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The Carolina Hurricanes shocked the hockey world this past weekend, with their offer sheet to forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi. With the deadline for the Montreal Canadiens to match the offer just a few days away, it could be interesting to take a look at where he’d fit in the lineup, should he actually come to Carolina.
The Hurricanes already have three very capable centers in Sebastian Aho, Jordan Staal and Vincent Trocheck, with Derek Stepan as a likely fourth-line option. This puts the Hurricanes in a predicament, when it comes to playing Kotkaniemi down the middle. It seems unlikely that any of the top three centers would shift to the wing and while Kotkaniemi could displace Stepan, in theory, there’s no way the team would use him on the fourth line.
This means there’s a fairly decent chance that Kotkaniemi could be shifted to the wing, at least to start the year. If this is the case though, there’s still the question as to how high up the lineup the team should use him.
If Carolina keeps their top line of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen together, Kotkaniemi would play on either the second or third line. It would realistically come down to either him or Nino Niederreiter being used on the second line with Vincent Trocheck and Martin Necas, with Niederreiter likely being the favourite there. This could leave Kotkaniemi on the third line with Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast.
However, the Hurricanes had success in spreading out their scoring last season, using their top forwards on three different lines. I think this could be a solid option with Kotkaniemi in the lineup as well, as his game could potentially be elevated by playing with some of Carolina’s top forwards.
That’s just a guess, but you also have to imagine the Hurricanes would look to use Kotkaniemi as a full-time center down the road. He’s still just 21 years old and could find success down the middle.
Something to keep an eye on will be whether or not Vincent Trocheck re-signs with the Hurricanes. Trocheck has just one year remaining on his contract and the Hurricanes aren’t exactly known for retaining their top unrestricted free agents. Should Trocheck walk away next offseason, perhaps the Hurricanes then look to Kotkaniemi as a full-time center.
Obviously, this is all just hypothetical right now, as we don’t even know if Kotkaniemi will be joining the Hurricanes. If he does though, it’ll make for some interesting lineup decisions for head coach Rod Brind’Amour.
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QuizMaker 
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