C/W Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Ässät, Liiga (2018, 3rd, MTL) Part II

[Mrb1p]

Umm, i guess it depends on what your description of play driver is. There is only one puck, he has an uncanny ability to be in the right places at the right times which is a skill in itself. The puck follows him around the ice, he can be very elusive and has the ability to finish and set up his teamates. He isnt a guy that is going to stick handle through the other team on a regular basis but that doesnt mean he cant be effective. I do deny that he 'does nothing'. Staying healthy is a very important skill, especially if the player plays hard minutes and can make room for his linemates.

Hes good at being decent without the puck, at positioning himself for shots and scoring goals.

Kotkaniemi is a play driver, he makes his teammates better, he scores goals, he plays defensively, he grinds down low and he feeds his teammates. The potential is not Monahan here, its much more than that.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Hes good at being decent without the puck, at positioning himself for shots and scoring goals.

Kotkaniemi is a play driver, he makes his teammates better, he scores goals, he plays defensively, he grinds down low and he feeds his teammates. The potential is not Monahan here, its much more than that.

Sounds like a great player. Hype right now. He has to get to Monahan's level before he passes him

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Kotkaniemi is an immensely better player than Mona-doesnothing

Preseason hot takes, eh.

 

[Mrb1p]

Preseason hot takes, eh.

No, its a hot take Id make even before the draft

 

[The Winter Soldier]

For those that have yet to see him play. He's passing the eye test for now. Games will get tougher. But right now, I would say he has played his way on the big club. I can't speak for how he played in Liiga, but I can say I have been very impressed by Koltkaniemi thus far in NHL preseason play. Also regarding the Barkov comparison. It's important to note, no 2 players develop the same. Maybe Barkov was better in Liiga, maybe Kotkaniemi will adjust quicker to the NHL. All I know is both are looking good right now.

 

[bert]

Hes good at being decent without the puck, at positioning himself for shots and scoring goals.

Kotkaniemi is a play driver, he makes his teammates better, he scores goals, he plays defensively, he grinds down low and he feeds his teammates. The potential is not Monahan here, its much more than that.

Monahan most certainly makes his teammates better, all the things you just described are things Monahan does.... Slow down the hype train before it falls off the tracks, if Kotkaniemi gets to a Monahan level player that can stay healthy and contribute then thats a heck of a pick. Kotkaniemi looks great no doubt but jeez man no need to irrationally put down other players because you are excited about your guy.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

For those that have yet to see him play. He's passing the eye test for now. Games will get tougher. But right now, I would say he has played his way on the big club. I can't speak for how he played in Liiga, but I can say I have been very impressed by Koltkaniemi thus far in NHL preseason play. Also regarding the Barkov comparison. It's important to note, no 2 players develop the same. Maybe Barkov was better in Liiga, maybe Kotkaniemi will adjust quicker to the NHL. All I know is both are looking good right now.

Rockin' Bobby Rousseau's #15

 

[Mrb1p]

Monahan most certainly makes his teammates better, all the things you just described are things Monahan does.... Slow down the hype train before it falls off the tracks, if Kotkaniemi gets to a Monahan level player that can stay healthy and contribute then thats a heck of a pick. Kotkaniemi looks great no doubt but jeez man no need to irrationally put down other players because you are excited about your guy.

Ive been critical of Monahan before and ive been high on Kotkaniemis Kotkaniemis potential for a while now, before the draft.

I know, crazy, not every thing is fan bias.

 

[Mrb1p]

For those that have yet to see him play. He's passing the eye test for now. Games will get tougher. But right now, I would say he has played his way on the big club. I can't speak for how he played in Liiga, but I can say I have been very impressed by Koltkaniemi thus far in NHL preseason play. Also regarding the Barkov comparison. It's important to note, no 2 players develop the same. Maybe Barkov was better in Liiga, maybe Kotkaniemi will adjust quicker to the NHL. All I know is both are looking good right now.

Theres only one constant with Jeppu and its that hell look better every time he plays. Its actually crazy how good he got since the start of the season. Youd swear that september 2017 Kotkaniemi and septem ber2018 Kotk are two different players, or that hes got four years older in a matter of months. He started off slowly in Liiga, with little production and he ended the season with one of the best season in Liiga history.

Ill say it here, but I speculate it has something to do with him
a) being a rookie in Liiga
B) his injury in 2017
C) his growth spurt

Hed probably fall closer to .75 or .85 PPG if every thing went well.

Really, sky is the limit here.

 

[Ippenator]

Theres only one constant with Jeppu and its that hell look better every time he plays. Its actually crazy how good he got since the start of the season. Youd swear that september 2017 Kotkaniemi and septem ber2018 Kotk are two different players, or that hes got four years older in a matter of months. He started off slowly in Liiga, with little production and he ended the season with one of the best season in Liiga history.

Ill say it here, but I speculate it has something to do with him
a) being a rookie in Liiga
B) his injury in 2017
C) his growth spurt

Hed probably fall closer to .75 or .85 PPG if every thing went well.

Really, sky is the limit here.

You are wrong though with Jesperi starting slow last season and finishing strong. He in fact started extremely strong in Liiga, but got very visibly tired towards the end of the season. He started the season with a pace that would have lead him to Barkov kind of point production, but he finished after all quite much lower.

He has definitely developed by some means from last season, but I don't see a huge difference, as I really liked him already from the start of last season. I could immediately see how wonderful hockey IQ he has, and that is for me always clearly the most important ability for a player. Skating, a crazy hard shot and amazing strength and physical presence, they become next to meaningless, if the player doesn't have at least pretty good hockey IQ.

In my opinion Jesperi has extremely good hockey IQ, so he should be able to learn and develop himself very well. Also as he is quite raw physically, there should be a lot of physical development happening still for about 5 years. Honestly I think that he has been simply criminally underrated because it’s after all so difficult to estimate the hockey IQ for players in general, and what the effect of the extremely high hockey IQ can really have on the player development in the long run.

I see a very high ceiling for Jesperi, but I still refuse to define how good he can really become. I will just watch him develop and enjoy.

 

[Mrb1p]

You are wrong though with Jesperi starting slow last season and finishing strong. He in fact started extremely strong in Liiga, but got very visibly tired towards the end of the season. He started the season with a pace that would have lead him to Barkov kind of point production, but he finished after all quite much lower.

He has definitely developed by some means from last season, but I don't see a huge difference, as I really liked him already from the start of last season. I could immediately see how wonderful hockey IQ he has, and that is for me always clearly the most important ability for a player. Skating, a crazy hard shot and amazing strength and physical presence, they become next to meaningless, if the player doesn't have at least pretty good hockey IQ.

In my opinion Jesperi has extremely good hockey IQ, so he should be able to learn and develop himself very well. Also as he is quite raw physically, there should be a lot of physical development happening still for about 5 years. Honestly I think that he has been simply criminally underrated because it’s after all so difficult to estimate the hockey IQ for players in general, and what the affect of the extremely high hockey IQ can really have on the player development in the long run.

I see a very high ceiling for Jesperi, but I still refuse to define how good he can really become. I will just watch him develop and enjoy.

I think his production was pretty constant throughout the year, can't remember exactly, but his play on the ice wasn't. You can't tell me he was the same player pre-wjc and post-wjc, he was much more effective in the end of season, imo.

 

[Tkachuky]

Im generational in my beer league

What do they put in your beers cause some of your posts Are.... yikes.

 

[montreal]

Best place to improve your skating(or any skill really) is in the place that pits you against the best skaters, if you can handle it(isn't demoralizing).

can't say i agree, he needs to work on his technique, that should be done in practice with a skating coach. In games as an 18 year in the NHL I don't think he would be thinking of that instead he would be trying not to make mistakes or to win games.

 

[bert]

Ive been critical of Monahan before and ive been high on Kotkaniemis Kotkaniemis potential for a while now, before the draft.

I know, crazy, not every thing is fan bias.

Its pretty obviously bias when you are expecting him to be a super star level player after watching 4 exhibition games. In the meantime putting down a very good player in the process. So if its not fan bias then it appears you have a hard time evaluating talent if you think Monahan 'does nothing'.

 

[Tkachuky]

Its pretty obviously bias when you are expecting him to be a super star level player after watching 4 exhibition games. In the meantime putting down a very good player in the process. So if its not fan bias then it appears you have a hard time evaluating talent if you think Monahan 'does nothing'.

‘It was a grind’: Monahan underwent four surgeries — and still had a career season

Does nothing and doesn’t help his team. What a bad guy to have around...

I’ll leave it at that as this isn’t a monahan thread

 

[Legend123]

Flame fans... sorry for that Monahan comment. Not all habs fans think like him. Mony is great and u guys are lucky to have him.
Hopefully, one day Kotkaniemi can reach his level!

 

[Volica]

Flame fans... sorry for that Monahan comment. Not all habs fans think like him. Mony is great and u guys are lucky to have him.
Hopefully, one day Kotkaniemi can reach his level!

Weird he was even brought up when comparing two very different players. I randomly clicked on this thread to see how he was doing, as I was high on Montreal taking him at the draft to find this.

 

[Castle8130]

I would not assume he is going to be a superstar 100+ point player like someone on here thinks...but he has impressed the heck out of me. Definitely proving he is worth 3rd oa so far. He reminds me of Monahan a lot though. He has some higher upsides in his game and some lower end qualities when compared to Monny.

 

[Mrb1p]

Its pretty obviously bias when you are expecting him to be a super star level player after watching 4 exhibition games. In the meantime putting down a very good player in the process. So if its not fan bias then it appears you have a hard time evaluating talent if you think Monahan 'does nothing'.

Is being better going to equate to being a super star ? Did I only watch four exhibition games, or have I watched many games over the past year ?

 

[Toene]

Rockin' Bobby Rousseau's #15

Yup. On HFHabs people compare him to Bobby Smith who wore it too.

 

[Knies iT]

His skating posture and the way he paddles with his stick is so unaesthetic, but it seems to get the job done for now.

 

[stampedingviking]

4 straight seasons roughly at that pace too. Playing top line minutes against first line centermen in the West while only sustaining one injury. Yeah what a 'does nothing' player lol.

He's not a Canadien, doesn't count.

 

[Johno]

Not sure if it has been talked about here but if Kotkaniemi plays the first Habs' game on Wednesday, he will become the first player born in 2000's to play in any of the North American Big 4 leagues.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

kotkaniemi was on a line with Drouin and Armia, while Domi was on a line with Byron and Lehkonen today

Seems like he will start the reg season with Drouin

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Not sure if it has been talked about here but if Kotkaniemi plays the first Habs' game on Wednesday, he will become the first player born in 2000's to play in any of the North American Big 4 leagues.

Yeah, he will be the first player born in the 21st century to play in the NHL.