{"id":401720,"date":"2026-01-11T13:24:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T13:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/401720\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T13:24:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T13:24:49","slug":"carolina-hurricanes-shopping-jesperi-kotkaniemi-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/401720\/","title":{"rendered":"Carolina Hurricanes Shopping Jesperi Kotkaniemi \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Carolina Hurricanes are reportedly considering trade offers for center Jesperi Kotkaniemi<\/a>, Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman reported this morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Friedman, the Hurricanes \u201crecognize [Kotkaniemi] needs a fresh start\u201d and are considering trade offers for the 25-year-old pivot at this time. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He also added that he believes \u201cthere is legit interest\u201d in Kotkaniemi, and that the Hurricanes already included Kotkaniemi in their trade talks for Quinn Hughes<\/a> and Phillip Danault<\/a>, who were ultimately dealt to the Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens, respectively.<\/p>\n

Kotkaniemi, the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, has had an up-and-down pro career and his time in Carolina has been no different. At times, the 6\u20193\u2033 center has flashed the kind of coveted attributes that made him a top prospect in the first place, but finding consistency has been a massive issue.<\/p>\n

Kotkaniemi had a strong 34-point season as an 18-year-old rookie in Montreal, but his inability to build on that campaign and live up to the pressure of being such a high draft choice ultimately led to his exit from the Canadiens. He left Montreal via an offer sheet from Carolina.<\/p>\n

The offer sheet, seen by many as retribution for the Canadiens\u2019 own offer sheet of Hurricanes star Sebastian Aho<\/a> (a characterization the Hurricanes strongly denied<\/a>, to be clear), was followed up by an eight-year, $4.82MM contract extension. Kotkaniemi has four years remaining after this one on that deal.<\/p>\n

There were times in his tenure in Carolina that Kotkaniemi looked to be becoming the quality middle-six two-way pivot he was long projected to be. He scored 18 goals and 43 points in 2022-23, and added seven points in 15 playoff games. But ultimately, that season stands as a career-high, and Kotkaniemi proved unable to seize on the repeated opportunities he was provided to become Carolina\u2019s trusted No. 2 center behind Aho.<\/p>\n

After scoring 33 points last season, Kotkaniemi is on pace for a career-low level of offensive production. His six points in 25 games this season give him a 20-point 82-game scoring pace, though it\u2019s worth noting he has missed some time with injuries. Kotkaniemi is averaging 11:08 time on ice per game this season without any regular special teams usage.<\/p>\n

Given his inconsistency and inability to seize his opportunity in Carolina, it\u2019s fair to question whether the Hurricanes will be able to receive a significant return in a Kotkaniemi trade. On one hand, he doesn\u2019t appear to be a player worth a huge amount, especially with four additional years left on his deal at a $4.82MM AAV.<\/p>\n

But on the other hand, there are reasons to believe Kotkaniemi, for all of his flaws, remains a coveted asset. For one, the supply of available centers on the market is extremely low, something Philadelphia Flyers GM Danny Briere confirmed after signing center Christian Dvorak<\/a> to a recent extension. As a result, a team in need of a center might not have many superior options available than Kotkaniemi.<\/p>\n

Additionally, to some, Kotkaniemi\u2019s contract might be seen as a negative, or even a deal breaker. To others, they might see it as an opportunity. If Kotkaniemi could simply get back to his level of play from 2022-23, for example, he would be providing surplus value on that cap hit with team control until the end of the decade. If a team truly believes its staff can get the most out of Kotkaniemi, the chance to have him under control at that rate would be a positive, not a negative.<\/p>\n

At this point, we can only speculate as to what that all means for the Hurricanes\u2019 current efforts to trade Kotkaniemi. One thing is clear, though: the 2018 No. 3 pick is looking increasingly likely to continue his career, at some point in the near future, with another franchise.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carolina Hurricanes are reportedly considering trade offers for center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman reported this morning.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5107],"tags":[194,29,5176,5,195,1743,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-401720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-hurricanes","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","10":"tag-carolinahurricanes","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-hurricanes","13":"tag-jesperi-kotkaniemi","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115876693703286404","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}