It’s been nearly two and a half years since the Montreal Canadiens lost centre Jesperi Kotkaniami to an offer sheet from the Carolina Hurricanes.
While the news of his abrupt departure was a hard pill for Canadiens fans to swallow at the time, Montreal may have dodged a bullet in the long run.
Kotkaniemi started the 2023-24 season on a heater, netting 12 points through his first 12 games. At the time, many Carolina fans were thrilled to see his $4.82 million cap hit finally start to pay off.
But the cold streak that has followed may be cause for concern.
Over his last 34 games, Kotkaniemi has only registered five points. With only three in his last 27 games (one goal, two assists), the Finland native, who was drafted third overall back in 2018, has logged less than 10 minutes in his last three games.
As a result, head coach Rod Brind’Amour has demoted the 6-foot-2 centre to the fourth line.
A lack of talent around him is not the problem either.
Kotkaniemi has a current +/- of -11. While that’s to be expected on a rebuilding team, the Hurricanes, who boast the fourth-best record in the NHL’s Eastern Conference (28-15-5), scoring more goals than any other team in their division, are contenders.
While he’s still technically developing, the 23-year-old, who signed an eight-year deal with the Hurricanes in March of 2022, is starting to look like a bad investment for Carolina — especially since it cost them two high draft picks (a first- and third-round pick in 2022) to acquire him.
Those two draft picks were ultimately used by Montreal to acquire centre Christian Dvorak, who has also not lived up to his potential. But luckily for the Habs, the 27-year-old only has one year remaining on a contract, paying him an average annual salary of $4.45 million.
As for the Hurricanes, they’ll have plenty of time to hope Kotkaniemi finds his game.
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