On a team that includes Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen, the current leading scorer on the Carolina Hurricanes is none other than former Montreal Canadiens centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
Originally drafted third overall by the Canadiens in 2018, expectations for the Finnish forward were high right off the bat. But his development was famously slow and sometimes unsteady.
Nonetheless, former Montreal GM Marc Bergevin was met with a difficult decision when Kotkaniemi signed a one-year, $6.1 million offer sheet in the summer of 2021 with Carolina in a move that shook the hockey world at the time.
Ultimately, the Habs did not match the Hurricanes’ offer, losing one of their top prospects as a result.
Fans weren’t necessarily upset, though many didn’t see the player as worth that type of money. While Kotkaniemi broke into the league with 34 points in 79 games as an 18-year-old rookie, his production stalled over the next two seasons, where he put up just 28 points across 92 games.
But with four goals and 10 points through his first 10 games this season, the 6-foot-2 centre, now in his sixth NHL season, is scoring at a pint-per-game pace and is among the league’s most productive players.
Unfortunately, we’ll never know if Kotkaniemi would’ve hit his stride if he remained a Hab, especially with the organization’s new regime beginning shortly after his departure. But to be fair, we’ve all seen what kind of effect head coach Martin St. Louis had on Cole Caufield, who is currently tied with Kotkaniemi on the league’s leaderboard.
Nonetheless, a change of scenery did Kotkaniemi good both on and off the ice. Earlier this year, the 23-year-old revealed how much the Montreal media had an effect on him.
“The media is really big in Montreal, and it can get in your head really fast if you read all that stuff,” Kotkaniemi said in an April interview. “Here in Carolina, the life is so much easier. You don’t really stress about anything. Great teammates. Great staff. The media is not bad. It’s really a stress-free life here.”
And while salary was an issue in the past, Kotkaniemi, who is currently signed to a contract paying him an average of $4.82 million until 2023, is a bargain for Carolina, especially if he keeps playing like this.
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