Domi “super excited” about trade to Canes and former teammates happy to have him
Jordan Martinook was with the Arizona Coyotes when Max Domi played his first NHL game.
Domi, with the Coyotes, assisted on Tony DeAngelo’s first NHL goal. Domi also was the first to text and welcome Antti Raanta when the goalie was traded to Arizona.
When Jesperi Kotkaniemi made his NHL debut with the Montreal Canadiens, Domi was his Habs teammate and the team’s leading scorer.
Pro hockey can be such a small world, yes? The degrees of separation often feel so slight.
Domi, 27, is being reunited with all those former teammates after his trade Monday to the Carolina Hurricanes. His coach will be Rod Brind’Amour, who once competed against Domi’s father, Tie, in some intense battles on the ice.
“My dad was the most excited person on the planet when I got traded here,” Domi said Tuesday night at PNC Arena. “Around the league, the respect that Rod carries is second to none.
“I’m super pumped. It was a crazy couple of days, definitely pretty stressful waiting to see what was going to happen. Obviously it all worked out and I’m super excited to be here. There’s no other team I wanted to go to.”
Domi, who wears No. 13 for the Canes, said he had a chance to quickly drop by the locker room before the Canes’ game against Tampa Bay. With a few players, he needed no introduction.
“He’s one of the greatest guys I’ve met, a super nice guy,” Raanta said Tuesday. “Really competitive, and lot of skill there. I think when he gets into our system, I hope that he will find that game that he was playing when he was with Arizona.
“There’s that potential. He can score goals, he can make the plays. He plays hard. Hopefully we can see that and it’s a fresh start for him, also. Hopefully we get those points and when the playoffs start we need that little grit on the ice and that’s for sure what he brings in.
“We don’t need him to start fighting,” Raanta added, smiling, “but he will bring that little grit to the lineup for sure.”
Domi will drop the gloves, if need be. The forward’s most recent fight was against Justin Holl of Toronto on March 7. He also traded blows with the Canes’ Nino Niederreiter last season.
Domi joked that the scuffle with Niederreiter shouldn’t result in an awkward moment in the room with a new teammate, saying, “I’m getting used to that, unfortunately.”
“It’s one of those things where I think everyone knows that I’m an emotional player. It just happens. Fighting is part of the game. There’s never any hard feelings. I think they understand that, too. It’s all good.”
Brind’Amour said he was able to talk with Domi after the trade Monday. Domi was scheduled to play his first game Thursday against the Dallas Stars at PNC Arena.
“It has to be the right fit as far as his play, and we know what kind of player he is,” Brind’Amour said Tuesday. “We have to get him in the mix. The hard part that I always think about in bringing a player in at this time is learning our system and learning how we play, and that takes time. But we know what kind of player we’re getting.”
Brind’Amour chuckled when asked if Max Domi, listed at 5-foot-10 and 194 pounds, reminded him of his father, a short, tough-customer type who played more than 1,100 regular-season and playoff games and had more than 3,700 penalty minutes.
“Not really,” Brind’Amour said. “Two really different players, I think. (Max) has the intangibles, though. He’s hard to play against and gritty like his dad was, but he’s a kind of different player.”
Domi put in his first three NHL seasons with the Coyotes after being their first-round draft pick in 2013. DeAngelo was called up in November 2016 and scored in his NHL debut against Colorado as Martinook scored twice — Domi also assisting on a Martinook goal.
Traded to the Canadiens in June 2018, Domi was there for Kotkaniemi’s debut and rookie season. Domi had a career high 72 points in 82 games that 2018-19 season, scoring 28 goals — the kind of production the Canes would like to believe he can come close to matching in their fast-paced, attacking system.
“He’s a really speedy, skilled guy,” Kotkaniemi said Tuesday. “He can play tough. You’re going to see him on the ice when he’s there — he’s that type of guy.”
In other words, one usually is aware of where Domi is on the ice.
“And he’s a great guy off the ice,” Kotkaniemi said. “He likes to talk a lot, he’s really social. It’s always good to have those kinds of guys around.”
Domi’s offensive numbers dipped in his second season with Montreal and his 107 games spread over the past two seasons with the Blue Jackets. But coming to a team that leads the Metropolitan Division and is determined to have a deep Stanley Cup playoff run could quickly rekindle his competitiveness.
“He seems super excited to come here,” Raanta said.
Of note
Kotkaniemi said Tuesday he was excited about his eight-year contract extension with the Canes, saying, “We have a great team here, we have a great young core on this team. Eight years is a long time and I think we’re going to have a great future with this team. ... (The extension) gives me a little peace where I can focus fully on winning the Stanley Cup.”
Kotkaniemi, 21, said the Raleigh area reminds him of his hometown of Pori, Finland, saying, “It feels great to be in spot like that. It feels really comfortable, feels like home.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 2:52 PM.
