The Carolina Hurricanes: the perfect organization to continue Jesperi Kotkaniemi's development?
What word best describes Jesperi Kotkaniemi's career so far? Nebulous? Enigmatic? Drafted third overall in the 2018 draft by the Habs, KK had a great first season in the National Hockey League as an 18-year-old, but his career has stagnated since.
Despite an obvious lack of consistency, Kotkaniemi has had a few good "flashes" since his rookie season, especially in the playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes based their decision to make an offer sheet to the Montreal Canadiens for their young center on this promise.
Although this one-year, $6.1 million offer seems like a personal vendetta against the Canadiens, Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell must have seen something he liked in the young Kotkaniemi before making such an offer.
When asked about this on 91.9 Sports, analyst Louis Jean believes that despite the pressure of his new salary, Kotkaniemi is in an excellent environment to showcase his enormous potential to the world.
To support his point of view, Louis Jean explains that Canes head coach Rod Brind'Amour is one of the best coaches in the league at bringing out the best in his players, and in particular his young players. In addition, the Hurricanes are a young team, well supported by some good veterans, and have a great family spirit, as evidenced by their post-game celebrations at home.
Speaking of family, Jesperi Kotkaniemi shouldn't be too distracted by the change of scenery either, as he will be surrounded by several compatriots like Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen and Jani Hakanpaa. Finally, although it was not discussed by Louis Jean, KK will also have the chance to play in the same organization as the brothers of some of his former teammates in Jordan Staal (Eric's younger brother) and Ryan Suzuki (Nick's younger brother, who is still waiting to make his big league debut).
So the Carolina Hurricanes have every reason to be excited about bringing Jesperi Kotkaniemi into their lineup, but they'll have to make sure they're surrounding this young man well in his development if they don't want to be the big losers in this saga.
