Things haven't really gone the way anybody in the Carolina Hurricanes' organization expected when it comes to Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

The team acquired him from the Montreal Canadiens with an offer sheet back in 2021 and then signed him to an eight-year extension the following summer.

But after five years with the organization, the Finnish centerman has fallen out of favor and is currently up in the press box as a healthy scratch.

According to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman, the team has now been fielding offers on the 25-year-old center, looking for "either something that can help them now or something they can use to help them now."

Kotkaniemi's name has been out there for a while, tied to trade talks for Mikko Rantanen, Elias Pettersson, Phil Danault, Quinn Hughes and more.

Friedman also reported that there is legit interest out there for the Finnish forward.

Kotkaniemi has four years remaining on his contract, which carries a $4.82 million AAV. 

It's been a bit of a roller coaster for KK in Carolina, from stints at 2C, to playing as the 4C to frequent scratches, and that inconsistency certainly hasn't helped him at all either.

In 330 regular season games with the Hurricanes, Kotkaniemi has 56 goals and 138 points, while winning 51.2% of his draws and laying 341 hits.

While those numbers have been solid — double-digit goals every year in Carolina and 30+ points twice — they take a steep nose dive come playoff time with just three goals and 14 points in 54 games with just a 47.9% faceoff win percentage and 75 total hits.

In my opinion, it just feels that Kotkaniemi is overall not a stylistic fit for the Hurricanes.

He seems to be a player that wants to create east-to-west on a team that wants to go north-south.

If you look under the hood, he has some really intriguing numbers when it comes to chance creation, ranking very high in terms of chance assists, primary shot assists and in-zone shot assists, but there's not a lot of high-danger creation.

He's also struggled creating off of the rush and his shot, while heavy, has never really been a consistent threat either.

Kotkaniemi also takes a bit too long to process the game when the puck on his stick.

Whether he's attempting a cross-ice pass or taking a shot from the slot, it feels like he always takes a second too long, which more often than not, closes the opening that was available resulting in either blocked shots or turnovers.

And he's not the fastest skater either, so it's hard for him to recover off of those turnovers and he's seen his penalty differential rise because of that.

But I also think Kotkaniemi has all the tools to be a good player in this league.

I don't know if he'll ever live up to his third overall pick pedigree, but he has size and has shown that he can play with good players as his 2022-23 season proved.

I think he has a strong defensive game too and is a smart player overall who can read the ice very well.

To me, he's a talented 3C on a team with an already established 3C. But there's value out there for a player like him, especially at just 25 years of age.

To me, more than anything, what is seeing him up in the press box is his inability to commit to the team's style and consistently do what the coaching staff wants him to do.

He's a big body who can bring a ton of physicality, and the team wants him to use that size to go to the net, fight for rebounds and play a simple game.

While he's done that at times and been really effective when doing it, he's rarely brought that for multiple games in a row. 

Flashes here or there, but he gets away from it too often, which is probably why he's frustrated the coaching staff and wound up where he is.

It's understandable to see that he's lost confidence in himself too, he's always been a bit of a self-deprecator to the media, but perhaps a fresh start can help rejuvenate him and allow him to once again find his game and be the player many believe he can still be.

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