jordan Staal. He is still only 24 years old, so why do people want him to leave? What makes the fan base on Finnish Pori so sour?
Montreal’s frustration is misplaced
The most obvious starting point is misreleasing the anger at Kotkaniemi. Many expected him to come in and become the new second-tier center as Vincent Trocheck left. He will never be like that. Kotkaniemi’s development in Montreal was seriously unhealthy. When he was ranked third overall, he was in the late stage of inventory. It wasn’t his fault, but Montreal drafted him for positional demands rather than the best players, which put unnecessary pressure on him. Then, as they rushed him into the NHL, he was trying to keep his head on the water.
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This means he is forced to play more defensively to accommodate the NHL game. Kotkaniemi has been strong even though she has been a child in her NHL career. Montreal has been pushing him back to the roster, with some dubious coaching decisions including being a healthy scratch during the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, leaving more questions on the answers to Kotkaniemi’s time in Quebec. He was upset with the Canadians’ anger, and Kotkaniemi accepted it when the hurricane carried the offer paper, which Montreal refused to match.
Transition to Rolley
There is no dispute about the quotes to bring Kotkaniemi to Carolina. The representative organizations of fans from all over the league call it childish. Many suspect this is the offer that Sebastian Aho has offered three seasons ago, his second season in his arrival to Raleigh. The pressure outside means that Hurricane fans have to keep fighting to defend the players, who did nothing wrong during their time at Raleigh.
However, this season is different due to the ending of the ending. Kotkaniemi took the free throw from the Bones, which eventually changed the momentum of Game 5 and brought the Florida Panthers back to the game, ending the Cane season. The anger at Kotkaniemi’s inability to replace Trocheck complicates this frustration, which makes fans want to change. It is fair to have a new desire in the center of the second row, but that does not mean that Kotkaniemi should be moved. The argument about Kotkaniemi’s deployment in role reduction makes the hurricane stronger and more weighty.
Why should hurricanes stay kotkaniemi
Kotkaniemi is not a second-tier center. He has excellent abilities to see the passing lane, excellent defensive instinct and a good figure. This combination makes him the perfect three-line center. With Staal’s twilight years and the rise of hats, Kotkaniemi is perfect for closing the character in the sixth to the end. He is the heir to the second-last throne in Carolina.
In a lineup of inadequate forwards, Kotkaniemi is 6-foot-3, 200 pounds. He provides elements of size that are not available elsewhere in Carolina. In the playoffs, Kotkaniemi bent the physical aspect of his game so much that fans were eager to see it. Although both the body and complaints of inconsistency with production are effective, it doesn’t matter at the bottom six.
Kotkaniemi rarely has bad games. Even if we watch Game 5, the Finnish Centre was given a stupid penalty and put the Hurricane behind eight goals, he still did a great job in that game. He has a great defensive performance and has created some good opportunities with his boundaries. Kotkaniemi rarely lets his team give the game, which is an excellent feature for the next six players. As a low-racing guy, it’s a good thing to be in this capacity, but inserting him into the top six, he’s trying, but it’s not him.
Since Carolina has $26.7 million in cap space, there is no need to move forward from Kotkaniemi. Especially because they need to replace him, and the current Free Agent Crop Center is not good either. The number of centers in the undeniable free agents is very low than Kotkaniemi, and most will get older or receive higher hat hits. This is the main reason why the contract is already valuable to Carolina. He has begun to prove why he came out of Montreal.
He may extend expectations of being a top six center as a youngster. However, he is still only 24 years old, and with the hat’s hat, his hat hit rate will only improve. Many people try to describe it as a negative value contract, but this is incorrect. According to Frank Seravalli, there was a team asking him, which showed he was a longing asset. This remains to be seen in the coming weeks and months, but the Hurricane is better off with Kotkaniemi.
