Jesperi Kotkaniemi is now officially a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. That's after Montreal Canadiens decided against matching the $6.1 million offer the Hurricanes tendered to the 21-year-old forward late last August.
Kotkaniemi revealed how ecstatic he was when he got the offer from the Hurricanes that just got a boost to their center position with the addition of the now-former Canadiens forward.
Via the NHL's official website:
“I was just really excited when I saw the offer sheet the first time,” Kotkaniemi said Sunday. “I thought how it would be over there. I had a good talk with [Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon] and Carolina, so I was just really excited. … I mean, like I said, Carolina is a great team, they'll be a [Stanley Cup] contender next year. Everyone wants to be part of a team like that, so it was a good decision from our side.”
The Canadiens took Kotkaniemi in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft as the third-pick overall, with Montreal looking to shore up its center slot. Whatever dreams they have of developing him into a star are obviously off the table now. He has barely scratched the surface of his full potential, and the Hurricanes will get their chance to be the beneficiary of his expected improvement following a deep run in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Habs.
The Hurricanes' front office also seemed to have truly enjoyed the schadenfreude it got from seeing the Canadiens lose Kotkaniemi, which is widely regarded as retribution of sports for a sneaky front-office maneuver the Habs did two years ago.
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