Don Waddell on the controversial Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet/contract.

Back in August of 2021 it looked very much like the Carolina Hurricanes had pulled one over on the Montreal Canadiens in one of the cleanest looking acts of revenge we've seen on the business side of the National Hockey League.

The Hurricanes extended an offer sheet to former Canadiens first round pick (3rd overall) Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the form of a 1 year deal worth $6.1 million, a move many are convinced to this day was an act motivated purely out of revenge for an offer sheet the Canadiens had made in the past to Hurricanes star forward Sebastien Aho. The Hurricanes would get their man and seemingly the last laugh in the process, but that narrative has changed considerably since the offer sheet was signed.

Following the signing of that offer sheet, Kotkaniemi would go on to sign a massive 8 year contract valued at $38.56 million, which works out to an average annual value and salary cap hit of $4.82 million per season for the Carolina Hurricanes. Kotkaniemi however has largely failed to deliver on the promise that saw him become such a highly touted prospect prior to coming to the NHL, and has just 2 goals and 3 assists for a total of 5 points in 25 games for the Hurricanes this season.

As you might expect that has created a lot of talk around Kotkaniemi's deal, which has 7 more years on it beyond this season, talk that the man who signed him to that deal is now tackling head on. Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell was asked about the offer sheet and the contract, and more specifically about the motivations behind the two, and he denied that revenge was a motivating factor.

"Yeah, it was not revenge whatsoever," said Waddell as per The Athletic. "It was a decision we had made. Back when this player was drafted, we had a lot of history with him because, obviously, we took Andrei (Svechnikov) right in front of him."

The Hurricanes general manager did however acknowledge that Kotkaniemi was not delivering on the promise they had seen in him when they signed him.

"He’s not putting up numbers that anybody thought he might do," admitted Waddell. "Rod (Brind’Amour) and I talk all the time about it. He does a lot of little things that we like, but we’ve got to get some offense from him if he’s going to play on one of those top two lines."

The reality is that if Kotkaniemi can't turn things around the Hurricanes may be left questioning their decisions on this particular matter for many years to come, and the Habs may end up being the ones with the last laugh in this tale of revenge.