More Finns More Wins
Joined: Jul. 2018
Posts: 508
Likes: 611
The original plan with Kotkaniemi was to offersheet him just to get him, but it wasn't necessarily for 2021-22. The initial rumours were that Carolina was willing to trade the 1st and 3rd for him, and when Montréal declined that, the offersheet was their chance.
Their long-term plan is sign him at ~4x4 and put him at 2C next year when Trocheck's contract expires and some team throws a pile of cash at a 28 year old 2C. Fiala's probably going to be more expensive than that, and when the team needs to re-sign Bear, DeAngelo, and Necas, that would put them into some pretty serious cap trouble.
As much as I like Fiala, and think a Svech-Aho-Fiala line would be fun to watch, I wouldn't do this from Carolina's perspective.