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

[Mrb1p]

Good thing he's already a beast.

The size of his frame is great, but its gonna be a long road to get strong and bulky, kinda like Eller.

Eller had an awesome frame but didnt get into it until he really focused on his body, going for prepped meals and such.

 

[Redux91]

When its all said and done, ideally he tops out at 6"3 195-200lbs by the time he's 20-21, would be nice

 

[MC94]

When its all said and done, ideally he tops out at 6"3 195-200lbs by the time he's 20-21, would be nice

Dont get your hopes up for him to get taller while not impossible I have doubts about it

 

[Hfbsux]

Dont get your hopes up for him to get taller while not impossible I have doubts about it

Even if he doesn't gain one inch, it wouldn't be a big deal. Also, Kotkaniemi is one of the youngest player in the draft, it is very possible he gains that inch.

 

[Canadienna]

Why do you guys think Liiga would be better for him than AHL learning NA ice? Not saying one or the other but it seems like no one is keen to get him over the pond.

 

[Redux91]

Dont get your hopes up for him to get taller while not impossible I have doubts about it

Hopes not up, to me the frame is big enough im just saying he's officially at 6"2.3 at 17 so its not out of the realm of possibility he covers the last 2/3 of that inch to get to 6"3 at such a young age, if he does great, if he doesnt i wont lose sleep over it lol, im more concerned with him acquiring strength and mass

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Why do you guys think Liiga would be better for him than AHL learning NA ice? Not saying one or the other but it seems like no one is keen to get him over the pond.

I think it's more Kotkaniemi himself would much rather play for Assat than Laval. His dads the coach, and he's stated his biggest dream is to win a liiga championship.

 

[Redux91]

Why do you guys think Liiga would be better for him than AHL learning NA ice? Not saying one or the other but it seems like no one is keen to get him over the pond.

And rip him away from his professional team he has bonds with?, plays for his dad the coach, this is different if the kid was a north american and played in the CHL or NCAA already, cant just force a kid to cross the ocean and and throw him into the pot that is montreal at such an early age

when it comes to a situation like this where a kid is in mestis or liiga or allsvenskan or SHL , the team drafting said prospect is in LUCK, the person is already in great development hands and when they are ready they can come over, pressure free, those leagues are just as good as the AHL to learn to play hockey at a physically high level, i agree the ice size is different sure

but with a guy like kotkaniemi, the smaller ice is only an advantage...wait till you see him roaming the O and D zones swinging his long stick + wingspan to poke pucks free, i was watching tentatively during the scrimmages and videos, its a huge asset, its so annoying lol, youre tyring to do your thing with the puck and out of nowhere this stick just comes in with a jab and messes everything up

 

[Mrb1p]

Why do you guys think Liiga would be better for him than AHL learning NA ice? Not saying one or the other but it seems like no one is keen to get him over the pond.

AHL is crap. Guys are crazy, most of them are wrecking balls, theres goons, the travel is ridiculous and Liiga ice is not far off from actual NHL rinks.

 

[Redux91]

I think it's more Kotkaniemi himself would much rather play for Assat than Laval. His dads the coach, and he's stated his biggest dream is to win a liiga championship.

this "biggest dream" stuff is blown out of translation lol, his dream is to be a star NHL player first and foremost, which is every single one of them in the draft's dream

its about "goals" for him right now, and the goal right NOW currently for him is the Liiga championship, and if he gets it or or strikes out, he will move on to the next goal, and so on, lets not forget he will probably play in 2 U20-WJC's, those are big "dreams" for these guys too lol

 

[Canadienna]

I think it's more Kotkaniemi himself would much rather play for Assat than Laval. His dads the coach, and he's stated his biggest dream is to win a liiga championship.

Is Assat a team with a shot at it this year?

Also totally unrelated...

Do any of you find it concerning that Lehkonen put up similar numbers at the same age, and yet 5 years after his draft isn't able to control the play in the NHL?

Is there some reason I am missing? Did Lehkonen not improve as much as expected in his d+1? Also why was Lehkonen a second rounder with such similar numbers (both played their draft year on the wing if I'm not mistaken).

 

[Redux91]

Is Assat a team with a shot at it this year?

Also totally unrelated...

Do any of you find it concerning that Lehkonen put up similar numbers at the same age, and yet 5 years after his draft isn't able to control the play in the NHL?

Is there some reason I am missing? Did Lehkonen not improve as much as expected in his d+1? Also why was Lehkonen a second rounder with such similar numbers (both played their draft year on the wing if I'm not mistaken).

2 things

-have you SEEN the team the last couple years? we STINK and lehkonen is one of the hardest working players on the ice with gallagher

-have you SEEN the centers he plays/played with ........

Give Lehkonen kotkaniemi in a couple years and i suspect a huge difference, hopefully they just dont give up on lehkonen like they have been on others, the kids waiting to bust out, its just too bad the team sucks, and i mean SUCKS


lastly, lehkonen was definitely talked about around here as a sleeper, and people were actually thrilled to pick him after the DLR and Fucale picks, the only downsides were potential concussion past and smallish frame... but as you can see now hes actually pretty tough (tho still gets a bit banged up lol) and has a wicked shot

 

[NotProkofievian]

Why do you guys think Liiga would be better for him than AHL learning NA ice? Not saying one or the other but it seems like no one is keen to get him over the pond.

I have no problem putting him with Bouchard in Laval. I think Kotka himself prefers Ässät, though, and there's a couple practical reasons why I think it makes sense. The first is that it's less new information: the only new thing is that he'll be playing exclusively center against pros. In the AHL, he'll have new competition, new ice, a new, more intense travel schedule, and more games. I think keeping him in Liiga to dominate and make himself home at center ice makes too much sense to mess with it.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Is Assat a team with a shot at it this year?

Probably not.

Also totally unrelated...

Do any of you find it concerning that Lehkonen put up similar numbers at the same age, and yet 5 years after his draft isn't able to control the play in the NHL?

Is there some reason I am missing? Did Lehkonen not improve as much as expected in his d+1? Also why was Lehkonen a second rounder with such similar numbers (both played their draft year on the wing if I'm not mistaken).

No. Lehkonen has never been, and never will be a player who controls the play. He's an opportunist. Jesperi is much more of a player who will attempt to control the play. About similar numbers, just because someone produces similar numbers at the same time doesn't mean that they'll go on to do the same things. This applies equally to Rantanen and Aho as it does to Lehkonen. In all three cases, however, these are all NHLers of varying quality, and I'd argue three pretty good NHLers. Things just haven't clicked for Lehk quite yet. But with the amount of rubber he puts on net and his knack for scoring the comparison will become more favourable.

 

[montreal]

Why do you guys think Liiga would be better for him than AHL learning NA ice? Not saying one or the other but it seems like no one is keen to get him over the pond.

Would never want to see an 18 year old in the AHL, I don't like 19 year olds in the AHL. Kostitsyn, Avstin and DLR were the only ones I can think of over the past 15+ years, it wasn't pretty.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Is Assat a team with a shot at it this year?

Also totally unrelated...

Do any of you find it concerning that Lehkonen put up similar numbers at the same age, and yet 5 years after his draft isn't able to control the play in the NHL?

Is there some reason I am missing? Did Lehkonen not improve as much as expected in his d+1? Also why was Lehkonen a second rounder with such similar numbers (both played their draft year on the wing if I'm not mistaken).

Kotka's numbers took a hit because he didn't produce on the PP. That's not great, but he matched up with his contemporaries at ES.

Contextualizing Kotkaniemi: How does his draft year stack up against other top Finnish prospects?

Also, don't sleep on Lehkonen, he was really unlucky last season.

 

[Mrb1p]

Is Assat a team with a shot at it this year?

Also totally unrelated...

Do any of you find it concerning that Lehkonen put up similar numbers at the same age, and yet 5 years after his draft isn't able to control the play in the NHL?

Is there some reason I am missing? Did Lehkonen not improve as much as expected in his d+1? Also why was Lehkonen a second rounder with such similar numbers (both played their draft year on the wing if I'm not mistaken).

Nah Assat is probably not winning unless Kotkaniemi has a huge spike in production.

Lekhonen is a good player, he just didn't progress as much as you'd think, and he was also really unlucky with injuries and he just didnt get it in the NHL so far. He's still a great player.

Im also not sure Lekhonen playing in the SHL was the greatest thing for his development. He seemed to have fell off from there, it seemed like an unnecessary move.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Nah Assat is probably not winning unless Kotkaniemi has a huge spike in production.

Lekhonen is a good player, he just didn't progress as much as you'd think, and he was also really unlucky with injuries and he just didnt get it in the NHL so far. He's still a great player.

Im also not sure Lekhonen playing in the SHL was the greatest thing for his development. He seemed to have fell off from there, it seemed like an unnecessary move.

Wat? I mean, he had mono that one year, but then he exploded.

 

[Canadienna]

Probably not.

No. Lehkonen has never been, and never will be a player who controls the play. He's an opportunist. Jesperi is much more of a player who will attempt to control the play. About similar numbers, just because someone produces similar numbers at the same time doesn't mean that they'll go on to do the same things. This applies equally to Rantanen and Aho as it does to Lehkonen. In all three cases, however, these are all NHLers of varying quality, and I'd argue three pretty good NHLers. Things just haven't clicked for Lehk quite yet. But with the amount of rubber he puts on net and his knack for scoring the comparison will become more favourable.

I agree we hopefully have more to see from Lehkonen and you can tell he plays the right way, but there's a big difference between having another player of his calibre in Kotka and having one of the other comparables in Aho or Rantanen or even Barkov.

Don't mean to make this about Lehkonen, but as one of the comparables in terms of Liiga production in their draft year we may want to look at how Lehk developed and compare it to how Aho/Rantanen/Barkov developed and try to do the latter with Kotka.

We need this guy to be a hit, with the lottery system and Price in nets I'm not confident we get a whole lot more cracks at top Cs.

 

[montreal]

Nah Assat is probably not winning unless Kotkaniemi has a huge spike in production.

Lekhonen is a good player, he just didn't progress as much as you'd think, and he was also really unlucky with injuries and he just didnt get it in the NHL so far. He's still a great player.

Im also not sure Lekhonen playing in the SHL was the greatest thing for his development. He seemed to have fell off from there, it seemed like an unnecessary move.

Saw a lot of Lekhonen in the SHL, he improved a ton and was a beast for them in his 2nd year, 4th on the team in goals, 6th in points and then in the playoffs he killed it with 11 goals in 16 games, the next highest on his team was 8 then 6.

He struggled badly last year but if they had kept him away from Pleks I think he would have done better. I fully expect him to bounce back and be a 20+ goal scorer if he's not with Pleks.

 

[NotProkofievian]

I agree we hopefully have more to see from Lehkonen and you can tell he plays the right way, but there's a big difference between having another player of his calibre in Kotka and having one of the other comparables in Aho or Rantanen or even Barkov.

Don't mean to make this about Lehkonen, but as one of the comparables in terms of Liiga production in their draft year we may want to look at how Lehk developed and compare it to how Aho/Rantanen/Barkov developed and try to do the latter with Kotka.

We need this guy to be a hit, with the lottery system and Price in nets I'm not confident we get a whole lot more cracks at top Cs.

Just to ground why I'm not worried about Lehkonen:

Really, he just needs to keep doing what he's doing.

To get back to Kotkaniemi, you're right: this guy has to be a hit. He has to be developed correctly. However, there's a lot to work with. And to put the comparison with Lehkonen to rest, they're just very different players trying to do very different things on the ice. Success for Lehkonen means capitalizing on his scoring chances (which he produces at an alarming rate). Success for Kotkaniemi is a much more mutli-faceted thing.

 

[Redux91]

I agree we hopefully have more to see from Lehkonen and you can tell he plays the right way, but there's a big difference between having another player of his calibre in Kotka and having one of the other comparables in Aho or Rantanen or even Barkov.

Don't mean to make this about Lehkonen, but as one of the comparables in terms of Liiga production in their draft year we may want to look at how Lehk developed and compare it to how Aho/Rantanen/Barkov developed and try to do the latter with Kotka.

We need this guy to be a hit, with the lottery system and Price in nets I'm not confident we get a whole lot more cracks at top Cs.

I actually like your concerns about lehk and in correlation to kotkaniemi when it comes to 17 yr old production La Liiga, nothing is guaranteed, its very valid concern , but its just also very explainable , Lehk not scoring 30 goals at 22 doesnt concern me, but if he's not scoring 20+ by 25, then we WILL have a problem yes

 

[Mrb1p]

Saw a lot of Lekhonen in the SHL, he improved a ton and was a beast for them in his 2nd year, 4th on the team in goals, 6th in points and then in the playoffs he killed it with 11 goals in 16 games, the next highest on his team was 8 then 6.

He struggled badly last year but if they had kept him away from Pleks I think he would have done better. I fully expect him to bounce back and be a 20+ goal scorer if he's not with Pleks.

Yeah I remember him being great in the POs but im not certain he improved leaps and bounds from d-1 to d+2. Was there a point to transfer leagues? Obviously injuries and all plagued his career so far and that mightve hurt his progression, but Im not sure there was much of a jump from 13 to 15 aside from the usual growth.

 

[OldCraig71]

Kotka's numbers took a hit because he didn't produce on the PP. That's not great, but he matched up with his contemporaries at ES.

Contextualizing Kotkaniemi: How does his draft year stack up against other top Finnish prospects?

Also, don't sleep on Lehkonen, he was really unlucky last season.

Or quite possibly was very lucky the season before.

 

[Mrb1p]

Also if Lekhonen becomes a miss, that 5 on 7 so far not being impact forwards in the top 7, it bodes well for Kotkaniemi.