That's a lot of money for what KK has done in the league so far. I see a world where KK plays up to this contract but I think there's a lot higher chance of him significantly underperforming this contract than the contract turning into a bargain.

Probably to remind them why they made that awful move lmao

Teams save more money on buyout when the deal is backloaded. This is why players prefer frontloaded contracts.

Closer to 5 mill than four. He may play 2nd line next year but that does not mean he will be good at it. He has gotten back to his rookie year form this year but that is hardly an improvement overall. He has put up those numbers at 4th line minutes. Every time he has been given harder match ups his production has plummeted. I hope it works out for the Canes but I would guess they feel ok about it at best when the contract is done.

Overpayment.

What Carolina should have done instead was to let him go without a qualifying offer.

He would become a UFA in the offseason and the Canes could pretend he was just a rental.

Teams spend late 1sts and late 3rds all the time on rentals.

It wouldn't be a big deal.

This makes Kotkaniemi the 2nd player in the cap era to get an 8 year deal with an AAV of < $5,000,000

How in the world did Mike Matheson also get that?

https://www.capfriendly.com/signings/all/all/all/8-8/500000-5000000

Wasn't there an outraged Montreal fan claiming that this was cap circumvention a little while ago, and that Montreal should be awarded a first-round draft pick for the violation?

I remember that

good contract with the potential to be even better.

It's supposed to be 820k, since his jersey numbers is 82

Way too much risk. The best he can be is a 2C. I think he'll be a solid 3C. Should've been imo 3× 3m

My guess was Colton Sissons but he got 2.9Mx7

8 years? Really?

I almost forgot about that. That was hilarious

I see a lot of comments about an overpaid 4th line C, or how KK has not progressed with Carolina.

Calling KK a 4th line C is disingenuous, he is a 4th line C in Carolina but not around the league. Remember when everyone was making armchair gm teams where they had to put together a team using only players from one team per position? I remember a lot of people choosing Carolina's Aho Trocheck Staal (and Necas).

Also, KK is having a career year right now (career high in goals and a P/60 of 1.95, he previously had a 1.9 as a rookie, a 1.0 in a bad sophomore year, and a 1.4 last season). The only difference is he is getting a career low icetime in Carolina.

In my opinion Carolina bamboozled Bergevin and they also bamboozled KK (by limiting his role this season). I suspect moving forward KK will be a 2C for the Canes, at worst a 3C. $4.8M will be the going rate for good 3C's over the life of that contract, and if KK succeeds in becoming a top 6 C then it will be a steal.

Good signing by the Canes.

This contract reminds me a bit of Nico Hischier’s extension a couple of years ago, but on a smaller scale. At the time, Hischier hadn’t done anything at the NHL level to earn that contract, but he was only 21, and he was a first overall draft pick. Knowing that even superstars sometimes take a few years to develop, and having seen some signs that his best years were yet to come, New Jersey decided to gamble and offer him a contract that was an overpay based on his body of NHL work at that time, but could turn into an underpay if he could realize more of the potential he showed when he was drafted. Kotkaniemi is not Hischier, but I think Carolina’s thinking here was similar to New Jersey’s thought process with Hischier. In the cap era, you need to have some underpaid players.

Kotkaniemi actually had more leverage than Hischier, because if he didn’t sign, Carolina would have had to make him a qualifying offer of over $6M or let him become a UFA. That’s probably why a bridge deal wouldn’t work.

I don’t think Carolina would do this just to save face. They’re not the kind of organization that throws good money after bad. I think they when they signed him to the offer sheet, they were prepared to cut their losses and let him go if it didn’t work out, but they really believe he has the upside to grow into this contract.

Why did I think Don Waddell was a good GM?