apart from his rookie season KK has not proven to be anything but a 4th line C, MTL offered a 2 year show me deal for him to show them he was more than a 4th line C, but KK already made up his mind long before he wanted out of MTL so he signed this OS, MTL would be beyond dumb to match, he does not want to stay so signing him to a cheaper extension after jan 1st is out of the question and his QO will be 6.1M to 6.7M with Romanov, Suzuki, Lehkonen and Evans to sign next year with either re-signing or replacing Chariot also, take the picks and move on.

If i thought we could re-sign and trade his rights for more next year , i do it
Issue is no one's giving up a 1st that could be as profitable as CAR

Before Hamilton, Mrazek and Nedljovic CAR drafted 5th ,7th,13th,12th and 2nd OA
Their Back end didnt replace those big holes anymore then MTL replaced Danault ,Weber and now Kotkanemi
They're delusional to think they'll go further is just not going to happen Especially with 2 Goalies both injury prone

We wont get a better deal then this
Not at KK's cap of 6.1m when we couldnt when it was just his rights

I’d be suspicious as to why Carolina only did one year offersheet. Could it be they just want to handcuff Montreal raising the qualifying offer for next offseason when they rather go after Suzuki on a long term deal?

Andersen is not injury prone. He's had 2 injury riddled years out of 10. Raanta is, that's different. The blue line got better in terms of depth, and TDA on the ice is a very capable offensive replacement for Hamilton. Off the ice, he's a different problem. Cole is an improvement on Bean and Gardiner. Bear is a huge improvement on Fleury and Hakanpaa. Their depth scoring is also better with Kotkaniemi. Carolina got better this off-season... this is still a risk because the division is EXTREMELY tough, but they're better now than they were last year.

It's the best chance of taking the player. You don't get the long term stability if you match it, and it's only one year so you're not stuck with an albatross of a contract. They probably talked a multi-year deal before they got the 1 year offer sheet and know what he'd want in January.

I’m thinking the one year is just for worst case scenario Montreal doesn’t match not married to the player. It’s not like Carolina to overpay for talent so I’m questioning if KK is the actual target or they could just be creating a situation that will be very difficult for Montreal to get Suzuki locked up.

The trick is to get KK out of Montreal. They tried trading for Kotka so they want this player

Stop it. Just stop it. MB is doing his job, just like KK and his agent were. You can't have it both ways. Be honest, whose being unreasonable here? The 20 year old taking the 6.1M contract after a 20 point season or the manager offering him 2.5M on a bridge deal?

This idea that this pompous little 20 year old has been sooooooooo disrespected and lowballed is utter garbage. He didn't even earn his 2.5M based on his results and his reaction to the coach scratching him should have been a learning lesson and a chance to prove everyone wrong. Instead he chose to whine like a little rat he is. Did Suzuki cry when he was playing alongside Nate Thompson on the 4th line in his rookie season? No. He learned from it and made the most of his opportunities when given it and look where he is now.

The reason why no one should fear a Suzuki OS is because the Habs know he has earned every penny and is only getting better. He'll be signed to that 8-10M contract before teams get a chance to OS. Why? Because he earned it and management is not adverse to paying good players, good money. they are however adverse to paying bad players good money.

I hate MB as much as the next guy but this exaggerated siding with KK is over the top. KK's attitude since being sent down to the AHL last year has been a real eye opener. He feels entitled to everything a top 3 draft pick is given without earning it one bit.

I really hope MB finds a replacement trade before the OS times up. He's all yours Carolina. Pray to god that Rod doesn't play Trochek or Staal over him at any point during the year or else he'll be complaining how the team didn't roll out the red carpet for him and automatically give him Aho's spot. How dare they disrespect him like that! Do they know who he is???

They want KK most likely for his defensive game and they think he can improve his offense but on the flipside they also would create problems for Montreal if they match but I think they don't offer sheet Suzuki just because he will bring in a lot of money and Carolina has to sign Necas and Trocheck next year

You clearly didn't watch the last 2 playoffs did you, KK and Zuke tied for the team lead in 19-20 in goals and this year KK finished tied for 2nd on the team with 5 while Zuke led with 7. Also KK finished 5th on the team in points while playing 3rd line center. The only guys that had more points were Suzuki (16), Toffoli (14) Caufield (12) and Perry (10) that is the entire top line and Perry. That means KK out performed Anderson, Danault and Gallagher who all were top 6 forwards and never scratched. Yeah that guy is clearly a bust!

3 times out in the past 2 seasons thats a lot and why Andersen was let go
If you're back up isnt injury prone like Raanta i say nothing but both those guys together .... nope

Hamilton was a top 15 NHL Defensman on their team
Now he's a top 15 NHL Defensman on a Rival team they face in their division
Everyone in their division added and CAR lost pieces

They went from 2 top 15 NHL D to just 1
Its worse then MTL losing Weber as Hamilton brought more to the table


Banking on Tony D-bag Deangelo is unwise he's more likely to tear the D core apart then help it
NYR didnt bench then buy him out because he was quiet in the lockeroom and left his teammates alone
They did that because he takes out his failings on those around him all the way back to Junior

Not the same situation, MTL would have no issue matching Suzuki or signing him to the contract he deserves because he's earned it.

Also, the only reason KK is being offersheeted is because Carolina wanted revenge... why haven't Petterson, Tkachuk, etc. signed offer sheets yet after seeing what KK has pulled?

Lastly, if you are so worried Suzuki gets offersheeted next year then why are you matching KK's offersheet? Don't overpay KK, save the money for guys that actually deserve it.

Comparing Suzuki and Jesperi is absolutely bonkers... the difference here is Suzuki is a 1C and could very well be worth 8-10million at some point in his career. Jesperi will probably never perform at a 6million dollar season. Burgervan would be really stupid to match. Hopefully he can be prideful and let the trolls have their overpaid 3C

KK is like Lars Eller Offensively
Very good for short bursts offensively.
Issues is defensively he's slow and always out of position
That would be fine if he could win faceoffs but he cant and Necas would put up the same numbers


KK has some upside as a Goal Scorer 100% as when he shoots he has juicy rebounds but only against bottom 6 players (look at his goals last year )
Issue is his playmaking when he tries is bad he ALWAYS over passes
If he could win Faceoffs all the other inconsistency you're patient with as they can become an Eller type at worst

Issue becomes his contract
At at Gallagher like deal for i think it was 3.75m x 6 year deal to earn him what KK is being offered
KK feels he doesnt need to earn anything as even he's unsure if he'll pan out long term signing a 1 year OS (who does that, i couldnt find anyone in the history of OS's )

Agreed If he wanted a 5 year deal to take him to UFA fine
If he wanted a 8 year max thats fine to

I think the only Scenario we're not prepared for is if he pulls a Kotkanemi and wants out.
Right now he's re-affirmed his commitment to bringing MTL back a cup as i believe he wants that Kirk Muller hero status for Decades

But my point is no matter what we're prepared financially to bring Suzuki back
Caufield is good now but if he breaks out with lets say a 40 goal season then we're in a rough spot but Drouin will be coming off the books with Byron and others

The reason I would match the KK OS isn't because of Suzuki that was just an observation as to why we should focus on locking our young guys up early and not trying to low ball them. I would match the OS because the compensation is not enough to let KK go, lets assume that Carolina finishes in the 15-25 range in the draft. Is that pick going to be better than KK is right now or help us in the next 2 years before Price and Petry look at retirement like KK would? No definitely not, IF we do match our team does still have 2 major holes 3C and a 2RHD. Without KK though our team is missing 2C, 3C and a 2RHD, plus we no longer have any leverage in a trade to upgrade the C position. Even if the plan is to keep KK for 1 year and trade him later or go to arbitration it is still better than losing any momentum and wasting more of Price and Petry's time.

No, the pick would not directly help MTL contend over the next couple years, but I would argue KK wouldn't help either.

Signing KK to $6.1M throws a huge wrench into MTL's plans with regards to the salary cap... they likely weren’t projecting KK to make that much for another 2-3 years and he likely won't perform at a $6.1M level for another 4 - 5, so at the end of the day KK would not provide positive value for another 4 to 5 years at $6.1M IMO... so how does that help you win now? To match KK and resign him next year you have to trade picks to dump Byron, move Lehkonen, and let Chiarot walk (any trade wouldn't be coming from a position of strength) just to free up the money to sign Suzuki, Evans, and Romanov.

You could go to free agency right now and sign Tyler Bozak for ~$3M one year and he would be an upgrade over Kotkaniemi, then you could turn your attention to a long term replacement for KK next year once you see how your team performs.

Edit: Also do you not think Evans or Poehling will be 3C this year? Drouin is an option for 2C... we already discussed this so no need to debate it again. Bozak is a top 9 C as well. All players are as good as KK right now if not better, so why is it like the sky is falling if KK is let go?

Stop the bias dude… they got way worse… I have them 5th in the metro…
1-Islanders
2-Flyers
3-Penguins
4-Rangers
5-Carolina
6-Washington
7-New Jersey
8-Columbus

I did watch the last two playoffs very intently and if you are someone who looks simply at point/goal scoring to make your opinion, you are the one who clearly didn't watch.

Armia outproduced KK in the playoffs both years, should he be top line winger worth 6.1M?
Danault scored 4 points all post season, should he be making 2M a year?

KK was very streaky in the playoffs both years. He just happened to be clutch which negated his defensive misdoings and terrible faceoff %. Which was why he was scratched. Now would I have scratched him? No probably not, but the coach clearly saw something in him that wasn't working. He doesn't just wake up one day and say "You know what? F*** Jesperi Kotkaniemi today for no reason".

We are talking about a 20 year old complaining for being benched 1 single game, when he wasn't playing great and the team was facing elimination. That was the straw that broke the camels back? What were the Habs supposed to play him over Suzuki or Danault?

KK wanted proven ice time - Habs were going to give it to him this year by not signing Danault.
KK wanted more money - 2.5M on a 2 year deal. Literally every single person agrees this was fair value.

Kotkaniemi leaked to the media that he felt like he played his last game in Montreal because of all this? Holy hell, imagine how 50% of the league in similar situations feel and they certainly haven't reacted to it the same way KK has.

All I can say is GOOD RIDDANCE. Bring on Dvorak, Hertl, etc. Heck Im not even opposed to giving Poehling the reigns to see what he can do with #2 minutes.

Bozak at 3 mil for a 3C is too high and you still have to fill the 2C spot, I like Poehling and Evans but they do not have the raw talent to fill that hole. The price to acquire a true 2C is going to be astronomical especially with our now depleted center options. Dvorak is not worth 2 1sts or a 1st + Caufield like I have seen floating around here, Eichel will cost one of Zuke or Caufield + a couple of 1sts minimum. What are our options? How do we keep progressing forward with so many holes in the lineup? I want to build on the team not subtract from it. In the playoffs KK was our 5th best forward in terms of putting points on the board. That was achieved with Byron, Lehkonen, Perry and Armia on his wings, now imagine if he had taken Danault's spot and had Gallagher and Anderson, how many more points could he have gotten playing top 6 and 12-15 minutes a game? Danault could have still played his shutdown role with Lehkonen and Armia and wouldn't have lost any points off his stats. The kid might have struggled during the regular season (and he did badly) but he absolutely stepped up his game in the playoffs when it counted.

Way worse? Their goaltending floor is about the same but ceiling is definitely higher. They lost some scoring punch from the back end but are much more solid and consistent 1-6. Whether they get KK or another top 9 add they’re deeper in their forward corps as well.

You can argue they got worse in some areas and better in others and maybe that nets them out to not really improving but to say they got way worse seems like a dramatic over exaggeration.

Did the pens get better? Don’t think so

Did the rags get better? They may have but they also focused on bringing in bottom 6 players that are largely replaceable.

Did the flyers get better? Maybe a tad but for as good as the Ellis deal was, the Risto deal was just as bad.

Did the devils get better? Absolutely, but probably still a year away.

At the end of the day it’s a tough division with everybody but CBJ likely in the mix but I’d think it’s probably

NYI
CAR
PIT
WAS
NYR
NJD
PHI
CBJ

Armia did not out produce KK either year in the playoffs (maybe in the bubble in points but KK had a team leading 5 goals tied with Suzuki that year).

This year KK had a better F/O percentage (47.9 reg season and 49.4 playoffs) in the playoffs and regular season than Suzuki did (44,0 reg season and 45.7 playoffs), so I don't know what you are looking at there. Also possession matrix was better at 51.6 for KK in the playoff and 50.6 for Zuke and regular season 59.4 for KK and 54.9 for Zuke. The only advanced stats where Zuke out performed KK this year was PTS/60 he was at 2.4 and KK was at 1.4. KK was even more physical than Zuke had 64 hits to KK's 84 in the regular season but zuke did out hit him in the playoffs 35 to 53. Suzuki is absolutely our top line center and deserves to be but don't sell KK short just cause he has not lit up the league like Zuke has, they are very similar players with the only numbers favoring Zuke are the ones on the scoresheet.

EDIT*** Here are the links to their stats

Kotkaniemi https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/k/kotkaje01.html

Suzuki https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/s/suzukni01.html

Andersen played more games last year than Nedeljkovic and Mrazek, yet he's the question mark? That's utterly wrong. He's an average .918 goaltender. If he does that in Carolina, they'll win the division.

Hamilton was great, fine. But he wasn't great in Calgary, he wasn't great in Boston. What's to say he'll be successful in New Jersey? He was successful next to Slavin. That's the same guy who made Faulk look good for years. Faulk has since.... struggled. TDA, if he stays on the ice, has the ability to replace MOST of Dougie's offensive contributions. Bear and Cole are also improvements on what they had, they've gained on the blueline.

They gained everywhere. There's this illusion that they lost pieces because they traded a goaltender they didn't trust and didn't pay Dougie Hamilton the big money he got in New Jersey. That's wrong. They've added Cole, Bear, Andersen, Raanta, Stepan, Kotkaniemi... they're 1 top 9 piece away from being IMO, the most complete team in the league. They don't have the big offensive point producer is always the big thing I hear, but TDA has that potential. Remember, he's not old.

And continuing on about TDA, he's on his last chance, if he wants to stay in the NHL he knows he has to shut up and play well. If he does ANYTHING, he'll be thrown to the wolves and everyone knows that. This is him playing for his NHL career. You have to imagine he'll shut up. Plus, he's next to Jaccob Slavin every day who is the purest human alive, and if half of that rubs off on TDA, he'll be loved.

With Carter Hart, you have Philly 2nd? You have the Rangers 4 with their defense? Islanders barely made it last year, and you have Washington missing? This is REALLY bold. It's the Metro, so anything is possible, but Carolina are certainly one of the stronger teams in the division, and they're the odds on favorite to win it.

Yeah, I have Carolina top 3 in the Metro maybe top 3 in the east. They improved the goaltending and forwards, and while I wanted TDA out of the league he is still a good player on the ice and will alleviate the loss of Hamilton