It's funny how it's not. People forget Kotka was a reach at 3. He may get you pick 6 or 7 though, but in this deep a draft I'd think about 9 or 10.

Stutzle > Kotkaniemi and its not close. Id take Lundell at 10 over Kotkaniemi at this point

He should be untouchable. No point in even considering his value.

Pretty sure who ever is taken at #3, Will have more value then KK.

Same here.

Yeah he's definitely not getting the #3 pick, In a very deep deep draft. That's for sure.

Yeah he's definitely not getting the #3 pick, In a very deep deep draft. That's for sure.

Busts happen all of the time, but I'd imagine you are right. Just doesn't make sense for either team to trade a top pick for pretty much the same thing.

Yup it's pretty much a crap shoot.

People are probably too low on him after a down year, but this is a big nope.

well tbf Lundell is would be a pretty big steal anywhere after like 6, but yeah

with this logic is Puljujarvi worth a top 5 pick still?

Puljijarvi and Kotkaniemi aren't comparable.

you are missing the point, its not player vs player...its high pick not being an high end or impact player after being selected...their value has dropped and they wont even close to the same value of pick that was used to selected them

Not sure if this goes through even if Montreal includes their 1st round pick in the deal.

Kotkaniemi isnt in Puljujarvi or Lias Andersson territory. Hes in Mittelstadt territory.

Why has Kotkaniemi's value dropped? He's 19 years old with over 100 NHL games played.

I wouldn't even put him down that far. He's still producing

bc hes not performing up to his draft stock, especially considering the picks around him such as Brady Tkachuk,Quinn Hughes, even Zadina who is looking like the real deal since he joined the NHL full time later on this year.

You wont get a 3rd overall high draft pick spot for a guy who from who looks to have taken a step back this year.

I mean clearly some draft years are better than others. I don't think you can translate one # pick to the next the following year....... Ryan Murray 2nd overall or Alex Barkov 2nd overall? Apples and Oranges.


With that said, everyone loves the shiny new thing that is the pre-drafted players. Wait a year, maybe two. At least one of those top 10 players in this draft is gonna be a dud/not nearly as good as hyped to be. I guarantee it. It just about always happens. Only a few times has every top 10 picks in the draft become a star player.

its not player vs player comp...just guys not living up to their high draft position considering all the talent selected around them. You wont get back what you invested in the pick in them.

Its like Nolan Patrick, hes had similar production back to back seasons of 30 points...was his worth the 2nd overall after those seasons? no one is giving that pick for Patrick. Same with Kotkaniemi. You need more than 30 points out of a top 3 pick

You realize Kotkaniemi is nearly a full year younger than Zadina right? He's still 19 years old and saying he took a step back is stupid. He's still the 5th highest producing NHL player from the draft and he's the youngest guy from the draft.

You are not comprehending what I am saying and just jumping on players names like im trying to debate who is better than who. Its him vs his draft stock at 3rd overall. Hes not living up to that right now so you wont get that value back its a pretty simple concept

What do you expect a 3rd overall pick to do? Let's look back, shall we?

Huberdeau 2nd year post draft: 45 points in 30 QMJHL games
Galchenyuk 2nd year post draft: 27 points in 48 NHL Games
Drouin 2nd year post draft: 32 Points in 70 NHL Games
Draisaitl 2nd year post draft: 51 points in 72 NHL games
Dylan Strome 2nd year post draft: 75 points in 35 OHL games
PL Dubois 2nd year post draft: 48 Points in 82 NHL games
Heiskanen 2nd year post draft: 33 Points in 82 NHL games

Also important to factor that Kotkaniemi is younger than all of these guys. I don't know why you expect Kotkaniemi to be lighting up the league at 19

You wouldn't be saying that this time last year when he was the youngest player in the league and put up 34 points. Kid is 19 compared the the 20 year olds you just listed, was injured all year and still came back to produce a ppg in the AHL before getting injured again. A hard year but let's not get to ahead of ourselves here.