Yes, but they got something back for Nedeljkovic. It may not have been what we thought was value, but they got something. Same with Skinner.
If they see a deal that returns positive value in their eyes for Kotkaniemi I don’t think they will hesitate to move him. But they aren’t going to pay someone to unload him when the buyout cost would be $850K a year.
I wanted to say that regardless of what potential Kotkaniemi might have as he possibly develops into a better player, if we can trade him for a player that's better now, and isn't a rental, we should do it. Even if you believe he will get better (debatable), my view is that we need to improve our odds of winning the cup without rolling the dice on a prospect that might or might not grow into the top draft pick he was.
Meier, and even Horvat (because there's some Canes fans who are sour on him) would be worthy IMO of trading KK for. The other thing too is his contract. Even if we all want to give him a chance to grow as a player, if we're gonna get a high tier goal scorer, ideally we trade some cap space for not this upcoming summer, but for 2024's summer with so many expiring contracts of BIG players on this team. Trading KK's $5 million helps a lot. Then you throw in the possibility of Bally going under from Sinclair's (iirc that's the parent company's name) bankruptcy, and we're looking at the real chance of the cap ceiling going down and not up as we all assumed. The potential loss of TV revenue changes things for different teams.
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The reason Kotkaniemi won’t be moved isn’t because Carolina refuses to give up on him; it’s because they won’t get value for him right now.
Very possible being the case.
Finally, I don't see Staal being demoted to 4C as some have discussed; at least not next season/any time soon. So, if we do get a 2C, that means KK, a roughly $5 million dollar player, is stuck on the 4th line even longer. That's such an inefficient and even outright dumb use of cap space. He's already been on our 4th line a lot; do we really want most of his contract there after we get a 2C (either at the deadline or during free agency)? Especially when we can get other good 4th liners for way less money? People have complained about Staal at 3C as a $6 million dollar player (rightfully so), but does KK get a pass as a $5 million dollar 4C? The latter is a way worse situation since it's a 4C, and not to mention Staal is a defensive juggernaut and good at faceoffs despite historically not being great offensively.
If we get a 2C, we should trade KK and let Drury break into the line up finally (assuming we don't trade him either). That will help develop him into a better player. If not, Stastny or some other player takes the 4C spot.
*Edit* So, scratch Horvat's name off the list.
