Ducharme: «I am both disappointed and surprised of the departure of Kotkaniemi»
Jesperi Kotkaniemi's departure for the Carolina Hurricanes disappointed and startled Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme, but he can only prepare his club for training camp and the upcoming season.
«We're disappointed and surprised by the amount, but it's their choice to have made that offer," Ducharme told RDS in an interview on the sidelines of the André Chalut Open at the St-Jean-de-Matha golf club. [General manager] Marc [Bergevin] made decisions and reacted to the situation [in the best way] possible [under the circumstances].»
"We're happy to have Dvorak. He's not [coming to Montreal] to replace anyone. We want him to come here and be himself. He's a player who can play both ways of the ice, who can score goals and is good on faceoffs. He's a pretty complete player [who will be] a good addition to the centre for us."
Each individual is different," explained Ducharme. We always want to bring players to perform at their full potential and it's certain that with a young player, it takes time to get to that potential. But I can say that each player has a plan that we work with to get them to that point, depending on their age.
"Things happened quickly and we can only wish him the best of luck in the future]. We were in the final and decisions had to be made, as we do every day. [Kotkaniemi] got an offer with a lot of money and he decided to take it and that's part of hockey."
Credit: RDS
