Last night Kotkaniemi had his 12th set of linemates, keeping his average for the season at one set for every 4 games played. Here's a thread of all his linemates so far this season, through game 47. Number in parentheses is number of games played. Please note: games were not...

consecutive; he hasn’t played longer than one 7-game stretch with Toffoli and Perry all season consecutively, and none of the 6-game combos nor the 8 games with Drouin and Anderson were consecutive either:

Toffoli-Kotkaniemi-Armia (6)
Toffoli-Kotkaniemi-Perry (8)
...

...
Tatar-Kotkaniemi-Armia (4)
Lehkonen-Kotkaniemi-Armia (6)
Toffoli-Kotkaniemi-Anderson (2)
Toffoli-Kotkaniemi-Gallagher (3)
Drouin-Kotkaniemi-Anderson (8)
Byron-Kotkaniemi-Lehkonen (4)
Drouin-Kotkaniemi-Toffoli (1)
Tatar-Danault-Kotkaniemi (3) On wing...

...
Drouin-Kotkaniemi-Byron (1)
Anderson-Kotkaniemi-Perry (1)

As you can see from this list, only 4 times this season has KK played with the same linemates for more than 4 games. 8 times this season KK has played with a set of linemates for 4 or fewer total games...

...including 3 times so far where he's only played with a set a single time.

I realize this may be fairly standard for a young player whose ice time indicates primarily 3rd-line usage. But many fans are criticizing KK for not having improved his point totals...

...from his rookie season 2 years ago. I think it's worth pointing out that he hasn't been put in a position to do that. For those who say consistent linemates are something a center has to earn, it's worth noting that there's no apparent correlation between...

...his line's productivity and his getting moved to a different one.

The point of this is not to be critical of KK's situation in terms of linemates; the point is to say that it's not reasonable to expect Kotkaniemi to be improving his point production this season...

...to the extent Suzuki has done, when Suzuki has had, all season, far more line consistency in addition to significantly more ice time and greater responsibilities including deployment on the PK. Their situations are not equal, and it's unjust to both of them to demand...

...exactly the same marks of progress.

In fact, KK's usage this season has been more comparable to that of a "rental" 3C, because that is what the team has needed from him this season. You can't expect a player being used in this way to produce at a top-6 C level consistently...

...or to drive offense. He has made good use of his time in this role by quietly improving many aspects of his game, as regular viewers of the games can attest. His offensive productivity will rise when he's put in a position for that to happen. Changing his linemates...

...on an average of once every four games, while continuing to give him an average 14:54 TOI for the season, is the opposite of putting him in a position for an explosion of offensive productivity.