Is Jesperi Kotkaniemi flying a sign at him joining the Montreal Canadiens?

This comes from Finnish news outlet Helsingin Sanomat that put out an article not too long ago stating that a group of players rented their own plane and are heading to New York. Leo Komarov was apparently the brains behind the organization here, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi is confirmed to be on the flight.

Nothing pertaining to his status has been released by anyone. However, if Kotkaniemi is travelling overseas to North America with training camp hoping for a July 10th opening, he may be ready to play. He’ll definitely need to be cleared by Montreal Canadiens doctors first.

Now we have a bit of predicament. Even though Kotkaniemi started the season with the Habs, he didn’t finish it with them. His bad luck sophomore year granted him 36 NHL games of not his best performance despite a few bright lights along the way. He won’t be gifted a spot on the team, especially with Suzuki clearly establishing himself as a key player on the team.

That said, if Kotkaniemi stands out at camp, there’s no way Claude Julien can keep him off the lineup. Perhaps starting in a fourth-line role is where the Habs see him, at least to start out the series. If that happens, I still feel Evans should be on the team and could easily slide to Kotkaniemi’s right-wing unless Charles Hudon gets the gig there.

Claude Julien hasn’t been one to use his fourth line centers for more than energy shifts and penalty killing, but the Montreal Canadiens will need any and all tricks against Pittsburgh. With a middle of Danault, Suzuki, Domi and a revamped Kotkaniemi, Julien could have a number of creative avenues to pursue.