Montreal Canadiens: Jesperi Kotkaniemi shines in preseason debut
By Omar L
Final Thoughts
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It was a good Montreal Canadiens debut for the season. I forgot to mention this, but Tomas Plekanec didn’t look too bad either and in fact, set up Hunter Shinkaruk for a few scoring chances.
Hudon jumping up to the Kotkaniemi line after Nicolas Deslauriers was forced out of the game complemented both players well. Having two pure shooters with a hockey IQ’d centre can only spell good things for the future. Of course, repetition leads to success so we’ll have to see more of what these three can accomplish together.
The game surely added a quarter to the ‘Will Kotkaniemi make the team?’, jar. I’m still of the belief that the Habs will give him that nine-game audition to start the season and watch to see how he progresses. Claude Julien seemed to imply after the game that Kotkaniemi’s skill, IQ, and vision have already warranted play in the NHL at some point this season.
But he still needs to prove that he can handle the physical grind of an 82-game campaign preferably at centre. Kotkaniemi is the only one in charge of that, and it’ll take the rest of preseason to show it. A close eye is going to be kept on the third-overall pick to see if his play dwindles as more games fall to him. Creating offensively might come and go, but that defensive execution has to remain consistent for him to stick around.
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Good start for him and the Habs overall. Let’s see what the B squad can do.