I think it’s a ridiculous idea. Why ever would we do that? Last thing we need is immediate cap space and penalties for years to come. It feels like this is based on some instinctive expectation that the offer sheet situation must backfire on us in a big way.
Besides, he’s fine and his contract is fine. Not great but far from terrible. I’m sure we could get someone to buy him if we somehow landed a better center than him and needed to free up roster space.
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Most of the comments in that video say the same thing. I was surprised he said that, I was under the impression he had watched a fair amount of Canes games to have seen his improvement this year. And funny enough, his Canucks have expressed interest in KK a few times.
For real just trade him if that’s the case
KK is just fine at his current salary (which goes down as a percentage of cap over the next few years).
The more the cap increases the less and less his cap hit matters. KK might not be producing at the numbers we hoped he would, but it’s pretty obvious he’s a glue guy. Sure we’d all love him to be a top line caliber center, but it’s not as if his play or contract is an albatross.
I think that would be a last resort move, way worse players and contracts have found a way to get moved. Mostly for Kotkaniemi it’s been about fit with the team. He has struggled to be consistent in the 2C role, it’s looking good now but it also has in the past and then fallen off so he gets pushed down to 4C. The team can’t do that now though because Jankowski has been the optimal 4C, even if he wasn’t putting up goals. We already know this team doesn’t move off veterans without being dragged kicking and screaming so the 3C spot will never be available while Staal is around. If the team truly does go 2C hunting, with the free agency centers not looking super fantastic I think the best case scenario is that the team trades for one and finds a way to include Kotkaniemi in the deal.
Id hate for KK to get traded, I think hes getting better and Im just a fan of his. I guess we wont really know unless Rod or Tulsky comes out and said something
Why does Rod hate KK so much
KK is outscoring Aho and Jarvis in 5v5 hockey. Just for the record.
I think the effort is there. He’s becoming a very Stahlesque player… not going to tear up the score sheet but responsible defensively, uses his size effectively and plays a solid supporting role. Brindamour is (I think) starting to trust him more and if anyone would value those intangibles it’s Rod.
KK is not a salary cap problem. His timing might be off depending on how long Staal stays around, but he would be a great replacement for Staal as the third-line, shutdown forward line.
The buyout or trade seed got planted and people have outdated vibes.
He’s playing fine and the contract isn’t a problem at all with the cap increasing and cap space canes have.
It really depends on the other moves we make. These are the expiring contracts this offseason:
Hall
Roslovic
Fast
Robinson
Jost
Burns
Orlov
Freddie
Burns and Orlov are gone, Morrow and Nikishin replace them. Fast I’m guessing probably retires or signs elsewhere on a cheap deal, but neck surgery and hockey don’t necessarily agree. I’d like to see Hall and Robinson back for sure, Rosy I’d love to see back but he probably gets paid elsewhere. Jost walks.
Nadeau will be ready come October. Carrier will be back. That pretty much fills the forward spots. If we sign someone like Ehlers to be a 1/2C with Aho, KK probably gets traded. I could see it in a package for an elite goalie somewhere.
why y’all trying to make me sad today
Idk, the Canes have operated on having every last dollar available for flexibility. He’s got 4 years left, I really struggle to see them commit to 8 years of a minimum / rookie contract being eaten up especially in a year where we have so much cap space.
I don’t think he’s playing under the contract to a degree that would warrant it, and I especially think C depth in the organization is very low right now.
I can only see it if we make some trades and no one is willing to buy on him and we absolutely need the space to fit whoever we bring in, but I’d have to imagine the odds of him not going somewhere are pretty low. I could see sending a draft pick to a rebuilding team for retention as a more likely scenario than a buyout.
If we get into the final couple seasons of his deal it may become more realistic, but hopefully he’s easily overplaying his contract by then and it’s moot.
Kooks will kook. That’s nonsense.
No point in buying him out unless we can get someone better in free agency.
We’ve heard that every year since he signed his deal. $4 mil AAV in the new cap is cheap
I feel like a lot of people don’t watch or understand hockey. KK doesn’t have great stat lines and people think that means he sucks. He’s actually a relatively solid aspect of this team, and I think we get worse if we lose him.
Not sure it makes sense to buy him out, but at this point, it’s time to upgrade.
KK is the glue of the team
I don’t think we move him, but I also think we need a 2nd line center.
He honestly seems to have lost the plot with Carolina. He really didn’t get the Mikko deal, he’s ranked the canes fairly low compared to just about any other outlets power rankings and yah picking KK as a buyout candidate when he’s having the best play of his canes career is just really odd.
At the very least KK has played well enough where another team could take him on even without a sweetener.
I don’t understand this…
If you look at guys with a 5-6 mil. /year contract in the NHL that play center…. You’re looking at a fairly short list of folks. Of those, Nazem Kadri is the only one with better numbers and his AAV is actually $7 mil a year and KK’s is like $4.82 mil.
So, if you’re looking at comparables across the league in even a slightly higher contract bracket…you’re not seeing significantly better performance. You almost have to double the AAV to get to Kadri and …btw… he got jobbed on his contract. lol.
He’s in the log jam of guys around 30 points for the Canes and he’s having a better year than he did last year.
I guess my question would be
a) why would there not be trade interest if he’s getting a fair (seemingly) contract rate right now?
b) what would freeing up 4 mil in cap space do for the Canes?
If you’re looking at center free agents this summer that aren’t old you’re looking at a pretty short list of guys that are going to be pretty expensive like Sam Bennett (UFA), Gabe Vilardi (RFA), and like Mason McTavish (RFA)? Two of those guys are likely getting sewn up by their current clubs and Sam Bennett is gonna get paid.
The rest of the young UFAs are either not performing as well as KK or are roughly equivalent. So…what’s the upside?
this guy has shit takes and most of his videos are reading play by play or wikipedia articles. Hockey reddit loves him though, so i expect some downvotes. i wouldn’t put any weight to any opinion he has.
edit: i just watched what he had to say about kk and it was just “no points bad, lots of points good”. like other commenters have said, he clearly doesn’t pay attention to the hurricanes and doesn’t understand he is more important than his point total. also 5m cap hit in 2025 isn’t really that heavy. it definitely won’t be in 2026.
I thought the chance to do that was this last offseason?
That ain’t happening, KK has been playing well.
And when did this YouTube blowhard become an insider? Why is this even a thread? It’s complete speculation
KK is an easy target because of how we acquired him. This stuff is just click bait. The Canes have a huge amount of cap space this off season, it makes no sense to buy him out. Sure they might trade him if they think the return is worth it, but the Canes are absolutely not trying to get rid of him.