Tag: Jesperi Kotkaniemi

The winners and losers of the Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet saga

Jesperi Kotkaniemi is now a member of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Montreal Canadiens have not matched the Carolina Hurricanes’ offer sheet for Jesperi Kotkaniemi, making this the first successful acquisition of a player via offer sheet in the NHL since Dustin Penner in 2007.

It’s exciting times in the NHL when we get to talk offer sheets, considering their rarity in terms of usage, even more-so in terms of their success rates. In return for signing Kotkaniemi to a one-year, $6.1 million deal, the Hurricanes have sent their first and third round picks in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Canadiens as compensation.

It’s a steep price to pay on a one-year deal for a 21-year-old third overall pick from 2018 who has yet to really break out at the NHL level. And yet, if things work out right for the Hurricanes, snagging Kotkaniemi could be quite the steal for just a handful of draft picks.

Now that this offer sheet saga has come to an end, let’s take a look at the winners and losers of this whole affair because… this is quite a complicated one!

A non-hockey fan’s guide to understanding why Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s offer sheet is hilarious

Why a Finnish hockey player you’ve never heard of is at the heart of the NHL’s funniest offseason story.

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. You may have seen that the Carolina Hurricanes tenured an offer sheet to Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but you’re not sure why it’s making headlines. We’re here to help.

If there’s one thing hockey fans love, it’s a surprise offseason offer sheet. On Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes turned heads with an out-of-nowhere offer sheet to Jesperi Kotkaniemi of the Montreal Canadiens, the NHL’s first offer sheet in two years (and we’ll talk about that one, don’t worry).

The news made waves in the hockey world, in part because of the rarity of offer sheets, but also there’s some extremely juicy history between the Hurricanes and Canadiens when it comes to offer sheets. If you’ve clicked on this article, you’re probably wondering why the hockey fan in your life or those you follow on Twitter are having a laugh at this development.

Good news! We’re here to explain why a Finnish hockey player you’ve never heard of signing a contract is the best, most hilarious NHL story in some time. Let’s begin.

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NHL fans were delighted as the Hurricanes trolled the Canadiens after offer sheeting Jesperi Kotkaniemi

We love a good revenge offer sheet.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

It’s been some time since we’ve had any fun hockey news to talk about, with the NHL offseason still in full swing. But on Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes dropped a major news bomb on us all out of nowhere with the announcement of an offer sheet to Montreal Canadiens forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

In simple terms, any player that is a restricted free agent in hockey who receives a qualifying offer from their team or doesn’t go to arbitration can be tenured an offer sheet. An offer sheet is essentially just a contract offered to a player from another team, one their original team must match or they lose their player.

On Saturday, the Hurricanes tenured an offer sheet to Kotkaniemi for a one-year, $6,100,015 million contract, which carries a $20 signing bonus. The Canadiens have seven days to match the contract and if they don’t, they lose Kotkaniemi but receive a first and a third round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft as compensation.

Offer sheets are a rarity in the NHL, because they are frowned upon by other GMs even though they are very useful and underutilized tools in the league. But why is this offer sheet special? Well, two years ago, the Canadiens tenured an offer sheet to Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho, one which Carolina eventually matched themselves.

So, of course, the Hurricanes went full troll mode on the Canadiens after announcing the offer sheet, first by tweeting out the announcement in French, as the Canadiens Twitter often does.

Then, they continued to troll on Twitter with some memes.

And then, people came to the realization that the $20 signing bonus corresponds to Aho’s player number, No. 20.

That, right there, is some top-tier trolling from Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell and the team’s social media staff. Hockey fans were over the moon with the incredible display of pettiness the Hurricanes put forth on this revenge offer sheet.