It was somewhere in that push towards the playoffs that the grind of the season started to catch up with Kotkaniemi, according to head coach Claude Julien. Which is why the veteran bench boss decided to make his rookie pivot a healthy scratch for the first two games of the team's three-game California adventure in March.
"He has played a lot of hockey since the start of the season, between preseason games and Rookie Camp. Over the last few weeks, we find that he slowed down a bit. We're going to give him a chance to recover," the Habs' skipper explained of his decision at the time. "It's something that's entirely normal for a youngster who is just 18 years old. He has played more hockey than almost all of the guys on the ice since the start of the season. It isn't a decision that's based on something negative. We made it to help him finish the season strong.
"It's to get some positive performance from him moving forward and giving him a little rest and an opportunity to step back."
Despite the perceived dip in Kotkaniemi's play, any doubt over the organization's stance on the smiley rookie - not that there would've been much - was quickly put to bed by general manager Marc Bergevin at the end of the season.
"Overall, it's very positive," praised the GM at his end-of-season press conference. "We all saw that the second half was tougher for him. There was physical fatigue and mental fatigue. He's 18 years old. But, on the whole we're very satisfied and we expect even more from him in the years to come."