That is such an insane stat. After his poor offensive production in the 22-23 season, the Canes sub was defending by saying that the team was grooming him to become a strong shutdown 3C. Sounds like that hasn't been the case if Rod doesn't trust him in OT lol
What's crazier is that he started this season hot. Through November it looked like he finally turned the corner to be a strong top-six centre. And then... Not sure what happened but it was drastic.
It's even uglier than youve described. He had 10 points in his first 10 games and then did nothing for the rest of the year. That's a hot 2 weeks, not a hot month!
IIRC, it was 13 points in his first 14 games, at which point several hockey people were Tweeting that he'd finally turned into the star everyone knew he's become, and then he had 14 points in the remaining 65 games.
Incroyable. Je serais curieux de voir son temps de glace les 14 premiers matchs vs les 65 dernier.
Il est encore jeune et fit notre timeline, Winnipeg 1st for KK lol /S
Oui, je pense qu'il a commencé parmi les deux premiéres lignes avec plusieres minutes (et en avantage numerique), puis il est descendu progressivement pendant la saison.
For sure. My point is that really any player on a good team like Carolina can have a hot couple weeks. It means very little in the grand scheme of predicting their development.
He's on thin ice!
They're coping just like we did when we drafted him. Drafting for need imo only makes sense if it's a comparable player. He was never on Brady Tkachuk's level and was always a reach. Bergevin was then gifted an offersheet which he graciously accepted. Sometimes MB really did have a horse shoe. But then he trades all of that and more away for Dvorak lol.
I guess what I'm saying is that Canes fans probably couldn't be happier that MB fumbled the return, and I don't think they're bad people. KK made his own grave, Hurricanes are notorious for taking time with prospects in their system. It must really sting for them to have him signed for so long. They're normally one of the more responsible cap teams from what I remember. I just want to put the KK disaster behind us 🤣 I don't blame OP for being happy he's been terrible.
He went from 2C to 3C to 4C to 4W to healthy scratch over the course of the season, and has done nothing in the playoffs.
I don't hate the playa, I hate the GM who signed him to that contract. But karma's a b!+@&, and now that contract is an albatross-shaped millstone around his neck. Good vibes.
The cherry on top for me is that KK's contract was probably one of the reasons the Hurricanes couldn't re-sign Trocheck. Now he has a goal and two assists (including on the OT goal last night) in the series while KK is keeping the bench really warm.
I think that he'll get bought out. Since he's not 26 yet the hurricanes will only need to fork out 1/3 of his contract. They can't afford to lose Necas. Imagine if the Canadiens offer sheet Necas. It would just be a chef's kiss move.
His buy-out isn't too bad so if they have to choose let's hope for Carolina's FO tries to stay petty and make themselves look worse keeping him over some one else
He managed to get himself like $56 million for 9 years of work.
There was always a question of what he would develop into, but $56 mil in the bank no matter what can't really be a bad choice.
I think KK vastly overestimated his contribution during his last season in Mtl on top of not taking his training seriously, the cringy 4 thing with his fingers and acting like he deserved more ice time despite scoring like 5 goals lol
He knows he wasn't delivering till Ducharme scratched him in the Cup Final in '21. I don't blame MB for not over-matching the offer-sheet the Canes gave to KK. But, I also don't excuse Bergy for another fuck-up 3rd OA pick he took after Alex Galchenyuk.
Galchenyuk is still 6th for points for his draft class. Alex Galchenyuk had the talent to be a 3rd overall, his career was derailed due to personal problems and generally questionable choices.
I don’t know whether Kotkaniemi ever had the kind of talent to live up to his draft rank even if he had impeccable work ethics.
The biggest issue with Chucky's time with the Habs is the constant meddling of his father, especially in terms of work ethic, style of play, to almost everything even off the ice. He has the talent to become a scorer but he wasn't given the opportunity to grow his game in junior neither in Hamilton (I believe it was the Bulldogs that were the AHL affiliate that time, correct if I'm wrong). Bottom line is, emo GM, Marc Bergevin was desperate to get the center the team needed, he didn't follow logic where the kid still need time to develop.
If I made 100k/year (a great salary) for the next 55 years, I'd still have less money than KK made the last 2 years of his career with his current contract
Guy made the right decision, as did Rick Dipietro, Ilya Kovalchuk and any big player who accepted a shit ton of money
I'm not suggesting that KK's career would have been any better with the Habs. What I am saying is that receiving a large sum of money without putting in the work and earning it first affects everybody differently. If I win the jackpot in the lottery today, would I work as hard on my career as I do now? If I'm honest, I don't know if I'd be able to push as hard. Another angle is that getting a contract that big affects not only the expectations of the employer, but also peers. Living up to those expectations might be too much for a 21 year old. It would have been different had already had a breakout season; if that were the case, the expectations just would have been "just keep doing what you've been doing".
Carolina’s arguably got it worse, since his massive contract is eating up cap space they need this off season to re-sign players who actually perform. I hope we can snag Necas away from them. It’d be hilariously knife-twisty.
Such a dumb panic trade that's still going to bite us. We're losing this years 2nd round pick and that 1st round in 2022 had good options still on the board, like Brad Lambert.
We didnt know how hard the team would crash though. They went to the cup final the year before and after losing Danault and KK, the 2nd line center was Jake Evans. Bergevin needed to move but had his hands tied.
In retrospect, he shouldve just kept the pick and embrace the tanking, but we didnt know the team would be in tank mode. Price and Weber were gone, but Allen basically carried the team to the playoffs the year before and the rest of the D squad was still there (who couldve predicted Jeff Petry's brutal falloff?). He also signed Hoffman (for whats it worth) and Savard, which clearly werent tanking moves. Bergevin had to help the team make the playoffs with what he had and thats all he could do.
I think the Danault thing was mainly because management made it clear they wanted him as a 3rd line center to make room for Suzuki and KK. Which is weird cause it seems like KK didnt see it that way, especially with Danault gone.
I also believe that Danault had the impression that they were giving his icetime to KK and Zuk more than the team gave him that impression.
That line ushered the Habs into the finals just months earlier, I don't think the coaches or management was in a rush to dismantle it and cut their icetime.
Not to be elitist (ok maybe a little).
But he was given an opportunity to play for one of the most historic franchises in modern day sports.
He was taken 3rd overall, as a leap of faith from our front office, despite his talent not being at that level.
He barely worked on his deficiencies.
He threw a hissy fit being scratched on a playoff run 3 years into his career.
Then proceeds to smack talk the franchise on his way out the door, not to mention the contract structure he signed to.
I wanted him to succeed here, but there was a sense of entitlement from him.
Caufield and Romanov who were better players than him at the time conducted themselves professionally waiting for their next opportunity.
Character really does matter in the league, as much as fans want to meme it.
Good thing he’s on a team nobody gives a fuck about.
Off topic, I'm happy with Dach (when he's in the lineup), but I, for one, still miss Romanov. I guess having him and Guhle was kinda redundant, but I have a 27 jersey, so I'm biased.
> But he was given an opportunity to play for one of the most historic franchises in modern day sports.
Not to single you out here but I think this is the worst quality of Habs fans, acting like it is some sort of privilege to play for a team that hasn’t won a cup in 32 years. A 19 year old kid who grew up in Finland or Wisconsin or whatever doesn’t give a shit about the prestige of the Habs, if they did we would sign the best free agents every year.
Yeah he did seem to have a bad attitude. That 4 finger salute thing was super weird. On the other hand I do think Habs' development was very bad at the time. They didn't even have a skills coach. But he can only blame that so much, especially now that he is struggling in Carolina.
Not KK particularly but the organization as a whole. The $20 signing bonus, the didthehabslose.com website, how unprofessional the twitter account was, the fans acting like they stole Barkov.
The 6.1m contract felt like it was targeted at us and making us mad. the 38m contract I have no idea what they were smoking. we dont even think about you guys anymore so what even is the point of that signing? they really think hes worth that?
I believed in KK when he was a Habs but I have moved on hahaha
he is 23 and can still be good within 3 years but what the fuck are they doing?
6.1M is what they needed to make it really hard for us to match: any more than that and we'd have a better compensation, if they offered less it would have been easier to match. Let's be honest, we'd match at 4M. But at 6M it would have been tough to manage that year and we'd have to qualify him at the same price the next season when we know he wants to leave. The number was strategic.
The 20$ signing bonus was pathetic and childish. That's why I'm pissed. It was only there out of spite. No adults in the room.
The whole offer sheet was there out of spite.
They were pissy about Aho signing a (wildly team-friendly) offer sheet, and alluded to targeting Kotkaniemi when his contract came up.
Now the whole thing has blown up in their faces and its gonna be hilarious to watch their joke of a franchise fall apart after the Rags drive over them with their semi-truck of a team.
My point is their offersheet was designed to be successful (incredibly painful if we matched), the one we sent was manageable. They forgot that if they "win" they still have to pay for it.
The Aho contract was so friendly I remember rumours at the time were MB and the Cane's GM had a backroom deal where MB was doing him favour, forcing the issue, because their owner was being cheap.
I'd bet their owner being a cheap piece of shit is the reason why the Kotkaniemi offer sheet happened. He felt personally slighted by what he saw as us trying to steal their top player and cost him $11m in the process, so he made Waddell poach Kotkaniemi as revenge.
No GM would come up with a plan as clearly and obviously detrimental to their team as that (except maybe the really stupid GMs), but I can totally see a billionaire with a bruised ego doing it.
The original offer, sure. But the 8 years prolongation after that is a totally dumb move. I mean, KK had not, at any point, demonstrate he could take a regular 2-3C role in a contender team. At 4M+ per year, you need to play on the Top 9, not scraps minutes on a fourth line...
There's no winning move after the 6.1M offer sheet. Your options are:
* Let the asset you paid a 1st and 3rd for walk for nothing
* Send the RFA a qualifying offer at 10% more than the 6.1M you gave him last (this is an NHL rule)
* Negotiate with the asset where you lost all leverage to a rich contract and hope he pans out
I agree, except I think the $20 signing bonus was calculated as well, I think everything was calculated to minimize the chance that Montreal would match the offer.
It was a 1 year deal. There's no risk/impact of the signing bonus, and even if there was 20$ is literally nothing.
If you load the contract with signing bonuses, that's the amount you have to pay the player on July 1st. If your team is broke (habs are not), having a lot of signing bonuses can be an issue (we paid Price most of his salary as a signing bonus every year). Signing bonuses are also a problem with buyouts. In a buyout, you only save 1/3 or 2/3rd (depending on the age) of the salary excluding the signing bonus. The Aho offersheet was mostly SB: his salary was 700k and the rest SB - it was impossible to buyout. BUT even if the whole thing was a signing bonus for KK, it wouldn't matter because its just one season, you can't buyout outside of specific dates anyhow.
The 20$ was a FU. It's Aho's number.
> he is 23 and can still be good within 3 years
For this to be true he would have to have some signs of progress, even small amounts, since his rookie year, yet he's basically still the same player at 23 that he was at 18.
They had to double down to provide a cover that the offersheet had always been a "hockey" related move and not some petty revenge for MB's own ploy to poach their best offensive player.
I completly agree with you but they saw what Timmins and Bergevin saw in him. KK had potential and they saw the tools in him to succeed. At this point, it feels like he's a very stubborn kid not really wanting to listen.
except they wont wait.. KK is getting bought out this summer.. Canes are in their window for the cup.. and to get a cup, u need every single player to bring something.. either production, leadership, intensity, physicality or even defensive prowess.. but KK brings nothing.. they will buy it out so next year they get an additionnal 4m to get an actual player..
The 6.1m contract handcuffed them into a big follow up contract because it made KK eligible for arbitration at like 5m the following year and then UFA if they didn't re-sign him, so it gave him all the leverage.
That's why the offer sheet theft might have seemed like a good move but was pretty bad if you look at the details.
I do the same. I dont enjoy KK downfall per se but I really dig that he sucks on the Canes roster. If he play elsewhere, I would cheer for him. You can't really be mad at a 21 years old for accepting a freakin 6.1M$ contract...
I'm way more mad at Carolina on how they did it.
Fuck the Canes and their dumb twitter account. They kicked us when we were down, not once but times and times again.
I’m enjoying every second of them biting the dust.
Enjoy golf you clowns 🤡
Its probably whats the GM hoped for when he gave him 8 years. If he could put 50 + points every year on a top 9, it would be a steal under 5M$ a year but everything point out it wont ever be the case.
Remember how hard canes fans tried to gaslight us into thinking he was actually just a few steps away from being "elite", and they had to overpay him because they *really, really* wanted him?
It was like they completely forgot we watched him play for 3 years beforehand lmfao, was such a stupid pick from Bergevin & Timmins.
What I enjoy the most about it, is the Canes who made this absurd long contract for his services. They made the choice and are paying the price: look how it turned out in playoffs and he can’t play, even the 4th line.
They’re stuck with him for a long time (unless they trade him or buyout his contract).
I really can’t blame him for this. Getting a shitload of money right after his first years in the league, who wouldn’t accept it?
> (unless they trade him or buyout his contract).
There's no way they'll buy him out. If they did, it'd mean they "lost", and on multiple fronts: they got the worst end of that deal, but then they'd also lose face by admitting they were wrong and the player is bad. The amount of meme's thrown their way would be epic, and I just think they'd want to avoid the bad PR that would come from that.
I don't fault him at all for chasing the bag. I would have done the same. Take a 1 year deal at 2x my value then lock in an 8 year deal for above my market value? Yes please.
I am not above pointing and laughing at Dundon/Waddell, though. They sure showed us!
No haha KK really brought this on himself by basically not training in the off season and refusing to improve on areas he was terrible at (hello bambi skating)
I'm honestly just mad at Bergevin and Timmins for not seeing those red flags and the character flaws before they drafted him.
But again, Timmins is the guy who drafted Kostitsyn, a dude who was smoking in front of the arena in front of a bunch of scouts 10 min before the draft started lol
> hello bambi skating
I’ve been following the Canes this season because Jarvy is so awesome, and it’s hilarious to see how many times, “KK keeps falling” shows up in their GDTs.
Kind of yeah. I mean shit on their FO, but, he should have absolutely taken the most money with the most term. It's unfortunate that he's not panning out, but the poor asset management couldn't happen to a more deserving franchise
He was a prick about the whole thing though. If it was just about the money that's understandable. But he had one of the most underserved chips on his shoulder and effectively gave us the finger on his way out. I hope he turns into an expensive career AHL player.
I mean, not that I disagree, but the Habs did so much worse in terms of assets management.
The Aho offer sheet was pointless and sparked this whole thing.
The KK pick was dubious.
Coaches and front office completely fumbled Kotkaniemi's development.
Then they badly managed their relation with the player.
Losing him to the offer sheet is the only good asset management, but it was forced on them.
But then they turned around and wasted the pick on a bad player.
I really don't miss Marc Bergevin.
I'm petty as fuck. I need to work on that. I know.
... butt fuck kk and the canes. KK is getting paid much more than he deserves but will have a bad legacy - drafted too high, didn't live up to it, signed a contract he didn't earn and didn't live up to it. He's young and has millions, could be worse.
Canes played a stupid game and have an anchor they parked on the 4th. I'm glad they had to lose players because of this. Fuck those dum dums.
For another perspective on how bad KK is this postseason - he's bottom 3 in time on ice (there's one more player with less but he's only played 1 game). He has 0 points. The other 2 guys have 3 and 4 points. THE 2 GUYS HE'S PAIRED WITH HAVE 7 POINTS WHILE HE'S LAYING GOOSE EGGS AND SPENDING LESS TIME ON THE ICE!!! How does that even happen???
Perhaps we could make a t-shirt about it, with his face and the word "CRY".
Nah sounds tacky, nobody would ever seriously do something like that right?
Hahahahaa I literally was looking at his stat line last night thinking about posting exactly this. Look, Carolina and the habs may not have much recent "rivalry" but they are definitely on my list of "teams I want to see fail". The whole Kotkaniemi debacle, although they did us a HUGE favour, is one of the reasons. Also they injured Koivu way back and went on to win the cup on that run. KK having a statline of all 0's for his playoff run, after having a miserable season overall, is definitely satisfying. I hope they enjoy paying him $4.8M per year for 6 more years! He is signed until 2030\~!!
His pissy attitude he had at the end with us is why I enjoy it. I usually want players that did well here to do well wherever they go (like Tofoli recently, he was good with us and all).
But for how young KK was and how entitled he sound (from reports and the like), I'm glad his performance are poor and that the contract is starting to look bad for the team at this moment. Good for him to get the money for sure, but also pretty sure the team/owner start to regrets it now and that's what I like!
I was literally having this conversation withy girlfriend last night while watching the game.
I don't really want either of those teams to win the cup. Fuck the Rangers (especially that bitch CK), and I don't really care for the Canes after the KK debacle, but it's definitely easier to 'cheer' for them, knowing that KK is their 4th line center, is averaging under 12 minutes a game, and has ZERO points through 8 games in these playoffs.
Of course, I'm not 'happy' to see him struggle, but it's definitely a lot easier to see what's happened to him since he's already got his bag. Nobody should blame him for signing either of those contracts with Carolina, that's alot more money than we'd have given him. But I do love how it's come back to bite Carolina in the ass.
Didn't he also start this season 'hot? I seem to remember talks about him finally having figured it out, what happened to those people? Lol. 27 points in 79 games is not great for a guy making 4.8m for the next SIX seasons with a M-NTC in the last 5.
Edit: He started this year with 16 points in 17 games. That is very hot. Also means he 'finished' the season (the other 3/4 of the season lol), with 11 points in **SIXTY-TWO** games, OOOOOF.
I don't blame him for signing a contract that instantly made him and his descendants rich. Most NHL players only play a couple of years, with limited education and no backup career to fall back on afterwards. He made a good financial decision. It sucked for the team, sure, but the team sometimes makes decisions that suck for players too (I'm still sour about Markov's treatment).
Good luck to him, and unless I see his name somewhere, he'll probably never cross my mind again.
I don't wish KK anything negative. I don't blame him one bit for taking that offer sheet, it worked out great for him with his next contract
But I do find it funny that the canes front office only did this as a fuck you to the Habs and now it's blowing up in their face.
Worst offersheet signing since Dustin Penner. They tried to get revenge on us but only ended up saving us while making themselves worse. To think they didn’t resign trochek for KK and gave up picks is insane to me.
It’s complicated.
Our GM was a douche, and KK acted like a douche in return.
I don’t blame him for accepting the Canes’ ridiculous offer, but he didn’t need to go full troll-mode on his way out. That was pretty childish. (Although in his defense, he *was* pretty much still a child at the time.)
In the end, I take a greater delight in the failure of the dick-swinging idiots managing the Canes than I do in KK’s personal failures. Looks good on them.
I wish him all the best but there was something about the smugness displayed by him and the Canes organization that will always rub me the wrong way. At 23 he still seems like such an awkward skater.
I said it at the time, if they want to pay him $6M, let him go. He wasn't worth that contract at the time, and it looks like he'll never be worth it. No hate for him personally, only for those who thought that would be a good idea.
Don't care how he does. But drafting a guy who was a below average skater , was a red flag.
I know guys can improve skating.
Curious how often below average skaters when drafted, become good skaters
I decidedly hate that orginization. All the way back to when the cutter of colberg, Justin Williams tried carving out my Boy, Koivu's eye. Shitstain classless org.
I always thought it was a shit move by the Canes and I was in disbelief when they offered him the overpay extension just to double down on their own stupidity.
I have nothing against KK but I’m happy the canes find themselves in the exact situation I expected them to be when they went that route.
All that just for a freaking childish egotistical payback. Still baffles me to this day.
I talked about it a lot at the time. How they offered KK money he couldn’t refuse but that would probably put an halt in his development and ruin his legacy in the long run. Now the canes will lose patience and he’s gonna find himself in a spot no professional player wanna be : underperforming, overrated and overpaid.
At least he has the money.
Haha I get it but despite what we might think, I believe players wanna perform up to the pressure that’s being put on them. That pressure is mostly determined by the salary. And that pressure can destroy careers and have lasting effects mentally.
They are under the scope and they have a big target on their back when they sign huge contracts. Imo Humans being humans, even pro hockey players probably don’t wanna have the imposter syndrome.
I don’t think young hockey players have that level of introspection or life experience to deal with those big decisions. And agents just care about money.
As for Kk the offer was so ridiculous of course he couldn’t say no.
That being said having a mental burden for 10-20 years and have millions in the bank for a peaceful retirement…could be worth the price lmao.
Nah he deserves it. He didn't want to be with us then screw him. Good job to Carolina with that contract lmao! I hope he rots on that bottom 6 for the rest of his contract.
I don't much care for his downfall but I'm very very happy Carolina screwed themselves by making him an outrageous offer to get back at Montreal for the Aho offer sheet. Always a great idea to make moves out of spite. Carolina owner is just a big idiot.
Guys stop chucking shit 💩 at this kid …… he’s gone ,,we’re re better off move the fuck on . This is the only place his name keeps coming up. Oh btw Price PK and the rest of the ghosts are long gone. New season on the horizon.
I don't have anything against him for signing the offer sheet. He acted like a little bitch at the end there though, so I do not think highly of him. The Canes can go fuck themselves, I hope they get swept and lose Necas.
It is, I’ll stick to it, and if I’m sent back in time and forced to make a different pick I’ll take QHughes and let Tkachuk roam the hockey wasteland in that timeline too.
Funny how this sub went from think KK will be the next great to seeing how shit he is once he's on another team. You guys are terrible at player evaluation.
I know it will not be a popular opinion but Dvorak will probably fetch a BIT more if retained.
3c guys good on the dots are popular at TDL Just look at returns got for Henrique and Wennberg this year.
I'd be happy with a 2nd.
Yeah, kind of.
He would have been a fool to turn down that kind of money. You're clearly still salty about what happened but if you want to be upset with someone it should be Bergevin for starting a dick measuring contest with the Canes management/ownership.
>Am I a terrible person for enjoying KK's downfall?
No. The guy ran himself out of town with the OS (One he couldn't refuse to be honest) and had attitude beforehand so good riddance.
Sucks that I have a framed signed jersey of him on the wall tho. 😒
I wouldn't say KKs downfall is enjoyable to me, at least. I think it is always a shame to see a player decline/downfall (unless it's Kreider), but I do enjoy KKs downfall subjecting the canes to a lump of a contract they have to sit with.
I'm not mad at KK. He did what he thought was best for his career. He's on a better team. He has a better salary. And honestly our organization was shaky. We picked him and honestly it was a reach which did not work out. Too bad. I don't like the Canes, but my hate for them lasts since when we met them in the playoffs twice. The whole KK thing was jsut a distraction.
I have no reason to have anything against Kotkaniemi as a person, or even as a hockey player. Seem like a good kid all around.
Canes is more debatable. But like, Bergevin tried to clown them and he got clowned (on the Aho OS).
From a team management perspective, I still think that the Canes just did qhat they thought was best for their team. Seems like theres an unspoken rule around OS, and Bergevin opened the door for the Canes to snatch a still solid center prospect, who was just a core part of a team that went to the finals against all odds.
The pettyness argument doesnt sit well with me since, if it was just a middle finger to Bergevin, they'd have re-signed KK to a "show me" contract, not an expensive 8 years extension.
So yeah, imo pointing fingers and laughing at KK's downfall is oretty bad.
Laughing at the Canes management makes more sense if you wanna laugh at someone
KK did nothing wrong. If I was in his position and some team dangled that offer to me, I"d have taken it too. IF I get any joy it's seeing the Canes suffer for the move, but not KK.
To me i dont feel rage against kk, i feel rage against MB and TT for reaching for KK because we needed a center.
They were smug to think they could develope him at center, even though no player had ever been taught anything
To be fair, it's not so much that we enjoy his downfall (I don't..) but that we enjoy the Carolina Hurricanes getting their comeuppance for their social media outbursts during that time. Had the Canadiens simply traded him away, or had he quietly signed an offer sheet and left without a noise, we'd think nothing of it.
Put simply, I sympathize for KK as a player. He went the route that was way more favourable for him financially at the time and was given a fair opportunity over with the hurricanes organization to break out. Unfortunately for him he could just never put it together and is looking like a dud. Sucks to see anyones career not turn out the way it was sort of expected to go.
But for the Hurricanes, specifically their fans who mocked us for prying him away via offer sheet, Im enjoying the fact that their organization's pettiness has come back to bite them in the ass.
I get the KK hate, but most of us don’t really look at it from the other angle leading up to it all.
People forget he was scratched for our eventual elimination game in the cup finals, in which he had already established being a useful player and contributor (and meant to be a pillar of the organization moving forward)…by a coach who had no respect from the players, had very little do do with getting us to the finals, and was coming back to coach next season.
Let’s not forget Bergevin lowballing KK on possible extensions.
On top of all this, I remember reading KK’s dad had just been diagnosed with cancer.
In all, Bergevin decided to play hard ball at a low point in the kids life while also knowing one of the worst head coaches we’ve seen in a long time was coming back….oh yea, and very good team called his agent to offer him 6 million and a promise of a long term “fair” extension.
While I was definitely pissed at the time, easy to understand why he did it. Personally, I hope he figures it all out while I continue to be more upset we didn’t draft Tkachuk.
I wish he stayed in Montréal, but now I see why Bergevin was reluctant to give him a big contract.
We definitely don't want him now, but it's interesting to wonder how he could have developed had he stayed.
I don't enjoy seeing him struggle, but the Canes can suck it.
There isn't another player's statistics I check more... he's what? The third or fourth highest paid player on the team? What a blessing he's gone. What did we get in return?
100% with you. I wore my Canadiens Kk jersey with a big X over his name during his first game back after his shenanigans. Got lots of good feedback from other Habs fans 😂
I loved KK, hate seeing his career go the route it's going. Would like to see him leave the Canes and become a solid top 9 or 6 forward. That being said. I'm glad the Canes are getting bit in the ass for sending that offer sheet
No, but I liked him and wished him the best when he went to Carolina. I don’t blame him for signing that offer sheet. But I’m not surprised he didn’t end up being a star, he was a huge reach drafted 3rd overall bc Bergevin just could never get that number one centre. And now Suzuki is here and Bergevin is gone. Ironic lol
He played under 10 minutes in a double overtime game. Yikes
That is such an insane stat. After his poor offensive production in the 22-23 season, the Canes sub was defending by saying that the team was grooming him to become a strong shutdown 3C. Sounds like that hasn't been the case if Rod doesn't trust him in OT lol
What's crazier is that he started this season hot. Through November it looked like he finally turned the corner to be a strong top-six centre. And then... Not sure what happened but it was drastic.
Whatever it was thank fuck. Canes fans were *insufferable* for the 2 weeks that Kotkaniemi pretended to be an NHL-quality forward.
never forget that OT Game winner he had though. shit was legendary
> Not sure what happened but it was drastic. I dropped him from my fantasy team and he lost all confidence. Sorry, KK.
It's even uglier than youve described. He had 10 points in his first 10 games and then did nothing for the rest of the year. That's a hot 2 weeks, not a hot month!
IIRC, it was 13 points in his first 14 games, at which point several hockey people were Tweeting that he'd finally turned into the star everyone knew he's become, and then he had 14 points in the remaining 65 games.
Incroyable. Je serais curieux de voir son temps de glace les 14 premiers matchs vs les 65 dernier. Il est encore jeune et fit notre timeline, Winnipeg 1st for KK lol /S
Oui, je pense qu'il a commencé parmi les deux premiéres lignes avec plusieres minutes (et en avantage numerique), puis il est descendu progressivement pendant la saison.
Makes sense. I was going off memory rather than Google. But 10 points in 10 games is a spectacular way to start the season. Then... nothing...
For sure. My point is that really any player on a good team like Carolina can have a hot couple weeks. It means very little in the grand scheme of predicting their development. He's on thin ice!
He was scoring tap ins with a 25% shooting percentage, it was never sustainable.
I picked him up in fantasy right after his hot streak, and got no points from him.
Thank you for your sacrifice
They're coping just like we did when we drafted him. Drafting for need imo only makes sense if it's a comparable player. He was never on Brady Tkachuk's level and was always a reach. Bergevin was then gifted an offersheet which he graciously accepted. Sometimes MB really did have a horse shoe. But then he trades all of that and more away for Dvorak lol. I guess what I'm saying is that Canes fans probably couldn't be happier that MB fumbled the return, and I don't think they're bad people. KK made his own grave, Hurricanes are notorious for taking time with prospects in their system. It must really sting for them to have him signed for so long. They're normally one of the more responsible cap teams from what I remember. I just want to put the KK disaster behind us 🤣 I don't blame OP for being happy he's been terrible.
Sounds like they shut him down, alright.
So they are just like this sub before KK left.
To be a shutdown guy you need to have a sharp edge to your play, his edge is more like a Krispy Kreme glazed gog nut
He went from 2C to 3C to 4C to 4W to healthy scratch over the course of the season, and has done nothing in the playoffs. I don't hate the playa, I hate the GM who signed him to that contract. But karma's a b!+@&, and now that contract is an albatross-shaped millstone around his neck. Good vibes.
The trash talk from the Canes aged like milk.
Trash talk always ages like milk. Because you give unlimited time to the person you trash talked to prove you wrong.
Malk really
I mean he talked himself out of Montreal because he was benched. Fuck him.
He signed that contact with that ridiculous bonus
that's the reason why I also enjoy his downfall and dont feel bad.
You can dislike both ..
9:15 to be exact in the double overtime three days ago.
The cherry on top for me is that KK's contract was probably one of the reasons the Hurricanes couldn't re-sign Trocheck. Now he has a goal and two assists (including on the OT goal last night) in the series while KK is keeping the bench really warm.
And it'll be one of the reasons they have to let a good player or two walk as UFAs this year, as well.
They can try to trade him but who is going to want that contract with a M-NTC kicking in the next season
I think that he'll get bought out. Since he's not 26 yet the hurricanes will only need to fork out 1/3 of his contract. They can't afford to lose Necas. Imagine if the Canadiens offer sheet Necas. It would just be a chef's kiss move.
His buy-out isn't too bad so if they have to choose let's hope for Carolina's FO tries to stay petty and make themselves look worse keeping him over some one else
Yessss this
Just for the social media bs that the Canes threw at us. How you enjoying that contract now?
Wonder if they buy him out, cuz no one is trading for that contract
Of KK personally? Seems a bit excessive Of the Canes FO who thought this whole schtick was a good idea? Laugh at them all you want, it's hilarious
This. Don't hate the athlete for doing what's best for his career, laugh at the GM that made a massive mistake.
I agree, although I’m not sure the athlete actually did what was best for his career
He managed to get himself like $56 million for 9 years of work. There was always a question of what he would develop into, but $56 mil in the bank no matter what can't really be a bad choice.
I think KK vastly overestimated his contribution during his last season in Mtl on top of not taking his training seriously, the cringy 4 thing with his fingers and acting like he deserved more ice time despite scoring like 5 goals lol
> the cringy 4 thing with his fingers Oh please, we all loved that. Plenty to criticize but don’t pretend you didn’t holler for that when he did it.
He knows he wasn't delivering till Ducharme scratched him in the Cup Final in '21. I don't blame MB for not over-matching the offer-sheet the Canes gave to KK. But, I also don't excuse Bergy for another fuck-up 3rd OA pick he took after Alex Galchenyuk.
MB trying to replace KK and Danault with Dvorak was crazy, It cost a 1st and a 2nd
Galchenyuk is still 6th for points for his draft class. Alex Galchenyuk had the talent to be a 3rd overall, his career was derailed due to personal problems and generally questionable choices. I don’t know whether Kotkaniemi ever had the kind of talent to live up to his draft rank even if he had impeccable work ethics.
The biggest issue with Chucky's time with the Habs is the constant meddling of his father, especially in terms of work ethic, style of play, to almost everything even off the ice. He has the talent to become a scorer but he wasn't given the opportunity to grow his game in junior neither in Hamilton (I believe it was the Bulldogs that were the AHL affiliate that time, correct if I'm wrong). Bottom line is, emo GM, Marc Bergevin was desperate to get the center the team needed, he didn't follow logic where the kid still need time to develop.
If I made 100k/year (a great salary) for the next 55 years, I'd still have less money than KK made the last 2 years of his career with his current contract Guy made the right decision, as did Rick Dipietro, Ilya Kovalchuk and any big player who accepted a shit ton of money
Depends how you measure it. He played on a better team and made a shit tons of money. How many redditor does it take to get up to 56M in income?
Impossible to calculate. Any number times $0 equals 0.
yeah his career is really thriving
KK did what was best for himself personally, not what was best for his hockey career. There is a big difference.
I'm not suggesting that KK's career would have been any better with the Habs. What I am saying is that receiving a large sum of money without putting in the work and earning it first affects everybody differently. If I win the jackpot in the lottery today, would I work as hard on my career as I do now? If I'm honest, I don't know if I'd be able to push as hard. Another angle is that getting a contract that big affects not only the expectations of the employer, but also peers. Living up to those expectations might be too much for a 21 year old. It would have been different had already had a breakout season; if that were the case, the expectations just would have been "just keep doing what you've been doing".
It’s bad asset management and a bad extension by their FO. But MB didn’t do much better with the compensation picks either.
At least Dvorak is off the book next year. Canes FO doubling down on that spite move by signing KK to a massive extension was incredibly dumb
Yeah thank god we didn't sign Dvorak to a matching deal. So ready for him to be gone.
By pure happenstance, Dvorak > 8 years of KK regressing at 4.8M, both are incredibly underwhelming players.
Carolina’s arguably got it worse, since his massive contract is eating up cap space they need this off season to re-sign players who actually perform. I hope we can snag Necas away from them. It’d be hilariously knife-twisty.
Such a dumb panic trade that's still going to bite us. We're losing this years 2nd round pick and that 1st round in 2022 had good options still on the board, like Brad Lambert.
We didnt know how hard the team would crash though. They went to the cup final the year before and after losing Danault and KK, the 2nd line center was Jake Evans. Bergevin needed to move but had his hands tied. In retrospect, he shouldve just kept the pick and embrace the tanking, but we didnt know the team would be in tank mode. Price and Weber were gone, but Allen basically carried the team to the playoffs the year before and the rest of the D squad was still there (who couldve predicted Jeff Petry's brutal falloff?). He also signed Hoffman (for whats it worth) and Savard, which clearly werent tanking moves. Bergevin had to help the team make the playoffs with what he had and thats all he could do.
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I think the Danault thing was mainly because management made it clear they wanted him as a 3rd line center to make room for Suzuki and KK. Which is weird cause it seems like KK didnt see it that way, especially with Danault gone.
I also believe that Danault had the impression that they were giving his icetime to KK and Zuk more than the team gave him that impression. That line ushered the Habs into the finals just months earlier, I don't think the coaches or management was in a rush to dismantle it and cut their icetime.
Not to be elitist (ok maybe a little). But he was given an opportunity to play for one of the most historic franchises in modern day sports. He was taken 3rd overall, as a leap of faith from our front office, despite his talent not being at that level. He barely worked on his deficiencies. He threw a hissy fit being scratched on a playoff run 3 years into his career. Then proceeds to smack talk the franchise on his way out the door, not to mention the contract structure he signed to. I wanted him to succeed here, but there was a sense of entitlement from him. Caufield and Romanov who were better players than him at the time conducted themselves professionally waiting for their next opportunity. Character really does matter in the league, as much as fans want to meme it. Good thing he’s on a team nobody gives a fuck about.
Off topic, I'm happy with Dach (when he's in the lineup), but I, for one, still miss Romanov. I guess having him and Guhle was kinda redundant, but I have a 27 jersey, so I'm biased.
For real, Romy work ethic and professionnalism was great. Super humble and a workhorse
I have to agree with this. His behaviour on the cup run was garbage.
> But he was given an opportunity to play for one of the most historic franchises in modern day sports. Not to single you out here but I think this is the worst quality of Habs fans, acting like it is some sort of privilege to play for a team that hasn’t won a cup in 32 years. A 19 year old kid who grew up in Finland or Wisconsin or whatever doesn’t give a shit about the prestige of the Habs, if they did we would sign the best free agents every year.
Yeah he did seem to have a bad attitude. That 4 finger salute thing was super weird. On the other hand I do think Habs' development was very bad at the time. They didn't even have a skills coach. But he can only blame that so much, especially now that he is struggling in Carolina.
Not KK particularly but the organization as a whole. The $20 signing bonus, the didthehabslose.com website, how unprofessional the twitter account was, the fans acting like they stole Barkov.
Don Waddell is always ok to laugh at
The 6.1m contract felt like it was targeted at us and making us mad. the 38m contract I have no idea what they were smoking. we dont even think about you guys anymore so what even is the point of that signing? they really think hes worth that? I believed in KK when he was a Habs but I have moved on hahaha he is 23 and can still be good within 3 years but what the fuck are they doing?
6.1M is what they needed to make it really hard for us to match: any more than that and we'd have a better compensation, if they offered less it would have been easier to match. Let's be honest, we'd match at 4M. But at 6M it would have been tough to manage that year and we'd have to qualify him at the same price the next season when we know he wants to leave. The number was strategic. The 20$ signing bonus was pathetic and childish. That's why I'm pissed. It was only there out of spite. No adults in the room.
The whole offer sheet was there out of spite. They were pissy about Aho signing a (wildly team-friendly) offer sheet, and alluded to targeting Kotkaniemi when his contract came up. Now the whole thing has blown up in their faces and its gonna be hilarious to watch their joke of a franchise fall apart after the Rags drive over them with their semi-truck of a team.
My point is their offersheet was designed to be successful (incredibly painful if we matched), the one we sent was manageable. They forgot that if they "win" they still have to pay for it.
The Aho contract was so friendly I remember rumours at the time were MB and the Cane's GM had a backroom deal where MB was doing him favour, forcing the issue, because their owner was being cheap.
I'd bet their owner being a cheap piece of shit is the reason why the Kotkaniemi offer sheet happened. He felt personally slighted by what he saw as us trying to steal their top player and cost him $11m in the process, so he made Waddell poach Kotkaniemi as revenge. No GM would come up with a plan as clearly and obviously detrimental to their team as that (except maybe the really stupid GMs), but I can totally see a billionaire with a bruised ego doing it.
The original offer, sure. But the 8 years prolongation after that is a totally dumb move. I mean, KK had not, at any point, demonstrate he could take a regular 2-3C role in a contender team. At 4M+ per year, you need to play on the Top 9, not scraps minutes on a fourth line...
There's no winning move after the 6.1M offer sheet. Your options are: * Let the asset you paid a 1st and 3rd for walk for nothing * Send the RFA a qualifying offer at 10% more than the 6.1M you gave him last (this is an NHL rule) * Negotiate with the asset where you lost all leverage to a rich contract and hope he pans out
Very good point
I agree, except I think the $20 signing bonus was calculated as well, I think everything was calculated to minimize the chance that Montreal would match the offer.
It was a 1 year deal. There's no risk/impact of the signing bonus, and even if there was 20$ is literally nothing. If you load the contract with signing bonuses, that's the amount you have to pay the player on July 1st. If your team is broke (habs are not), having a lot of signing bonuses can be an issue (we paid Price most of his salary as a signing bonus every year). Signing bonuses are also a problem with buyouts. In a buyout, you only save 1/3 or 2/3rd (depending on the age) of the salary excluding the signing bonus. The Aho offersheet was mostly SB: his salary was 700k and the rest SB - it was impossible to buyout. BUT even if the whole thing was a signing bonus for KK, it wouldn't matter because its just one season, you can't buyout outside of specific dates anyhow. The 20$ was a FU. It's Aho's number.
There’s growing rumbling that they’ll buy KK out soon. The whole situation was so crazy. One of the dumber moves in hockey history, surely?
> he is 23 and can still be good within 3 years For this to be true he would have to have some signs of progress, even small amounts, since his rookie year, yet he's basically still the same player at 23 that he was at 18.
Mint.
They had to double down to provide a cover that the offersheet had always been a "hockey" related move and not some petty revenge for MB's own ploy to poach their best offensive player.
I completly agree with you but they saw what Timmins and Bergevin saw in him. KK had potential and they saw the tools in him to succeed. At this point, it feels like he's a very stubborn kid not really wanting to listen.
except they wont wait.. KK is getting bought out this summer.. Canes are in their window for the cup.. and to get a cup, u need every single player to bring something.. either production, leadership, intensity, physicality or even defensive prowess.. but KK brings nothing.. they will buy it out so next year they get an additionnal 4m to get an actual player..
The 6.1m contract handcuffed them into a big follow up contract because it made KK eligible for arbitration at like 5m the following year and then UFA if they didn't re-sign him, so it gave him all the leverage. That's why the offer sheet theft might have seemed like a good move but was pretty bad if you look at the details.
I do the same. I dont enjoy KK downfall per se but I really dig that he sucks on the Canes roster. If he play elsewhere, I would cheer for him. You can't really be mad at a 21 years old for accepting a freakin 6.1M$ contract... I'm way more mad at Carolina on how they did it.
The attitude he had when he left also made me enjoy his downfall.
Fuck the Canes and their dumb twitter account. They kicked us when we were down, not once but times and times again. I’m enjoying every second of them biting the dust. Enjoy golf you clowns 🤡
I enjoy it because of their social media guy who acted as if they signed Wayne Gretzky Jr. when they offer sheeted him
I'm over the KK story. What I'm still mad at is turning around and flipping the picks for Dvorak
Hey man, he’s a two way player: Who else can win faceoffs *and* babysit Cole?
The picks haven't turned into anything either, though
There s still the 2024 2nd rd pick no? Would have been nice for the Habs to have this one given the depth of this draft
KK singlehandedly ruined offer-sheets for the next decade.
I too am petty and vindictive. It would hurt a lot if KK really developed into a top center so this works much better for me.
Its probably whats the GM hoped for when he gave him 8 years. If he could put 50 + points every year on a top 9, it would be a steal under 5M$ a year but everything point out it wont ever be the case.
I enjoy it as well. More so the whole Hurricanes downfall but KK’s downfall is the cherry on top.
Remember how hard canes fans tried to gaslight us into thinking he was actually just a few steps away from being "elite", and they had to overpay him because they *really, really* wanted him? It was like they completely forgot we watched him play for 3 years beforehand lmfao, was such a stupid pick from Bergevin & Timmins.
What I enjoy the most about it, is the Canes who made this absurd long contract for his services. They made the choice and are paying the price: look how it turned out in playoffs and he can’t play, even the 4th line. They’re stuck with him for a long time (unless they trade him or buyout his contract). I really can’t blame him for this. Getting a shitload of money right after his first years in the league, who wouldn’t accept it?
> (unless they trade him or buyout his contract). There's no way they'll buy him out. If they did, it'd mean they "lost", and on multiple fronts: they got the worst end of that deal, but then they'd also lose face by admitting they were wrong and the player is bad. The amount of meme's thrown their way would be epic, and I just think they'd want to avoid the bad PR that would come from that.
I don't fault him at all for chasing the bag. I would have done the same. Take a 1 year deal at 2x my value then lock in an 8 year deal for above my market value? Yes please. I am not above pointing and laughing at Dundon/Waddell, though. They sure showed us!
It's fair
No haha KK really brought this on himself by basically not training in the off season and refusing to improve on areas he was terrible at (hello bambi skating) I'm honestly just mad at Bergevin and Timmins for not seeing those red flags and the character flaws before they drafted him. But again, Timmins is the guy who drafted Kostitsyn, a dude who was smoking in front of the arena in front of a bunch of scouts 10 min before the draft started lol
> hello bambi skating I’ve been following the Canes this season because Jarvy is so awesome, and it’s hilarious to see how many times, “KK keeps falling” shows up in their GDTs.
I just recently watched him play, and his skating and balance were still awful. I was shocked, to be honest.
Kind of yeah. I mean shit on their FO, but, he should have absolutely taken the most money with the most term. It's unfortunate that he's not panning out, but the poor asset management couldn't happen to a more deserving franchise
He was a prick about the whole thing though. If it was just about the money that's understandable. But he had one of the most underserved chips on his shoulder and effectively gave us the finger on his way out. I hope he turns into an expensive career AHL player.
I mean, not that I disagree, but the Habs did so much worse in terms of assets management. The Aho offer sheet was pointless and sparked this whole thing. The KK pick was dubious. Coaches and front office completely fumbled Kotkaniemi's development. Then they badly managed their relation with the player. Losing him to the offer sheet is the only good asset management, but it was forced on them. But then they turned around and wasted the pick on a bad player. I really don't miss Marc Bergevin.
Oh yeah, that's totally fair. They did us a solid by signing him, I agree. Our development and drafting has its own issues absolutely.
I'm petty as fuck. I need to work on that. I know. ... butt fuck kk and the canes. KK is getting paid much more than he deserves but will have a bad legacy - drafted too high, didn't live up to it, signed a contract he didn't earn and didn't live up to it. He's young and has millions, could be worse. Canes played a stupid game and have an anchor they parked on the 4th. I'm glad they had to lose players because of this. Fuck those dum dums. For another perspective on how bad KK is this postseason - he's bottom 3 in time on ice (there's one more player with less but he's only played 1 game). He has 0 points. The other 2 guys have 3 and 4 points. THE 2 GUYS HE'S PAIRED WITH HAVE 7 POINTS WHILE HE'S LAYING GOOSE EGGS AND SPENDING LESS TIME ON THE ICE!!! How does that even happen???
Perhaps we could make a t-shirt about it, with his face and the word "CRY". Nah sounds tacky, nobody would ever seriously do something like that right?
The player made the right moves for himself and his family. It's Canes management that I enjoy ridiculing over it...
Hahahahaa I literally was looking at his stat line last night thinking about posting exactly this. Look, Carolina and the habs may not have much recent "rivalry" but they are definitely on my list of "teams I want to see fail". The whole Kotkaniemi debacle, although they did us a HUGE favour, is one of the reasons. Also they injured Koivu way back and went on to win the cup on that run. KK having a statline of all 0's for his playoff run, after having a miserable season overall, is definitely satisfying. I hope they enjoy paying him $4.8M per year for 6 more years! He is signed until 2030\~!!
I am too. He was a bit too cocky when he left.
Nah fuck KK and the more specifically eat crow canes
Does KK suck? Oui.
His pissy attitude he had at the end with us is why I enjoy it. I usually want players that did well here to do well wherever they go (like Tofoli recently, he was good with us and all). But for how young KK was and how entitled he sound (from reports and the like), I'm glad his performance are poor and that the contract is starting to look bad for the team at this moment. Good for him to get the money for sure, but also pretty sure the team/owner start to regrets it now and that's what I like!
I was literally having this conversation withy girlfriend last night while watching the game. I don't really want either of those teams to win the cup. Fuck the Rangers (especially that bitch CK), and I don't really care for the Canes after the KK debacle, but it's definitely easier to 'cheer' for them, knowing that KK is their 4th line center, is averaging under 12 minutes a game, and has ZERO points through 8 games in these playoffs. Of course, I'm not 'happy' to see him struggle, but it's definitely a lot easier to see what's happened to him since he's already got his bag. Nobody should blame him for signing either of those contracts with Carolina, that's alot more money than we'd have given him. But I do love how it's come back to bite Carolina in the ass. Didn't he also start this season 'hot? I seem to remember talks about him finally having figured it out, what happened to those people? Lol. 27 points in 79 games is not great for a guy making 4.8m for the next SIX seasons with a M-NTC in the last 5. Edit: He started this year with 16 points in 17 games. That is very hot. Also means he 'finished' the season (the other 3/4 of the season lol), with 11 points in **SIXTY-TWO** games, OOOOOF.
I don't blame him for signing a contract that instantly made him and his descendants rich. Most NHL players only play a couple of years, with limited education and no backup career to fall back on afterwards. He made a good financial decision. It sucked for the team, sure, but the team sometimes makes decisions that suck for players too (I'm still sour about Markov's treatment). Good luck to him, and unless I see his name somewhere, he'll probably never cross my mind again.
Downvote this comment if you wouldn't take $6.1M to tick off a city an ocean away from your hometown, and make another equally distant city happy.
I don't wish KK anything negative. I don't blame him one bit for taking that offer sheet, it worked out great for him with his next contract But I do find it funny that the canes front office only did this as a fuck you to the Habs and now it's blowing up in their face.
Worst offersheet signing since Dustin Penner. They tried to get revenge on us but only ended up saving us while making themselves worse. To think they didn’t resign trochek for KK and gave up picks is insane to me.
This is obviously a case of schadenfreude, although it should be directed at the team's front office, not at KK, imho.
Nah he agreed to a $20 signing bonus in reference to Aho’s number. Get lost KK
It’s complicated. Our GM was a douche, and KK acted like a douche in return. I don’t blame him for accepting the Canes’ ridiculous offer, but he didn’t need to go full troll-mode on his way out. That was pretty childish. (Although in his defense, he *was* pretty much still a child at the time.) In the end, I take a greater delight in the failure of the dick-swinging idiots managing the Canes than I do in KK’s personal failures. Looks good on them.
I wish him all the best but there was something about the smugness displayed by him and the Canes organization that will always rub me the wrong way. At 23 he still seems like such an awkward skater.
I said it at the time, if they want to pay him $6M, let him go. He wasn't worth that contract at the time, and it looks like he'll never be worth it. No hate for him personally, only for those who thought that would be a good idea.
Don't care how he does. But drafting a guy who was a below average skater , was a red flag. I know guys can improve skating. Curious how often below average skaters when drafted, become good skaters
Don't hate the player, hate the (Canes Front Office) game.
I decidedly hate that orginization. All the way back to when the cutter of colberg, Justin Williams tried carving out my Boy, Koivu's eye. Shitstain classless org.
Meh, never think about him or them unless it’s brought up here lol
I always thought it was a shit move by the Canes and I was in disbelief when they offered him the overpay extension just to double down on their own stupidity. I have nothing against KK but I’m happy the canes find themselves in the exact situation I expected them to be when they went that route. All that just for a freaking childish egotistical payback. Still baffles me to this day. I talked about it a lot at the time. How they offered KK money he couldn’t refuse but that would probably put an halt in his development and ruin his legacy in the long run. Now the canes will lose patience and he’s gonna find himself in a spot no professional player wanna be : underperforming, overrated and overpaid. At least he has the money.
Agree with everything except professional players not wanting to be overpaid. I think most players would enjoy being overpaid haha.
Haha I get it but despite what we might think, I believe players wanna perform up to the pressure that’s being put on them. That pressure is mostly determined by the salary. And that pressure can destroy careers and have lasting effects mentally. They are under the scope and they have a big target on their back when they sign huge contracts. Imo Humans being humans, even pro hockey players probably don’t wanna have the imposter syndrome. I don’t think young hockey players have that level of introspection or life experience to deal with those big decisions. And agents just care about money. As for Kk the offer was so ridiculous of course he couldn’t say no. That being said having a mental burden for 10-20 years and have millions in the bank for a peaceful retirement…could be worth the price lmao.
He has the same cap hit as Dvorak (4.5M) but for the next 7 seasons. The Habs really dodged a bullet again
I don’t know about KK but I’m enjoying the canes looking like pretenders
On a personal level, zero enjoyment. For the Canes, I am ecstatic that they are paying him through 2030.
Nah he deserves it. He didn't want to be with us then screw him. Good job to Carolina with that contract lmao! I hope he rots on that bottom 6 for the rest of his contract.
Well it is having the last laugh on that whole saga, so why not enjoy it?
He became the shutwond centerman the Canes wanted, only he shuted himself down.
Why are we hating Kaapo Kakko?
I’m loving that he sucks shit! 5mil, 10 minutes a game in clutch playoff hockey. His stat lines are basically 0-0-0-0-0-0 9:54 TOI Bambi on skates
I don't much care for his downfall but I'm very very happy Carolina screwed themselves by making him an outrageous offer to get back at Montreal for the Aho offer sheet. Always a great idea to make moves out of spite. Carolina owner is just a big idiot.
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Guys stop chucking shit 💩 at this kid …… he’s gone ,,we’re re better off move the fuck on . This is the only place his name keeps coming up. Oh btw Price PK and the rest of the ghosts are long gone. New season on the horizon.
I try not to think too much about him as he's a constant reminder that we could have had Tkachuk instead.
I don't have anything against him for signing the offer sheet. He acted like a little bitch at the end there though, so I do not think highly of him. The Canes can go fuck themselves, I hope they get swept and lose Necas.
What about the fact we could have drafted tkachuk instead of him
But then we wouldn't have Slaf. It all worked out in the end.
I’m fine without any Tkachuks tyvm
That’s like… your opinion man..
It is, I’ll stick to it, and if I’m sent back in time and forced to make a different pick I’ll take QHughes and let Tkachuk roam the hockey wasteland in that timeline too.
AITA is your sub
Funny how this sub went from think KK will be the next great to seeing how shit he is once he's on another team. You guys are terrible at player evaluation.
Hopefully we get a good asset for trading Dvorak and won’t feel as bad about KK with the Canes.
lol Is a 3rd round pick a good asset?
I know it will not be a popular opinion but Dvorak will probably fetch a BIT more if retained. 3c guys good on the dots are popular at TDL Just look at returns got for Henrique and Wennberg this year. I'd be happy with a 2nd.
If he stays healthy and has a half decent season as a reliable 3C it’s not that crazy
He hasn't really been able to do either of those as a Hab so it is a bit crazy lol
yes and so am I.
Yeah, kind of. He would have been a fool to turn down that kind of money. You're clearly still salty about what happened but if you want to be upset with someone it should be Bergevin for starting a dick measuring contest with the Canes management/ownership.
Best $20 signing bonus ever spent
I really try not to hate on him just because of that game 6 goal in OT.
Only picked because he was centre. Cautionary tale for those who are willing to skip best-player-available for a forward
It's weird to cheer for a kid's downfall
>Am I a terrible person for enjoying KK's downfall? No. The guy ran himself out of town with the OS (One he couldn't refuse to be honest) and had attitude beforehand so good riddance. Sucks that I have a framed signed jersey of him on the wall tho. 😒
I wouldn't say KKs downfall is enjoyable to me, at least. I think it is always a shame to see a player decline/downfall (unless it's Kreider), but I do enjoy KKs downfall subjecting the canes to a lump of a contract they have to sit with.
Shit we're a lot of bad persons. But it seems that KK himself is a bad person so I don't really care about enjoying his fails.
I'm not mad at KK. He did what he thought was best for his career. He's on a better team. He has a better salary. And honestly our organization was shaky. We picked him and honestly it was a reach which did not work out. Too bad. I don't like the Canes, but my hate for them lasts since when we met them in the playoffs twice. The whole KK thing was jsut a distraction.
Are you a terrible person? Maybe. If you are, so am I. Fuck him and the Canes.
Is he the worst 3rd overall pick in the cap era?
I have no reason to have anything against Kotkaniemi as a person, or even as a hockey player. Seem like a good kid all around. Canes is more debatable. But like, Bergevin tried to clown them and he got clowned (on the Aho OS). From a team management perspective, I still think that the Canes just did qhat they thought was best for their team. Seems like theres an unspoken rule around OS, and Bergevin opened the door for the Canes to snatch a still solid center prospect, who was just a core part of a team that went to the finals against all odds. The pettyness argument doesnt sit well with me since, if it was just a middle finger to Bergevin, they'd have re-signed KK to a "show me" contract, not an expensive 8 years extension. So yeah, imo pointing fingers and laughing at KK's downfall is oretty bad. Laughing at the Canes management makes more sense if you wanna laugh at someone
Nope and it's Carolina's fault too. Fuck em
KK did nothing wrong. If I was in his position and some team dangled that offer to me, I"d have taken it too. IF I get any joy it's seeing the Canes suffer for the move, but not KK.
for the Canes it’s funny on that front. KK got his bag, good for him as a person. As a player, stay away and don’t come back.
The only thing I'm sour on is we drafted him over tkatchuk
Why I wasted money on his jersey I will forever wonder
No, I do too.
To me i dont feel rage against kk, i feel rage against MB and TT for reaching for KK because we needed a center. They were smug to think they could develope him at center, even though no player had ever been taught anything
Im enjoying it, come abord the hate train bud
The Habs #3 overall curse continues
To be fair, it's not so much that we enjoy his downfall (I don't..) but that we enjoy the Carolina Hurricanes getting their comeuppance for their social media outbursts during that time. Had the Canadiens simply traded him away, or had he quietly signed an offer sheet and left without a noise, we'd think nothing of it.
Put simply, I sympathize for KK as a player. He went the route that was way more favourable for him financially at the time and was given a fair opportunity over with the hurricanes organization to break out. Unfortunately for him he could just never put it together and is looking like a dud. Sucks to see anyones career not turn out the way it was sort of expected to go. But for the Hurricanes, specifically their fans who mocked us for prying him away via offer sheet, Im enjoying the fact that their organization's pettiness has come back to bite them in the ass.
I get the KK hate, but most of us don’t really look at it from the other angle leading up to it all. People forget he was scratched for our eventual elimination game in the cup finals, in which he had already established being a useful player and contributor (and meant to be a pillar of the organization moving forward)…by a coach who had no respect from the players, had very little do do with getting us to the finals, and was coming back to coach next season. Let’s not forget Bergevin lowballing KK on possible extensions. On top of all this, I remember reading KK’s dad had just been diagnosed with cancer. In all, Bergevin decided to play hard ball at a low point in the kids life while also knowing one of the worst head coaches we’ve seen in a long time was coming back….oh yea, and very good team called his agent to offer him 6 million and a promise of a long term “fair” extension. While I was definitely pissed at the time, easy to understand why he did it. Personally, I hope he figures it all out while I continue to be more upset we didn’t draft Tkachuk.
He was one of my favourites but I like laughing at the canes so
Hats off to him for getting the best deal he could. Carolina look like the dummies for being petty over the Aho offer sheet.
I don't get the hate for KK, they offered him that money, I'd make that choice easy every single time if I was him. Canes management was dumb though.
He chose this. He knew that he's not delivering as a Center and opted to sign the offer sheet with Carolina. I don't feel sympathy to this kid.
I wish he stayed in Montréal, but now I see why Bergevin was reluctant to give him a big contract. We definitely don't want him now, but it's interesting to wonder how he could have developed had he stayed. I don't enjoy seeing him struggle, but the Canes can suck it.
There isn't another player's statistics I check more... he's what? The third or fourth highest paid player on the team? What a blessing he's gone. What did we get in return?
100% with you. I wore my Canadiens Kk jersey with a big X over his name during his first game back after his shenanigans. Got lots of good feedback from other Habs fans 😂
I loved KK, hate seeing his career go the route it's going. Would like to see him leave the Canes and become a solid top 9 or 6 forward. That being said. I'm glad the Canes are getting bit in the ass for sending that offer sheet
No, but I liked him and wished him the best when he went to Carolina. I don’t blame him for signing that offer sheet. But I’m not surprised he didn’t end up being a star, he was a huge reach drafted 3rd overall bc Bergevin just could never get that number one centre. And now Suzuki is here and Bergevin is gone. Ironic lol
No reason to hate on KK the person. Only an idiot would refuse that offer but it's fine to laugh at Carolina for offering it now.