We swear to you, we didn’t want to talk about Jesperi Kotkaniemi. And, ideally, no COVID-19 either. But as Jean-Paul Sartre wrote before us: in life we don’t do what we want.
After warming up the NHL’s top-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning, the Canadian landed in Raleigh, where he will face the Hurricanes on Thursday night. Another big contract awaits him there, as the North Carolinians are practically tied with the Lightning for the percentage of points accumulated -, 742 against, 741, to be exact.
The same Hurricanes will return to action 12 days after playing their last game. The three they had to play since December 18 have been postponed.
It was almost good time for them, as COVID-19 had wreaked havoc in the locker room: Star players Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, as well as Seth Jarvis, Jordan Staal, Steven Lorentz and Ian Cole all found themselves on the list of the NHL surveillance protocol. Here they are released, but to make matters worse, Brendan Smith, Jesper Fast and goalkeeper Frederik Anderson have joined them.
PHOTO JEFF MCINTOSH, ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho, the spark plugs of the Carolina Hurricanes attack
The team was in such bad shape on December 16 that they played a game with only 10 attackers.
This is where Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s pager vibrates. Relegated to a supporting role after a timid start to the season on the left wing of an attacking trio, the Finn had even fallen below the 8-minute mark twice at the beginning of December. But in the absence of several big guns, including two center players, he was given the controls of one of the first lines with Fast and Teuvo Teravainen.
This unit answered the call, scoring 11 points overall, including 4 from Kotkaniemi, in two games – two wins for the Hurricanes, by the way.
“The player we expected”
Since the Habs made him their first-round pick in the 2018 draft, fans have been torn: Did the Canadian make a good choice? And since the young man joined the Hurricanes, the arguments continue: should the Canadian have held him back?
There was nothing surprising, knowing this, to see the “anti-KK” having fun with its weak offensive crop in the early weeks of the calendar. However, according to head coach Rod Brind’Amour, after a period of adaptation, everything now lies in the chances he is given.
“When you get minutes from the fourth line, it’s hard to accumulate points,” agreed the pilot in videoconference on Wednesday. But he was playing very well. Now, in a different role on a third or second trio, he produces, he does what is expected of him. This is what is encouraging to me. ”
According to him, Kotkaniemi is today “the player we expected”. The one we paid dearly to make him a member of the Hurricanes.
We didn’t give him a gift by putting him on the wing, especially in a new system of play, but there were three good crosses in front of him… Then we lost some guys, he was promoted and he did very well published.
Rod Brind’Amour, Carolina Hurricanes head coach
His usual smile on his lips, Kotkaniemi hasn’t made much of his recent successes, nor his sloshing through the formation, let alone the eternal “center or winger” debate.
“I knew it would be like that when I signed my contract here,” he said. We have an excellent team, a winning team. We have a lot of good players, even outside of training, and every day is a competition. I’m just happy to have a job. ”
Moreover, with the return of many absent, Kotkaniemi has already found his place in the wing; in training on Wednesday he played to the left of Staal and Jarvis, according to reports from local journalists there.
As you can imagine, it will take more than that to make him lose his smile.