Hurricanes tender offer sheet for Canadiens’ Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Two years ago, the Montreal Canadiens tendered an offer sheet to Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes, an offer the Canes matched to keep their star center.
Now, it’s the Canadiens’ turn.
The Canes on Saturday tendered an offer sheet to restricted free agent forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi of Montreal. The one-year contract, which Kotkaniemi signed, pays a salary of $6,100,015 for the 2021-22 season. It also has a $20 signing bonus for the Finnish forward.
The Canadiens have seven days to match the offer. If the Canadiens do not match, they will receive a first-round pick and a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft as compensation from the Hurricanes.
“Jesperi Kotkaniemi accepted our offer. He wants to come to Carolina,” Canes president and general manager Don Waddell said in a statement. “He sees the core we’ve built here and he wants to be a part of that. We’re proud, but there’s still a waiting period. When you make an offer like that, we saw a vulnerable position. The offer, with the compensation and the core we have, we realized that it was the best chance we had to get the player.”
The Habs made a run at Aho when free agency began on July 1, 2019, with an offer sheet that would pay Aho $42.28 million over five years. Canes owner Tom Dundon, a Dallas billionaire, quickly said he would match the offer, calling the offer sheet a “waste of time” on Montreal’s part and adding, “Writing that check is no big deal.”
Talk about trolling. Waddell’s comments mimicked what Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin said in 2019 after the offer sheet for Aho — “We’re proud, but there’s still a waiting period.”
And the $20 bonus? Aho does wear No. 20.
Kotkaniemi, 21, had an indifferent season with Montreal in 2020-21, finishing with five goals and 15 assists in 56 games. In the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, he had eight points (5 goals, 3 assists) in 19 games.
The Habs reached the Stanley Cup finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning, only to be beaten in five games. Kotkaniemi was benched during long stretches of Game 3 and then made a healthy scratch in Games 4 and 5.
Habs coach Dominique Ducharme said that was not a “punishment.” He noted Kotkaniemi was a “good team guy” who understood the situation.
Kotkaniemi, a native of Pori, Finland, was selected in the first round (third overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft by Montreal. He has 62 points (22 goals, 40 assists) in 171 career NHL regular-season games
The next move belongs to the Habs’ Bergevin -- match the offer sheet or let Kotkaniemi go and take the draft picks. With the Habs squeezed by the salary cap, it could make for an interesting week, for the Canadiens and the Canes.
This story was originally published August 28, 2021 at 6:02 PM.
