Canadiens face tough decision on Kotkaniemi
Third-overall pick in 2018 NHL Draft has picked up play since start of pre-season
Coach Claude Julien was asked after practice Monday morning in Brossard if the Canadiens have a difficult decision ahead of them as to what to do with Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
“Yes, we do,” the coach said. “Yes, we do,” he repeated. Yes, they do. Kotkaniemi, the Canadiens’ first-round pick (third overall) at this year’s NHL Draft, has had an impressive training camp so far and was named the first star in a 3-2 pre-season win over the Ottawa Senators Saturday night at the Bell Centre while playing centre on the No. 1 line between Jonathan Drouin and Joel Armia.
The Canadiens put Kotkaniemi back in the lineup for Monday night’s pre-season game against the Maple Leafs in Toronto with Michael Chaput taking Drouin’s spot on the left wing while the latter got the night off and Armia stayed on the right wing.
Julien said the Canadiens “suspected that might be the case” as far as Kotkaniemi making their decision difficult as to whether he will start the season in the NHL or return for a second season with Assat Pori in the Finnish Elite League.
“We look at the possibilities so far,” Julien said about the 18-yearold Kotkaniemi. “We needed to see how he was going to handle himself and if people would have seen his first game in Laval (during the NHL Rookie Showdown) they would have said: ‘This guy has no chance.’ But you look at him today, he’s a different player. I guess we kept an open mind and right now I think that’s why he’s still here and that’s why he’s still playing. We’ll have a tough decision, I think, to make at the end of training camp.”
Chaput is also fighting for a spot on the Canadiens’ 23-man roster when they open the NHL regular season next Wednesday night in Toronto. The Canadiens signed the six-foot-two, 204-pound Ile Bizard native as a free agent on July 1 after he posted 17-25-42 totals in 55 games with the AHL’s Utica Comets last season and was pointless in nine games with the Vancouver Canucks.
“There’s always people saying there’s a couple of spots open (on the roster),” said the 26-year-old Chaput, who was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round (89th overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft.
“Sometimes you do look at the depth chart and you’re not really sure. But if you do enough and you play well and you play your game and the coaches like you and you fit in the team, somehow there’s always a chance. So I think that’s the way I see it.”
As for playing on the same line as Kotkaniemi, Chaput said: “I think it’s going to be fun. He’s a good player. Great vision, he’s got good hands and he’s been playing really well so far, so I think it’s going to be fun.”
Julien said he has been impressed by the work ethic of Chaput, who played junior for the Lewiston MAINEiacs and Shawinigan Cataractes in the QMJHL, and added the forward can produce offensively.
“Again, this is evaluation of everybody, not just Kotkaniemi,” Julien said. “It’s also Chaput who’s having a great camp and we’ll see how all that stuff goes.”
Julien was asked if he would have Kotkaniemi start the season in the NHL even if it meant having to shelter the teenager from certain situations during games.
“I get what you guys are asking,” the coach said. “I think you guys are really looking for answers that will come later. I think we still have to evaluate that because I know what you’re asking because I’m also looking at that, too. And that’s why I said we got some decisions to make at the end of camp and those are all part of the equation of making that decision and is part of the questions that we’ll be asking ourselves.”
The Canadiens have two preseason games remaining with the Maple Leafs visiting the Bell Centre Wednesday and the Canadiens visiting the Senators Saturday.