He’s so much flash at this point he seems like he may just be a luxury to have. He puts Butts in seats and that makes him worth keeping until they’re a contending team. I really like this deal for the team, they’ll know a lot more about who the player is later on. It’ll be more expensive then but then it becomes the cost of doing business you need to get done. Verbeek did well to flex his power here.
The Leafs at their worst will be scary offensively with their core, the question is can they outscore good opponents
he was never that guy stylistically. Best he was ever going to be was another Taylor Hall but even that's looking like a bit much. Best shot he has now is being a poor mans Nino Niederreiter and he'd have to completely change his game to be that.
his shot is decent and his puck skills are above average. I don't consider his hockey sense a strength. He's a guy that got by and won CHL POTY 2 times because he was physically just about fully mature at 16 and out-muscled everyone else in the Q and WJC with strong enough shot and puck skills to get by. He hasn't figured out how to adapt to the NHL where basically everyone is on his level physically or better, the game moves faster, and those moves that he could do where he had the time to pull them off aren't working at this level. Nobody in the NHL is going to give him the time or space to make those moves, and he isn't the kind of skater that McDavid or even Hall is to create the kind of space for himself to do them.
Honestly, he sounds like he would be a good fit with the Canes, and would bring us the kind of player that would complement what we already have very well.
Thing is, he has to WANT to play that way and accept that it's going to be what it takes to make a bigger impact in the NHL. I have no idea what's going on in his head, but I could see how accepting that role may be difficult for a former 1st OA pick.
Palloon, Fat
I don't really think this is how it worked, though. There has to be a mutual commitment beyond the initial 1xLOT offersheet with a clear understanding in what vicinity the years 2 to X will be.
Kotkaniemi flashed potential, but it certainly didn't come through in terms of numbers with Montreal. Both of them had 1 solid playoff run (9 points in 20 games in 21-22 for Laf, 8 points in 19 games in 20-21 for Kotkaniemi) but otherwise Kotkaniemi was trending backwards in regular season scoring while Lafreniere has at least been trending up in regular season scoring.
Technically such an agreement would be in violation of the CBA, could anyone prove it. Technically.
