Admitting that the offer sheet might not have come if the Montreal Canadiens hadn’t first tendered an offer to Sebastian Aho a while back, Tom Dundon, the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes has noted that revenge wasn’t the reason his team went after, and ultimately signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
Dundon spoke recently about the process that involved the Hurricanes landing Kotkaniemi from the Canadiens and said:
“The idea we would do it for revenge, or to get even, is silly. We just want to win and we would only do something we thought would help us win more games. And the conclusion of our scouts and internally was this was a player with a big future and maybe his brand was down a little bit because of the way the season ended, but our folks had a lot of conviction in his future.”
Dundon noted this was a player the Hurricanes like. He also hated the idea that the team had cap space they weren’t using. He explained: “The idea of us leaving cap space unused is pretty frustrating. In essence, it’s an asset and you don’t want it to go wasted. And so we had some and then you look at your opportunities to use it. That ended up being the one we decided to go with.”
Whether this pans out for the Hurricanes long-term is a matter of seeing how Kotkaniemi performs. Many believe there’s no way he lives up to the $6.1 million salary he’s being paid this coming season. The Hurricanes may know that too, but that may not be what matters most.
If Kotkaniemi comes in a takes a big step forward in a new environment and proves he’s capable of much more than he got to show in Montreal, he could be a sound investment for the Hurricanes moving forward, likely at a lower cap hit per season.
Why The Social Media Troll Job?
“…our philosophy organizationally on the business side is have as much fun, get as much attention as you can.” Dundon noted that, perhaps, the team could have been a bit more sensitive to how the Canadiens might have felt being teased about the offer sheet, but he’s in the business of providing entertainment for his fan base. When the organization put out the social media posts, it wasn’t necessarily because he wanted to take a shot at the Canadiens, but to play off the fact that the obvious connection would be made and the parallels too obvious not to have some fun with.
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