Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Bio, Net Worth, Age, Girlfriend, Contract, Salary

Jesperi Kotkaniemi is a versatile Finnish professional ice hockey center. He is currently playing for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is a third overall pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft who helped his home country of Finland win Gold at the IIHF U18 World Championship. He made his debut in Liiga with Assat in 2017 and scored in his first professional game. He became the first player born in the 2000s to play in one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada in October 2018, when he appeared on the Canadiens opening night roster. He is also active in social media as he has gained more than 136k followers on his Instagram account and over 21.2K followers on his Twitter account. Additionally, Jesperi and the Hurricanes agreed to an 8 year, 38.5 million dollar extension.

Famous For

• Being a Finnish professional ice hockey center.
• For playing for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). 

What Nationality is Jesperi Kotkaniemi?

Jesperi Kotkaniemi was born on 6th July 2000 in Pori, Finland with the nationality of Finnish. He came from Finnish-white ethnic background. Similarly, his religion is Christian and his race is white. Jesperi’s present age is 21 which he celebrated back in 2021 and as per his birthdate, his star sign is Cancer. He is the son of Mikael Kotkaniemi (father) and Kati Kotkaniemi (mother). Mikael, a former professional hockey player, current coach, and native of Helsinki, settled in Pori after meeting Kati, a Pori native, while he was playing for Assat. Kotkaniemi has one brother, Kasperi, who is sixteen months his senior and plays as a goaltender.

What does Jesperi Kotkaniemi do for a living?

Finland

• Jesperi Kotkaniemi kicks off his career playing with hometown club, Porin Assat, as a 14-year old at the under-16 level in 2014 after which he made his Liiga debut with Assat to start the 2017-2018 season, on 9th September 2017 where he scored his first professional goal.
• He posted impressive offensive totals, collecting 10 goals and 29 points in 57 games as a 17-year old rookie.

Montreal Canadiens

• Kotkaniemi was drafted third overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens on 22nd June 2018 and was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract on 2nd July 2018.
• He made his NHL debut against the Toronto Maple Leafs; he earned one assist in the loss on 3rd October 2018 and became the first person born in the year 2000 to play in one of the Big Four professional sports leagues in North America.
• On 1st November 2018, he scored his first NHL goal against the Washington Capitals, and at 18 years, 118 days old, he became the second-youngest goal scorer in Canadiens’ history behind Mario Tremblay, who tallied his first goal at age 18 years, 75 days on 16th November 1974 against the New York Rangers at the Forum.
• Kotkaniemi became the third Canadiens player to score 20 points before the age of 19 on 6th January 2019, during a game against the Nashville Predators.
• Also, he set a new Canadiens record by becoming the first player to score goals in three straight games before the age of 19. He ultimately scored 34 points in 79 games in his rookie season.
• He scored his first goal of the 2019-2020 season in Montreal’s season opener, a 4-3 shootout loss against the Carolina Hurricanes. However, he suffered a concussion in a game against the Colorado Avalanche, resulting in eight games lost. on 5th December 2019. 
• Subsequently, he was reassigned to the Laval Rocket, the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate, on 1st February 2020.
• He was loaned to Assat until the start of the NHL training camp with the 2020-2021 season delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: @instagram.com/jesperikotkaniemi

Carolina Hurricanes

• Kotkaniemi signed a one-year, $6.1 million offer sheet with the Carolina Hurricanes on 28th August 2021 and after seven days, the Canadiens decided not to match the offer sheet, sending Kotkaniemi to Carolina with Montreal receiving their first and third-round picks in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft as compensation. He was the first NHL player to be successfully acquired via offer sheet since Dustin Penner in 2007.
• On 21st March 2022, the Hurricanes and Kotkaniemi agreed to an 8 year, 38.5 million dollar extension.

International play

• Jesperi Kotkaniemi made his junior international debut for Finland at the 2017 World U18 Championships in Slovakia, he amassed 6 points in 7 games to help claim a silver medal.
• He returned for the following 2018 World U18 Championships in Russia and was recognized as a top 3 on team Finland by the IIHF.

Is Jesperi Kotkaniemi Dating Anyone?

Jesperi Kotkaniemi is an unmarried man. There is not much about his personal relation and girlfriend as he always maintains a distance in his private life and media. So we can surely assume that Jesperi is living a single life. He is currently very concentrated on his work because he is very young. Furthermore, talking about his sexual orientation, he is straight.

How much is Jesperi Kotkaniemi Net Worth?

Jesperi Kotkaniemi has a net worth of between $1 million to $5 million as of 2022 whereas he has also a handsome amount of salary which is around $4.82 million per season. His contract with the Hurricanes included a $20 signing bonus, a reference to the number Aho wears with Carolina, and statements issued by Hurricanes management poked fun at the Canadiens by being verbatim of statements issues by Montreal management after offer sheeting Aho. Jesperi has not done endorsement work for any brands yet. In addition, his major source of income is from his ice hockey center career.

Source: @instagram.com/jesperikotkaniemi

What is the Height of Jesperi Kotkaniemi?

Jesperi Kotkaniemi has unarguably accomplished a decent height career-wise. He stands at a tall height of 1.88 m with a balanced bodyweight of 91 kg. Jesperi has dark brown hair and eyes color. His physique combined with his perfect height and masculine look takes him to the top of the desired list in the young gen women. Moreover, his body build type is athletic.