It seems as though the saying "karma's a b*tch" became a reality for the Montreal Canadiens over the past week when the Carolina Hurricanes tendered an offer sheet to Montreal Canadiens centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi and won the battle.
The Hurricanes' move comes as a form of revenge for when the Canadiens' general manager Marc Bergevin tendered an offer sheet to Carolina's star centre, Sebastian Aho, back in July 2019.
Bergevin seemed to have underestimated Tom Dundon and Don Waddell, the Carolina team managers, back in the day, as they chose to match Aho's offer sheet.
Unfortunately, the same didn't happen with the Hurricanes' recent offer sheet for Kotkaniemi. On August 28, 2021, the Hurricanes pulled out a $6,100,015 offer sheet for the Canadiens star player, with a $20 signing bonus, which led to the Carolina team winning one of the Habs' star players.
In an Instagram post, the Montreal Canadiens wrote "The Canadiens will not match the Hurricanes' offer sheet to Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Montreal will receive Carolina's 1st- and 3rd-round 2022 Draft picks as compensation."
The player shared an emotional post following the announcement, stating "It is truly hard to say goodbye to Montreal. I have experienced the best years of my life thus far in one of the world's greatest hockey cities and will always cherish the past three years." But, he went on to say that he's excited for his new journey.
You'll be greatly missed, Kotkaniemi.
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