Montreal Canadiens: Ideal linemates for Jesperi Kotkaniemi

The Waiting Game

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It’ll be a day-by-day process for the Montreal Canadiens to determine whether Kotkaniemi plays in the NHL, AHL, or back in Assat. Obviously, the most important aspect of the discussion is how it affects the player himself. But, there will be further roster decisions to be made if he ends up taking one of those centre positions.

For example, would the Habs be okay with having Tomas Plekanec on the fourth line? Where would Jacob de La Rose fit in all of this? What would it mean for Matthew Peca who Bergevin has pointed out to be one of the newcomers he expects to be on the team this upcoming season? That’s the job of the head coach, to deal with these kinds of ‘headaches’ but it’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out.

If it’s not in the regular season, hopefully, a Lehkonen-Kotkaniemi-Armia line is at least looked at during camp. There’s a lot of potential in a unit with so much speed and offensive capabilities that it may be something Julien hesitates to pass up on.

The easiest option for everyone is to have Kotkaniemi play in Finland and hopefully watch him dominate. If his season ends earlier than they’d like, perhaps the Habs call him over to make his NHL debut and play a few games towards the end of the year. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Kotkaniemi get the ‘nine-game’ treatment to start the season and eventually get sent back.

Kotkaniemi will be playing for the Habs at some point. When and in what regard is what fans may have patiently wait for.