Canes fans will tell you he's the next Bergon, when in reality he's overpaid bust they are stuck with because they are sour about the Aho offersheet. KK gets no minutes no points and zero useful defensive metrics. They'll try and pass off some obscure stat like he allows the least amount of shots from the center ice while to opposing goalie rubs his tummy. I think it's time we call a duck a duck here and admit KK is one of the worst contracts in the leauge

Even the athletic has him as overpaid by 3 million. Ouch.

He stinks. Also he's a 4C, not a 3C.

They can't admit the offersheet and subsequent 45 million they gave him over 9 years was a massive mistake.

He isn't good at anything, just a guy on the ice.

Someone will bail them out though, he's young enough and with his draft status someone will treat him like a lottery ticket

He is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle.

Last season, it looked as though he found traction in his game. Looked great in the second half. Had a very good playoff.

Then along comes 23-24 and he falls off a cliff.

Part of me wonders if this as more to do with how the Canes deploy him (nothing steady about his icetime). Part of me wonders if he is really a LW. Part of me wonders if Brind'amour likes him. Part of me says he is still only 23.

Would like to think there is something there.... but what that is I have no idea anymore.

Why would they consider moving him? xGF/60 north of 3, ELITE defensive metrics, and the worst PDO of any Cane this year. He's been unlucky, not bad. Canadian hockey fans want to call him bad because of his time in Montreal, but he's coming off a 40 point year and even in a down year this year, he still can hit 30. Don't touch that contract. There are ways to keep Kotkaniemi and re-sign Guentzel, and almost all of them involve doing the smart thing. Moving Jordan Staal. Kotkaniemi with some offensively gifted linemates will be a 50 point guy, there are the signs of it. Watch him and its evident. He'll set up Brendan Lemieux whose all alone and Lemieux will hit the netting above the glass, or a cross-crease pass to a defenseman sneaking in that ends up going back into the slot or something dumb. Don't touch it.

See what I mean about Canes fans not being able to admit a mistake?

Good ole liljerry, nothing better to do than waiting for another KK thread to open. Non playoff team life is good i guess. I do love the hyperbole of other fans though about KK. Its very refreshing to see homers of their own players try to call out other homers.

To the question. Kk isnt as bad as his stats suggest. His 4C demotion was because he didn’t mesh well with Necas this season and Drury did. Kk is driving offense but no one is finishing his passes and he has rang a few posts. Is he worth keeping? Idk. We are precipice of that decision. At 4.85 million, probably not. We aren’t paying to move him. A 800k buyout is less than 1% of the cap.

A team like zona may be interested as they don’t have many actual centers. May not be. If, say Blake wasn’t interested in signing a deal, for whatever reason, could we do a Kk and Blake swap for Schmaltz as a base? Schmaltz will be getting paid nearly double KK’s real money next year and that matters to Zona. They get a winger they can bring to the league if they want plus whatever is coming their way.

The O.S wasn’t a mistake. Our 1st and 3rd pick ls had a very low chance of making the league, needless to say playing 3 full seasons with us. So despite that same Sabres fans obsession, it wasn’t a mistake. His OS was done in week 6 of the offseason so it isn’t like we missed out on anyone in FA that year. Seeing how this team doesn’t go big in FA either, it would be hard to argue his 4.85 million in cap space prevented us from signing anyone.

See what I mean part 2

He's overpaid but because of that opinion of him sways too far into the negative (imo). People call him a bust, and obviously in a redraft he doesn't go 3OA, but he still is probably a top 15 pick just based on how much time he has spent in the NHL, and has produced points even if they are not as many as most teams would want. Additionally, he is only 23 and gets into his own head a lot. Could he be a cap casualty this summer? Certainly.

If he was making 2.5 million per year no one would bat an eye.

see what i mean.

exactly, and that's the point. Would the Canes rather spend that $2.32M on other players, especially with their fa and rfa statuses?

If I were a GM I'd do Rick DiPietro and buy KK out in a blink of an eye

12 year buyout length is utterly insane😭

wasn't he paired up with Tuevo and Necas at one point?

Jiri Kulich, Matt Poitras. The Canes next two picks were forwards as well.

Two pass first guys? Yeah. Stick Svechnikov on his wing and he'll be fine. He needs someone that can pot the puck. He was a PPG the first 20 games of the season because he was playing with Necas and Svechnikov. Things changed when Aho got hurt in California, and Rod refused to go back to the one line that was working for whatever reason

so you're saying that he needs to be carried by Svech?

also, you're tripping but you're KK fanboy so no wonder why. He was NEVER a PPG player except in his first 10 games - he got 14 points in first 20 games lmao talk about being a fanboy that you have to write fake stats

He's a solid 3 million dollar guy with upside...

Would 100% move him if that means resigning Guentzel but I've got a feeling he's going to test the market