This season was supposed to be a redemption year for Jesperi Kotkaniemi with the Hurricanes. After having an extremely rough season last year in his first year in Carolina, nothing seems to be going right for the Finn again this season. Last year, he was a victim of the roster's depth, being relegated to the fourth line most of the time after unsuccessful attempts on the team's top-6. The team's head coach, Rod Brind'Amour, had made the decision to use the third overall pick in 2018 to pilot the team's second trio this year, following the departure left by Vincent Trocheck. Despite having worthy offensive wingers in Andrei Svechnikov and Martin Necas for the first time, he only accumulated three points, including one goal in 13 games. Meanwhile, Necas has 17 points in 13 games and Svechnikov has 14 points in 13 games. Yet, Kotkaniemi's play has been wildly inefficient, even though he's getting a very decent average of over 16 minutes per game, as well as a spot on the power play. However, it seems that Brind'Amour was fed up with his center's mediocre performance, so he decided to put him on the fourth line for yesterday's game against the Florida Panthers. Nothing seems to be working for the 22 year old forward, who has only scored five points in his last 26 games, despite the fact that his coach has used him with some solid linemates. This is even less ideal since Kotkaniemi is owed $4.82-million annually for the next eight years. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/WaltRuff/status/1590515387556589569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1590515387556589569%7Ctwgr%5E95037e4a79e73e0022a35086ab934752641f9a0a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.habsetlnh.com%2FGrosse-decision-en-Caroline-revirement-de-situation-pour-Jesperi-Kotkaniemi-et-ca-fait-enormement-reagir-les-fans-174511%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1JZyMM6HMy23peD4s1Y2yvXQ9g26r0bU8BE536gsZJ6FooHNmtHIaKyzw'> </a></blockquote></div> Credit : <a href='https://www.habsetlnh.com/equipe-lnh/canadiens-de-montreal/Grosse-decision-en-Caroline-revirement-de-situation-pour-Jesperi-Kotkaniemi-et-ca-fait-enormement-reagir-les-fans' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>William Nadeau, Habs & LNH</a>