The Montreal Canadiens made the decision to send Jesperi Kotkaniemi down to the Laval Rocket just over a week ago. To that point in his career, Kotkaniemi had played 115 games with the Montreal Canadiens but avoided the American Hockey League altogether.
The Finnish centre was drafted third overall by the Habs in 2018. He was supposed to be a long-term prospect since he was playing in Finland at that time, was very lean and did not turn 18 until a few weeks after the draft. Everything pointed to him needing a year or two of development before making his mark at the NHL level.