Montreal Canadiens: How Habs Can Get Last Laugh in Jesperi Kotkaniemi Saga

The Montreal Canadiens relationship with the Carolina Hurricanes is well documented.

The Canadiens signed Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet on July 1, 2019. The Hurricanes matched it and kept the player. Then they went out of their way several times to talk about how easy it was and how the Canadiens did them a favour.

Then, they showed how angry they were about it and just how petty they can be when they signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet last summer than included a $20 signing bonus which is Aho’s number. The offer sheet was for a total of $6,100,035 as the salary ended with $15 thrown in which was Kotkaniemi’s number on the Canadiens.

Kotkaniemi has mostly played a fourth line centre role for the Hurricanes this season and now has 23 points in 55 games for Carolina this season, which is three more points than he had for the Canadians in 56 games last season. That’s… progress I suppose. We will sit patiently and wait to see if he can surpass his career high of 34 points.

While his production hasn’t progressed since he had those 34 points as an 18 year old rookie, it sounds like the Hurricanes are prepared to retain Kotkaniemi long term.

Rumour has it the player and team are about to ink an eight year contract extension with a cap hit around $4.5 million. That seems a bit rich for a centre who sits tied for 248th in league scoring, but who am I to tell the Hurricanes how to use their salary cap space.

It would appear the Hurricanes are now getting the last laugh in “offer sheet gate.” However, that doesn’t have to be the case. There is a very simple and wise way for the Canadiens to get the last laugh and the upper hand here.

You see, with Kotkaniemi earning so much cap space, the team is pretty much obligated to find him a bigger role with the team. The only way to do that is to move him to the wing, but they tried that to start the season and it went poorly. So, they have to move him up the lineup at centre.

Right now the Hurricanes have Aho, Vincent Trocheck and Jordan Staal in front of Kotkaniemi on the centre depth chart. If this rumoured eight year contract is signed, that means Trocheck will be leaving the team as a free agent this summer for sure.

The Canadiens could use some help down the middle and can take advantage of the Hurricanes error of letting Trocheck walk by signing him as a free agent.

The Canadiens could use some help down the middle, and Brendan Gallagher in particular needs a new centre on his line. The Canadiens lost Kotkaneimi a year ago but also lost Phillip Danault to free agency. Danault has been missed tremendously as his two-way game brought out the best in Gallagher and the duo was able to shut the opposition on a nightly basis while putting up decent offensive numbers.

Without Danault, Gallagher’s offence has disappeared. He needs a smart, two-way centre to find some chemistry with. The 28 year old Trocheck can handle himself well defensively and he has scored 39 points in 58 games. That is nearly double Kotkaniemi’s production for those counting.

If the Hurricanes lose Trocheck to make room for Kotkaniemi to play a top six role, the Canadiens can pounce and get the last laugh in this drama.

They would get the last laugh not because of some signing bonus of $82 dollars which matches Kotkaniemi’s number or a somewhat clever tweet that they send out. They would get the last laugh because they would have the much better centre under contract.

Want your voice heard? Join the A Winning Habit team!

Write for us!