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

[AcadiaAxeMan]

LOVE this pick ... #Kotka

 

[Thebesthockey]

Fail??....all he did was select the highest rated centre in the draft. If you wanna be miserable, go watch CNN

#uninformedposter

at 3 you pick the best player
eos

 

[ginomini]

I think in 2012 Kotka would have been selected 2nd by Columbus

 

[TT1]

literally all damn week we had scouts saying after WJC he plateaud and never showed growth,

Also Zadina Nov 17 1999
Kotka July 5 2000

your talking nearly a year younger and dominated the U18's a tournament where he was in his peer group

Kotkaniemi did very well at the U18's this year (improved his production from last year) but if we take Zadina's U18 production from LAST year and compare it with Kotkaniemi's.. Kotka is still nowhere close to his production.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi at eliteprospects.com
Filip Zadina at eliteprospects.com

Zadina 2016-2017 (last year, basically playing vs 2017 draftees):

Czech Republic U18 (all)

International-Jr

22

20

11

31

14

8

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

20 goals, 31 pts in 22 games

Kotkaniemi 2017-2018:

Finland U18 (all)

International-Jr

17

8

11

19

51

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

8 goals, 19 pts in 17 games

This isn't to say i don't like Kotkaniemi as a prospect and there's more to prospects than just looking at their production, it's just that the argument you made is flawed .

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[Jabba11]

Welcome to Montreal kid

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[The Great Weal]

He is also around 7 months younger than Zadina.

 

[Thebesthockey]

#3likegaly

 

[AcadiaAxeMan]

Let’s be happy ... we drafted a great player and a better human (care to watch his interview?) ..... #greatkid #sitbackpatientlyandwatch

 

[BrendanGallagher11]

Koivu will mentor him

 

[BB88]

You and your reports will be welcome here! Hope you'll fall in love with HfHabs craziness, wait, I meant passion!


Hard to say, Kotkaniemi is on a roll at the moment, his reputation keeps getting better and better, while Galchenyuk was injured most of his draft year and got his reputation while having Yakupov on his wing. A lot of people say that if he hadn't been injured, Galchy could have been the top pick.

Thanks, as I said I'll put the rivalry on hold for his threads and post about him.
This kid isn't some 1dimensional soft C with attitude issues, he's the opposite.

By the way, his father is in Dallas, his Liiga teams coach, do you believe any of Bergevin/Julien/Timmins will have talks with him?

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Fail??....all he did was select the highest rated centre in the draft. If you wanna be miserable, go watch CNN

#uninformedposter

Not only that, but seeing Phoenix draft Hayton, makes me think they had planned on Kotka if he was still available.

GMs are increasingly drafting by Best Value Available and centermen are the highest commodity.

 

[donghabs98]

Koivu will mentor him

The Habs would be wise to hire him as a European scout or coach. He could scout around in Europe while working with our European prospects. There's no better person I can think of to teach our prospects how to play under the Montreal spotlight and develop a good work ethic.

 

[jaffy27]

at 3 you pick the best player
eos

Which is exactly what they did, select the best player on their list.....not your list

 

[Adam Michaels]

at 3 you pick the best player
eos

And who is that?

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Kotkaniemi, Poehling, Ikonen, Evans, Vejdemo
We have one of the best center prospect pool in the league now

 

[Adam Michaels]

The Habs would be wise to hire him as a European scout or coach. He could scout around in Europe while working with our European prospects. There's no better person I can think of to teach our prospects how to play under the Montreal spotlight and develop a good work ethic.

I believe he's an owner or a GM or an owner/GM of a team in Liiga. I think some media should reach out to Koivu to get his take on Kotkaniemi. They did the same when Habs signed Lehkonen to his ELC.

 

[Schooner Guy]

Serious question: who's more talented coming out of the draft between Galchenyuk vs Kotkaniemi?

Galchenyuk. He was injured almost his entire draft year but had HUGE OHL season as a 16-17 year old and was hyped up a year before his draft.

Overall skills: kotka
Galchenyuk had better hands but thats it. Even though his feet weren't following his hands.

The biggest knock on Kotka is his skating. Given the speed of today's game, I'm a bit concerned. On the bright side he does have great hockey sense and he appears to be a gamer.

One is a center while the other is a wannabe center....

Kotka played the wing in the Finnish men's league. We've all seen how hesitant our organization is to give young forwards a full time centre role once they make it to the NHL.

 

[The Great Weal]

How can you not love this guy? Beauty.

 

[1909]

at 3 you pick the best player
eos

And who was the best ? All guys rated between 3rd and 12th were about the same talent wise. Even Hayton was drafted 5th overall and Kravstev, 9th.....

 

[WeThreeKings]

Kotkaniemi, Poehling, Ikonen, Evans, Vejdemo
We have one of the best center prospect pool in the league now

Ikonen is a winger and I don't think I would go that far yet.

 

[nhlfan9191]

How can you not love this guy? Beauty.

His french is still better then Bergevin and Therrien.

 

[Thebesthockey]

Kotkaniemi, Poehling, Ikonen, Evans, Vejdemo
We have one of the best center prospect pool in the league now

umm no

 

[Habaneros]

The Habs would be wise to hire him as a European scout or coach. He could scout around in Europe while working with our European prospects. There's no better person I can think of to teach our prospects how to play under the Montreal spotlight and develop a good work ethic.

Saku hasnt been around at all since he left town..i don't think he want anything to do with us .,.,,.
like Mats Naslund