Montreal Canadiens: Jesperi Kotkaniemi Offer Sheet All About Tom Dundon’s Pettiness

Unless you’ve been in the middle of the woods without any internet connection this past weekend, wyou most likely know by now that the Carolina Hurricanes have tendered a hostile offer to Jesperi Kotkaniemi at the amount of $6,000,015 for 1 year.

The always talented Sebastian High gave his argument for both matching and refusing the offer and needless to say the opinions on social media lean heavily towards the Habs taking the 1st and 3rd round pick compensation, most believing Kotkaniemi will never achieve the potential of being a centerman worth that kind of money, despite being a 3rd overall pick.

We’re not here to argue whether or not RFA offers should be allowed or not. I think it’s within everyone’s right to play by the rules and if the opportunity is there, then go for it. However what is transpiring makes the Brian Burke vs Kevin Lowe debacle over the Dustin Penner offer in 2007. If you remember, Lowe had made an offer sheet to Thomas Vanek, who was playing for the Sabres at the time, with the offer being a $50 million contract over 7 years, which was ultimately matched by Buffalo.

Penner was the last player to see his offer sheet declined by his team and the Ducks received a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick in the 2008 draft. Since then there has been 7 hostile offers and they have all been matched:

David Backes (2008) – Blues match Canucks’ offer of 3 years, $7.5 million

Steve Bernier (2008) – Canucks match Blues’ offer of 1 year, $2.5 million

Niklas Hjalmarsson (2010) – Blackhawks match Sharks’ offer of 4 years, $14 million

Shea Weber (2012) – Predators match Flyers’ offer of 14 years, $110 million

Ryan O’Reilly (2013) – Avalanche match Flames’ offer of 2 years, $10 million

Sebastian Aho (2019) – Hurricanes match Canadiens’ offer of 5 years, $42 million

Now that history has been presented, here’s what makes this case all the more peculiar. Everyone had a great laugh at the Habs’ expense when the Hurricanes made the offer sheet. Calling it a “revenge” offer after the Habs went after Aho 2 years ago. Tom Dundon, Carolina’s now sole owner, went publicly saying that he was insulted with the offer and flexed his guns to show the world that he had the money to back up any kind of offer.

According to Renaud Lavoie, Dundon is the one who’s going after Bergevin, not GM Don Waddell.

Translation of the tweet: “Speaking with a few sources around the NHL, I have been told that the offer sheet the Hurricanes made to Jesperi Kotkaniemi was Tom Dundon’s idea and not Don Waddell. It’s not a surprise but it still deserves a mention.” 

There’s a lot of pettiness in the offer. Starting with the $6,000,015 base salary with the 15 being Kotkaniemi’s number. In the contract is also a $20 signing bonus, 20 being Sebastian Aho’s number.

Jack Todd from the Montreal Gazette made a glorious Tweet that sums up this situation perfectly.

Meanwhile on the Hurricanes’ Twitter page, they have changed their bio to “Compte Officiel des Hurricanes de la Caroline” and have made a farce out of the whole situation.

On the Habs front? Nada, nothing and that’s perfectly fine with me.

I’m not saying you have to have a rigid and ice cold personality when it comes to owning a sports franchise. Lord knows we’d have an 24 hour documentary on the antics of George Steinbrenner alone. However in a world where creating relationships is of the utmost importance, Tom Dundon is not making himself any friends.

There’s already been rumblings the last time the owners and governors have met that some people including Geoff Molson, Jeremy Jacobs, Larry Tanenbaum and even Mario Lemieux were irked by Dundon’s “attitude” but these are mere media speculation.

Speaking of speculation, the latest reports from Elliotte Friedman indicate that Marc Bergevin was offering Kotkaniemi $2.5 million.

Which would make sense because although KK has been brilliant in the playoffs, he’s yet to establish himself as a legitimate top 6 player in the league. Then of course the hogwash began that according to those closest to him Kotkaniemi requested to be traded after the playoffs were over because he doesn’t appreciate the way he’s being treated in Montreal.

We’re going to hear all kinds of news until the Habs decide what their fate with #15 is but until then, you can bet that the kids running the Hurricanes’ Twitter account will continue trolling us every chance they get.

The Hurricanes’ probably have some sort of plan to move some centerman to the wing because they already have a middle line consisting of Aho, Martin Necas, Vincent Trocheck, Jordan Staal, Derek Stepan, Ryan Suzuki and Steven Lorentz. The left side is already filled with Josh Leivo, Jordan Martinook and Teuvo Teravainen. The right side is where the real weakness is with Jesper Fast, Nino Niederreiter and Stefan Noesen filling the gaps.

Sure they need help on the wings but why add Stepan? Why add Kotkaniemi? Unless they plan to put Aho back on the wing? Oh go ahead and put KK on the wing and you’ll see how pouty he gets.

I like Kotkaniemi. I strongly feel he can become an established 2nd line center in the NHL sooner rather than later. But is he worth $6 million a year especially after showing signs of bitterness and immaturity in the last year?

Unless you tell me there’s a serious issue in the player development department in Montreal, the answer is a definitive no.