Prospect Info: Welcome to Montréal, Jesperi Kotkaniemi (1st round pick, 3OA 2018 - signed ELC)

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ijuka

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May 14, 2016
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I expect Kotkaniemi's season to start on August 3, when Ässät will participate at the little one-day tournament Pitsiturnaus. And because of that, he should begin skating at least somewhat earlier than that.
 

MarkovsKnee

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Nov 21, 2007
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Id rather he sticks to really working om his skating. They specified they dont skate at all from the end of the season to aughust. Thats huge.

At the same time he is thin as hell... Its tough to judge.

You don't need to actually skate to improve skating, although he should anyways to improve edge work. But, speed, balance & acceleration can all be helped through gym training.
 
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JeffreyLFC

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Sep 29, 2017
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I just read the Martin Leclerc article about Kotkaniemi made after the development camp and he is trending a lot of parralel between former 3rd overall Dylan Strome and Kotkaniemi. I almost wanted to puke. How can you label a prospect a bad pick just sitting there watching a 17 years old in a development camp.

He also mentionned that players with poor skating ability rarely have impact in the NHL.

I think it is obvious Kotkaniemi development is done for the long run and not your instant success story. He has a long road ahead in terms of physical development and skating development but it has been done before and it had pretty good results. Kopitar, Scheifele, Draisailt (one year older when drafted) went through a similar process. You cannot always get a Connor McDavid or an Austin Matthews with your 1st pick. Some prospects require development and Kotkaniemi will require time. Talk to me 3 years for now if Kotkaniemi has not developped his game and he is not a better skater now we could talk about the pick being a dissapointment.
 
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Mrb1p

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Dec 10, 2011
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I just read the Martin Leclerc article about Kotkaniemi made after the development camp and he is trending a lot of parralel between former 3rd overall Dylan Strome and Kotkaniemi. I almost wanted to puke. How can you label a prospect a bad pick just sitting there watching a 17 years old in a development camp.

He also mentionned that players with poor skating ability rarely have impact in the NHL.

I think it is obvious Kotkaniemi development is done for the long run and not your instant success story. He has a long road ahead in terms of physical development and skating development but it has been done before and it had pretty good results. Kopitar, Scheifele, Draisailt (one year older when drafted) went through a similar process. You cannot always get a Connor McDavid or an Austin Matthews with your 1st pick. Some prospects require development and Kotkaniemi will require time. Talk to me 3 years for now if Kotkaniemi has not developped his game and he is not a better skater now we could talk about the pick being a dissapointment.
Strome aint even a bad prospect, and hes pretty much going to be a 2C.
 

Video Coach

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Sep 16, 2005
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You don't need to actually skate to improve skating, although he should anyways to improve edge work. But, speed, balance & acceleration can all be helped through gym training.

As a power skating instructor for 20+ yrs...yeah, you do need to skate. Certainly off ice training can help but he needs time with a skating coach. His posture isn't great and his edgework is poor. But he's young and those can improve.

His issue is not speed or explosiveness. This isn't Galchenyuk. His issue is skating mechanics. He needs to put in the time to correct some basic stuff but I'm not concerned. But yeah, that work is mostly going to happen on the ice.
 

Redux91

I do Three bullets.
Sep 5, 2006
47,320
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Kirkland, Montreal
I just read the Martin Leclerc article about Kotkaniemi made after the development camp and he is trending a lot of parralel between former 3rd overall Dylan Strome and Kotkaniemi. I almost wanted to puke. How can you label a prospect a bad pick just sitting there watching a 17 years old in a development camp.

He also mentionned that players with poor skating ability rarely have impact in the NHL.

I think it is obvious Kotkaniemi development is done for the long run and not your instant success story. He has a long road ahead in terms of physical development and skating development but it has been done before and it had pretty good results. Kopitar, Scheifele, Draisailt (one year older when drafted) went through a similar process. You cannot always get a Connor McDavid or an Austin Matthews with your 1st pick. Some prospects require development and Kotkaniemi will require time. Talk to me 3 years for now if Kotkaniemi has not developped his game and he is not a better skater now we could talk about the pick being a dissapointment.

While i agree with everything

Even writing off Strome at such an early age makes no sense to me imo.
 
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NotProkofievian

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Nov 29, 2011
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As a power skating instructor for 20+ yrs...yeah, you do need to skate. Certainly off ice training can help but he needs time with a skating coach. His posture isn't great and his edgework is poor. But he's young and those can improve.

His issue is not speed or explosiveness. This isn't Galchenyuk. His issue is skating mechanics. He needs to put in the time to correct some basic stuff but I'm not concerned. But yeah, that work is mostly going to happen on the ice.

Thanks for confirming what I've been thinking. Skating's a skill, and skills are learned through practice. My thoughts are maybe with the U18s, combine, draft, development camp, WJSS, and possibly rookie camp, and all the travelling it implies (that's what, 8 or 10 transatlantic flights in 4 months?), management is probably just happy if he uses his off-season to get bigger and stronger.
 
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MC94

Registered User
May 13, 2018
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yeah, just like we did with chucky
We did find a gem in chucky I loved the kid but this thread is for our new guy so I wont get into it with you kotkaniemi dahlin svechnikov maybe kotkaniemi ends up with the better career maybe he plays 100 games I dono all I know is he looks promising and thats good enough to keep me happy for now lol
 

Mrb1p

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Dec 10, 2011
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Thanks for confirming what I've been thinking. Skating's a skill, and skills are learned through practice. My thoughts are maybe with the U18s, combine, draft, development camp, WJSS, and possibly rookie camp, and all the travelling it implies (that's what, 8 or 10 transatlantic flights in 4 months?), management is probably just happy if he uses his off-season to get bigger and stronger.
There wont be that much getting bigger and stronger if he travels that much TBH. Especially at 17...
 
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