• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

2025-26 Canes Miscellaneous Thread

No surprises there. I would be too in his shoes. For his sake, I hope the team can trade him somewhere else where he can play on a regular basis again.

I know people hate him and call him a waste of money and worthless and all that, but he seems like a really good guy. More importantly, to me, he represents this new era of the Hurricanes, one that isn't afraid to take chances on bettering the team. Had we ever seen that before? Sure, the team took chances here and there beforehand, but they were carefully calculated moves and that did bring a Cup to town, but it was more often than not a team mired in a position just outside of the playoffs and rarely ever able to pick generational, culture changing players in the draft. Look at the team now, a perennial playoff team that is on the cusp of finally winning another Cup. For that, I will never hate on Jesperi.
 
This Canes team had a few different results than the prior RBA coached teams did. Including:

More goals allowed.

Not really too many more than last year (236 this year, 230 last) but it just seemed like teams were breaking us down easier and scoring goals easier. Some of that was the goaltending making less saves than in the past. Some of that was Slavin missing half the season. Some of that was the PK not being that stellar PK from prior years.

236 goals allowed was 5th best in the league, so while I'm calling it out, the Canes were still good in this category.

One thing that didn't contribute to more goals allows was more shots allowed. For the 5th season in a row, the Canes allowed less shots than any other team. The last 5 NHL season leading shots allowed numbers look like this:

21-22 28.2
22-23 26.0
23-24 25.6
24-25 24.9
25-26 23.9

I think a lot of the reduction in those numbers is not so much the Canes getting better and better at this, but rather, the NHL being extremely diligent about counting shots on goal (there have been several articles on this recently). Sports betting is a big driver for getting these numbers as correct as they can be.

More goals scored

The Canes scored 266 goals last season, 9th in the league. This past season they scored a 'Hurricanes record' 291 goals. 2nd in the league just 7 behind the high flying Avalanche.

That is a different wrinkle going into the playoffs. I guarantee you that if you asked people who didn't follow the Canes to name the NHL's 5 highest scoring teams this season, very few of them would include the Canes.

Worse PK

11th in the league at 80.5%.

That is way down from recent seasons:

21-22 88.0% (1st)
22-23 84.4% (2nd)
23-24 86.4% (1st)
24-25 83.6% (1st)

Having Slavin out of the lineup certainly contributed to this. It is helpful that we score so many Short handed goals (league leading 12). If you look at our shorthanded differential this season instead (short handed goals for - PP goals against) we were at -33, tied for 4th best in the league.

Better PP

Hopefully we haven't peaked here. The amazing rise from near the very bottom in the NHL in Power Play success to near the top this season was a crazy ride. We finished 4th in PP% at 24.6%. From Jan 1 to the end of the season we were at 31.7%, best in the NHL. After the Olympic break? 33.8%, best in the NHL.
 
I'm not going to hate on KK either, but "being useless when you're on the ice" and "not getting as much, or any, ice time" is kind of a circular feedback loop... try not being as useless when you were out there? I mean, we all saw it. Good on the org for rolling the bones on stealing him, and it was kinda fun for a while, but yeah unfortunately it's time to sell low. He might see the ice at some point during the playoffs in case of injury, but unless we absolutely need a center at some point, I'd rather throw Nadeau out there.
 
I don’t hate him or think he’s worthless. But I don’t have time for complaining to the media. The players in front of him have consistently played better than him. It is what it is
 
andyt said:
In an interview with a Finnish newspaper, KK says he’s frustrated and not happy. There is a link to the newspaper article, perhaps someone can translate it to English.

sportsnaut.com

Jesperi Kotkaniemi Details Frustration with Hurricanes Coaching, Role in New Interview

Jesperi Kotkaniemi is not happy with the Carolina Hurricanes. It comes as little surprise, as for the first time in his tenure with...
sportsnaut.com sportsnaut.com
Click to expand...
I would be disappointed in Kotkaniemi if he wasn’t frustrated and unhappy. Of course, we all know full well that he only has himself to blame for that, but whatever. Good on you, dude. 90% of the time you project like you don’t really care, so it’s nice to see that you have a spine.
 
StormChaserBH said:
I'm not going to hate on KK either, but "being useless when you're on the ice" and "not getting as much, or any, ice time" is kind of a circular feedback loop... try not being as useless when you were out there? I mean, we all saw it. Good on the org for rolling the bones on stealing him, and it was kinda fun for a while, but yeah unfortunately it's time to sell low. He might see the ice at some point during the playoffs in case of injury, but unless we absolutely need a center at some point, I'd rather throw Nadeau out there.
Click to expand...
This! I think KK is a great teammate and I don't "hate" him in any way. What I don't like is his performance. He's too expensive to be delivering so little. Let's just say the Canes tried and KK tried but it didn't work out.
 
Stanky is skating this morning, Andersen is in the starter’s crease.

Svechnikov - Aho - Jarvis
Hall - Stankoven - Blake
Ehlers - Staal - Martinook
Carrier - Jankowski - Robinson
Deslauriers - Kotkaniemi

Slavin - Chatfield
Miller - Walker
Nikishin - Gostisbehere
Reilly

Andersen | Bussi | Kochetkov
 
PP1: Aho, Ehlers/Staal, Jarvis, and Svechnikov with Gostisbehere
PP2: Blake, Hall, Ehlers/Jankowski, and Stankoven with Nikishin
 
A few thoughts on KK...

The Canes did KK a solid by not buying him out at 1/3 of this remaining contract when they had their final chance to do so.

Had the Canes bought KK out of what was 5 years remaining on his contract last summer, they would have owed him payments totaling $8.4 million over 10 years.

Instead, KK got to collect $4,820,000 for this season while being ineffective most of the time he was out there. A buyout this coming summer of his remaining 4 seasons would now cost $13.6 million.

My quick back of the napkin math says that at a minimum KK ended up no worse than $10 million ahead by the Canes electing not to have bought him out last summer, not counting whatever salary he might have received by playing somewhere else.

In return for the Canes not buying him out when we likely should have, KK by far has been the most useless player we have out there when we have tried to play him. We tried to give KK an opportunity to, at a minimum, seize that #4 center role, but it took no time at all for 31 year old Mark Jankowski to significantly outplay KK in every facet of the game.

If Mark Jankowski is outperforming you and keeping you out the lineup, that is a YOU thing KK. That is not on the Canes coaches or front office. And I don't think many people would argue that KK should have been in the lineup over Mark Jankowski.
 
Last edited:
Kotkaniemi also hasn’t done himself any favors by playing like he is utterly disinterested every time they play him on the wing. He could have settled in to a role as a defensive winger easily enough, given his skill set, but in my estimation he’s just not been interested. He used to kill penalties from time to time, but never really seemed interested in that role either.

The thing with KK for me, is that even after 5 seasons with Carolina, I’m not sure what he’s trying to be when he plays. He seems convinced that he’s a setup center, but his passing, decision making and instincts have never been sharp enough for that. He’s got a decent shot, but rarely uses it. He can play with a physical edge, but rarely does so. He’s got good checking ability, but rarely engages aggressively in the D zone. I’m just never sure what’s coming, game to game and obviously neither is the staff. At least with Janko, you get the same level of grunt every night.
 
KK strikes me as nothing more than an over hyped Euro forward that will end up toiling in a Finnish league somewhere and counting his millions and telling everyone he never got a real opportunity to shine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top