Lessons learned from Kotkaniemi offer sheet
And there are lots of them. But the most important one for Habs GM Marc Bergevin is that he should immediately begin meaningful negotiations with Nick Suzuki
Of all the things that were said Sunday morning during the Carolina Hurricanes’ news conference with Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the most authentic words were spoken by Kotkaniemi himself when asked by Hockey Unfiltered how he feels about how the Canadiens handled his development as a player. “It could have been better,” he said.
There should be almost universal agreement on that. Almost from the day he was drafted, Kotkaniemi’s development has been bungled. Actually, the fact that he was even drafted by the Canadiens in the No. 3 spot was a huge mistake. In the NHL, unless you’re talking about a generational player, you do not draft to fill a need, because that player will not be in a position to fill the need until at least two or three years down the road. That was the case with Kotkaniemi, whom the Canadiens chose because of a chasm down the middle of the ice, then rushed him into the NHL. That’s not how you fill a need in your lineup and it’s not how you responsibly develop young talent.
And it’s very easy now to claim that the Canadiens should have taken Brady Tkachuk instead of Kotkaniemi. And do you know why that’s easy to say now? Because it was easy to say then. This is not a case of hindsight being 20-20. Marc Bergevin overthought it and wanted to make out like he was the smartest person in the room and it burned him. (While we’re on the subject of Bergevin, is anyone getting the impression that he’s a modern-day David Poile, a maverick who’s constantly pulling off blockbuster deals and continually moving pieces around, yet never wins anything?)
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In reality, the way the Canadiens handled Kotkaniemi led to all of this. And it might lead them out of it, too. Bergevin wisely declined to match Carolina’s offer of $6.1 million on a one-year deal and instead took the first- and third-round draft picks. Then he traded a first-rounder in 2022 (and lottery protected it) and a second-rounder in 2024 to get Christian Dvorak from the Arizona Coyotes, an outfit that will attempt to impersonate an NHL team next season. So now you have Nick Suzuki as your first-line center, with Dvorak filling in the No. 2 hole on a contract that has four years remaining at $4.5 million a year. Then you pray Ryan Poehling is able to fill Kotkaniemi’s spot on the third line and slot Jake Evans in on the fourth. There’s a chance the Canadiens will be fine down the middle.
But it’s also imperative that Bergevin learn his lessons from this whole mess. And one of those lessons should be applied immediately by beginning serious talks with Suzuki’s camp on a long-term extension. Do not fool around with this. If this is the player you envision being your future top-line pivot, offer him the money and term that will keep him in Montreal for the next eight years. If a team was willing to offer $6.1 million to get Kotkaniemi on a one-year deal, just imagine what someone will offer to get Suzuki if he goes to restricted free agency next summer.
Which brings us to the Kotkaniemi offer. On the call Sunday morning, Hurricanes’ GM Don Waddell said with a straight face that revenge was not one bit of the motivation for making the offer to Kotkaniemi. He said that the Hurricanes have had their eye on him since his draft year of 2018, when they selected Andrei Svechnikov second overall, one pick before Montreal took Kotkaniemi. He said had tried to get Kotkaniemi in a trade early in the off-season and went the offer-sheet route when those talks broke down.
“It certainly was not revenge,” Waddell said. “We talked about this player, we know this player. We used the CBA as other teams have in the past to try to acquire a 21-year-old player. To us, it was all about the player. We looked around the league and thought this made the most sense.”
He said the decision to offer a $20 signing bonus – to match the sweater number of Sebastian Aho, whom the Canadiens offer-sheeted last off-season – was a “marketing thing” that was the brainchild of him, owner Tom Dundon and the team’s social media department. We’re to believe that the plucky, underdog Hurricanes have to do these kinds of things to stay relevant and engage their fan base. Hmm. There was a time when the Tampa Bay Lightning seriously needed to engage their fan base, too. They did it a little differently. They went out and built a winning team. Tomato, to-mah-to.
And if the motivation truly was to improve their team, the $20 signing bonus dragged it into the bush league. And while nobody else was privy to the negotiations, accepting it was probably not in Kotkaniemi’s best interests. It made him look like a pawn in someone else’s game. (And if it’s true that he’s using it to buy his mother’s Christmas gifts, it also makes him look cheap.)
If Kotkaniemi plays to his potential and the Hurricanes sign him to a long-term deal at less than what he’s making now, there’s a great chance this deal works out for the Hurricanes. If Dvorak comes in and wins a bunch of faceoffs and becomes a higher-scoring version of Phil Danault, there’s a great chance all of this turns out roses for the Canadiens, too. But the path they all took to get there was one that both of them should probably avoid in the future.
KK said the Habs could have done better with his development. What did you expect a player that under-performs, say? How did Quinn Hughes and Brady Tkachuk do and Suzuki and Caufield? All picked higher. KK proved in his first season he could play in this league, the year after, he falthered, he was sent down, played at a point/game, what else could have been done? In the AHL playing a point/game, means you deserve a try-out in the big league.
Hindsight is always 20-20. It's just like people comparing Dvorak to Danault, the two guys played on different teams! With the Habs' Ds weighing two tons and Price behind you, it's easier to get good defensive numbers, however, in hindsight both Tatar and Danault under-performed when Gallagher was injured, Why? I think that Gallagher is like Markov, he makes others look good. I just hope that Dvorak reacts like Domi did, proved he was a better player away from the Yotes.
Danault, KK, Staal and Perry combines for 24 goals, Dvorak, Hoffman, Paquette and Perreault 47 goals, that 23 goals difference will convert to some wins, not counting the Covid schedule of 25 in 43 nights and the injuries to key players. Save Weber, the Habs are a better team than last year, and Weber did not play too well due to injuries. Tampa and the Leafs did lose some good players in the off-season, the Habs added some. They do just fine.
I don't think this sentence is correct: "He said that the Canadiens have had their eye on him since his draft year of 2018, when they selected Andrei Svechnikov second overall, one pick before Montreal took Kotkaniemi." Shouldn't that be: "He said that the Hurricanes have had their eye on him since his draft year of 2018, when they selected Andrei Svechnikov second overall, one pick before Montreal took Kotkaniemi."