Prospect Info: 2022 8OA, Marco Kasper

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1830229775727943749

https://x.com/i/web/status/1830248463147119056

He was Austria’s best player. Austria failed to qualify though.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Some of Kasper vs Slovakia. He was really good that game.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1829301214493712839

 

[ShanahanMan]

I’m pretty blown away that most people in this thread seem to be okay with accepting Kasper as being a middle of the lineup, semi impact player…..you know, the dime a dozen player that can be easily had during free agency.

Except he was 8OA.

 

[Pavels Dog]

I’m pretty blown away that most people in this thread seem to be okay with accepting Kasper as being a middle of the lineup, semi impact player…..you know, the dime a dozen player that can be easily had during free agency.

Except he was 8OA.

I'm pretty blown away that ShanahanMan, the poster who is negative about everything, is negative about Kasper.

 

[norrisnick]

I’m pretty blown away that most people in this thread seem to be okay with accepting Kasper as being a middle of the lineup, semi impact player…..you know, the dime a dozen player that can be easily had during free agency.

Except he was 8OA.

I'm pretty blown away that you have no idea what kind of player typically gets picked at 8OA. There have been two top of the lineup players picked from 2000 to Kasper's draft. Kasper won't be in the bottom half of this list.

8 Tampa Bay Lightning Nikita Alexeev RU RW
8 Columbus Blue Jackets Pascal Leclaire CA G
8 Minnesota Wild Pierre-Marc Bouchard CA C
8 Atlanta Thrashers Braydon Coburn CA D
8 Columbus Blue Jackets Alexandre Picard CA LW
8 San Jose Sharks Devin Setoguchi CA RW
8 Phoenix Coyotes Peter Mueller US C
8 Boston Bruins Zach Hamill CA C
8 Phoenix Coyotes Mikkel Boedker DK RW
8 Dallas Stars Scott Glennie CA RW
8 Atlanta Thrashers Alexander Burmistrov RU C
8 Philadelphia Flyers Sean Couturier US C
8 Pittsburgh Penguins Derrick Pouliot CA D
8 Buffalo Sabres Rasmus Ristolainen FI D
8 Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander CA C/RW
8 Columbus Blue Jackets Zach Werenski US D
8 Buffalo Sabres Alexander Nylander CA LW
8 Buffalo Sabres Casey Mittelstadt US C
8 Chicago Blackhawks Adam Boqvist SE D
8 Edmonton Oilers Philip Broberg SE D
8 Buffalo Sabres Jack Quinn CA RW
8 Los Angeles Kings Brandt Clarke CA D
8 Detroit Red Wings Marco Kasper AT C

 

[Ulysses31]

i hope kasper is our next rasmussen

 

[Henkka]

I'm pretty blown away that you have no idea what kind of player typically gets picked at 8OA. There have been two top of the lineup players picked from 2000 to Kasper's draft. Kasper won't be in the bottom half of this list.

8 Detroit Red Wings Marco Kasper AT C

And also, draft classes are not the same.

If Kasper was at 2023 draft class, he would have been selected after both Danielson and Pellikka, somewhere at ~25-30 range.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Also worth noting is that people generally have no idea what a player's ceiling actually is.

Roope Hintz scored 35 points in 70 AHL games as a 21 year old. Kasper did essentially the same as a 19 year old.
These are some comments on Hintz:

He projects as a lower line NHLer...so I'm not expecting the moon out of him when it comes to offensive production.

I don´t see Hintz in the NHL but of course I hope that I am wrong. At times he seems not dynamic enough in Liiga so hard to see how he could have an impact in the NHL.

I don't see Hintz as a gamebreaker. If he can be a winger version of Faksa, I will be happy. That's what I envision with him. Good all-around player, heavy game, and he's got good wheels. Middle-6 winger.

"Future of entire organization is bright thanks to .5 ppg AHL season from 21 year old"

Another 3rd line player.. which is fine we need them but christ let's not beat around the bush here that we have any half decent (Top6F/Top4D) prospects outside of Heiskanen/Robertson.

It's almost copy/paste what many are saying about Kasper, a guy that's drafted with a higher pedigree and who is generally trending better at a younger age.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Also worth noting is that people generally have no idea what a player's ceiling actually is.

Roope Hintz scored 35 points in 70 AHL games as a 21 year old. Kasper did essentially the same as a 19 year old.
These are some comments on Hintz:






It's almost copy/paste what many are saying about Kasper, a guy that's drafted with a higher pedigree and who is generally trending better at a younger age.

When I lived in Austin I saw a Texas Stars game live. Dickinson looked better than Hintz, for what it’s worth.

Kasper just had 4 goals in 5 games for team Austria and was their best player in 4 of those games. Mostly while playing 2nd/3rd line minutes with guys from iceHL. He was a top 3 player for GR in the postseason and second half of their season. The kid will be fine.

 

[Gniwder]

Also worth noting is that people generally have no idea what a player's ceiling actually is.

Roope Hintz scored 35 points in 70 AHL games as a 21 year old. Kasper did essentially the same as a 19 year old.
These are some comments on Hintz:






It's almost copy/paste what many are saying about Kasper, a guy that's drafted with a higher pedigree and who is generally trending better at a younger age.

For every Roope, there are literally hundreds of other prospects with similar stats at 21 YO that never sniff the NHL. 1/2 point per game season in the AHL doesn't mean crap. The only thing that you proved is that it's also not career ending.

In Marco's case, it means he's starting the season in GR. I assume he will be there until at least Xmas, if not the full season considering what happened with Burger last season.

 

[ricky0034]

I'm pretty blown away that you have no idea what kind of player typically gets picked at 8OA. There have been two top of the lineup players picked from 2000 to Kasper's draft. Kasper won't be in the bottom half of this list.

8 Tampa Bay Lightning Nikita Alexeev RU RW
8 Columbus Blue Jackets Pascal Leclaire CA G
8 Minnesota Wild Pierre-Marc Bouchard CA C
8 Atlanta Thrashers Braydon Coburn CA D
8 Columbus Blue Jackets Alexandre Picard CA LW
8 San Jose Sharks Devin Setoguchi CA RW
8 Phoenix Coyotes Peter Mueller US C
8 Boston Bruins Zach Hamill CA C
8 Phoenix Coyotes Mikkel Boedker DK RW
8 Dallas Stars Scott Glennie CA RW
8 Atlanta Thrashers Alexander Burmistrov RU C
8 Philadelphia Flyers Sean Couturier US C
8 Pittsburgh Penguins Derrick Pouliot CA D
8 Buffalo Sabres Rasmus Ristolainen FI D
8 Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander CA C/RW
8 Columbus Blue Jackets Zach Werenski US D
8 Buffalo Sabres Alexander Nylander CA LW
8 Buffalo Sabres Casey Mittelstadt US C
8 Chicago Blackhawks Adam Boqvist SE D
8 Edmonton Oilers Philip Broberg SE D
8 Buffalo Sabres Jack Quinn CA RW
8 Los Angeles Kings Brandt Clarke CA D
8 Detroit Red Wings Marco Kasper AT C

not that it changes anything and he's had an injury plagued career but Couturier should be bolded

at one point he had 3 consecutive years where he finished 14th,19th,24th in Center scoring and 2nd,6th,1st in Selke voting

 

[Dotter]

I’m pretty blown away that most people in this thread seem to be okay with accepting Kasper as being a middle of the lineup, semi impact player…..you know, the dime a dozen player that can be easily had during free agency.

Except he was 8OA.

Predicting every kid to be a "disappointment" doesn't make you look smarter, even if you are statistically more often right than wrong. It just means you are bad at judging talent and lazy.

 

[OldnotDeadWings]

Kasper's going to have a long NHL career barring injury. People look at his total points and dismiss him. At ES he was not only decent offensively, but arguably GR's best two-way forward for the latter two-thirds of the season and playoffs. At ES he had a more productive season than, among others, Forsberg, Kempe, Kesler in their AHL rookie seasons, almost identical to JT Miller. He brings so much more than just offense and it's those other things that contributed to where he was drafted. He's fast, physical, responsible and fearless. He has a decent level of skill and more than enough confidence and work ethic to not only get the most out of that skill, but to also keep improving. He'll have a long runway before we really see what he's capable of offensively, but it's very easy to project him as a Cirellli with muscles and a bad-ass attitude. You'd be crazy to not think that outcome would be helpful for any team trying to become a contender..

 

[Gniwder]

Predicting every kid to be a "disappointment" doesn't make you look smarter, even if you are statistically more often right than wrong. It just means you are bad at judging talent and lazy.

Anything past the first round is more likely to bust than make the NHL, but statistics aren't in his favor with a top 10 pick.

In any case, you missed his point. People here are projecting Kasper to be 3C, and somehow they're excited about it to the point where a considerable number of fans want him promoted early after a half point per game season in the AHL. It's really weird.

What's even weirder is that I argued with the majority of the people here that Copp isn't a 2C, but we haven't heard anyone say Kasper is gonna be a 2C. How could you possibly be excited about a player that you don't project to be better than Copp? I mean, I really hope he becomes better than Copp.

 

[jfrank21]

For every Roope, there are literally hundreds of other prospects with similar stats at 21 YO that never sniff the NHL. 1/2 point per game season in the AHL doesn't mean crap. The only thing that you proved is that it's also not career ending.

In Marco's case, it means he's starting the season in GR. I assume he will be there until at least Xmas, if not the full season considering what happened with Burger last season.

Except he played at .5 ppg in AHL at 19 years old, not 21. He turned 20 in April....so he has 2 more seasons before he's 21 playing in the A.

 

[ricky0034]

Anything past the first round is more likely to bust than make the NHL, but statistics aren't in his favor with a top 10 pick.

In any case, you missed his point. People here are projecting Kasper to be 3C, and somehow they're excited about it to the point where a considerable number of fans want him promoted early after a half point per game season in the AHL. It's really weird.

What's even weirder is that I argued with the majority of the people here that Copp isn't a 2C, but we haven't heard anyone say Kasper is gonna be a 2C. How could you possibly be excited about a player that you don't project to be better than Copp? I mean, I really hope he becomes better than Copp.

I feel like it's more that people are projecting him to be worse than Danielson than it is that they're projecting him to be worse than Copp

personally I think people have gotten ahead of themselves a bit on that and it's far from settled but if that were to be the case and assuming he stayed at Center then that would kinda make Kasper the 3C by default with Larkin around too

 

[Pavels Dog]

For every Roope, there are literally hundreds of other prospects with similar stats at 21 YO that never sniff the NHL. 1/2 point per game season in the AHL doesn't mean crap. The only thing that you proved is that it's also not career ending.

The point is that people don't know. So yeah, people (such as you) throwing around "half a point per game AHL season" in a derogatory manner also don't know. Arguably one of Kasper's strongest comparables in terms of development path, size, position and statistical profile is Adrian Kempe. Mika Zibanejad and Elias Lindholm also come to mind. Of course people can be excited about a guy despite the point totals not being massive at this stage of his development. The only people who aren't excited tend to be those who compare Kasper to the statistical profile of small scoring wingers or Connor Bedard types.

 

[19 for president]

I think when people are projecting Kasper as a 3C they are projecting him to be a better version of Copp. If Copp played a physical/ agitating game the complaints against him would be far less. The issue with Copp that outside of the PK the only time you usually notice him is at the faceoff dot or when he is losing the puck offensively. I do think Kasper projects as a 45-60 point guy at the center position while being a physical/two way guy. That's a major asset in the playoffs. I also think people are hoping we have at least another Larkin like player in that 2C role knocking Kasper down to 3C, but that is a luxury and not really a knock on Kasper.

People also tend to overrate what being a 2nd line center is offensively. The 45-60th centers in the league all scored less than 50 points. Statistically speaking any center scoring over 40 points a year is in strong consideration as a 2nd line center. Wings fans in particular tend to overrate what a 2nd line center should score because for years we had either Yzerman/Feds or Datsyuk/Zetterberg in that role. Only 42 centers scored over 60 points last year.

 

[Henkka]

Always like to remind about this...

Comparing to Florida, last 2 season production:

1. Barkov 1.12 points per game
1. Larkin 1.00 points per game

2. Bennett 0.61 points per game
2. Compher 0.63 points per game

3. Lundell 0.45 points per game
3. Copp 0.47 points per game

4. Stenlund 0.19 points per game
4. Veleno 0.30 points per game

If Kasper becomes the "next Copp", that's becoming the next Lundell. I could even see the Bennett potential in him. Physical and tenacious pain-in-the ass Center everyone hates to play against.

 

[JohanFranzenstein]

If Kasper becomes the "next Copp", that's becoming the next Lundell. I could even see the Bennett potential in him. Physical and tenacious pain-in-the ass Center everyone hates to play against.

I thought this is what we were expecting? A 45-50 point "grind-em-out" center. Where did the notion we were getting a 70-80 point guy come from?

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

I'm pretty blown away that you have no idea what kind of player typically gets picked at 8OA. There have been two top of the lineup players picked from 2000 to Kasper's draft. Kasper won't be in the bottom half of this list.

8 Tampa Bay Lightning Nikita Alexeev RU RW
8 Columbus Blue Jackets Pascal Leclaire CA G
8 Minnesota Wild Pierre-Marc Bouchard CA C
8 Atlanta Thrashers Braydon Coburn CA D
8 Columbus Blue Jackets Alexandre Picard CA LW
8 San Jose Sharks Devin Setoguchi CA RW
8 Phoenix Coyotes Peter Mueller US C
8 Boston Bruins Zach Hamill CA C
8 Phoenix Coyotes Mikkel Boedker DK RW
8 Dallas Stars Scott Glennie CA RW
8 Atlanta Thrashers Alexander Burmistrov RU C
8 Philadelphia Flyers Sean Couturier US C
8 Pittsburgh Penguins Derrick Pouliot CA D
8 Buffalo Sabres Rasmus Ristolainen FI D
8 Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander CA C/RW
8 Columbus Blue Jackets Zach Werenski US D
8 Buffalo Sabres Alexander Nylander CA LW
8 Buffalo Sabres Casey Mittelstadt US C
8 Chicago Blackhawks Adam Boqvist SE D
8 Edmonton Oilers Philip Broberg SE D
8 Buffalo Sabres Jack Quinn CA RW
8 Los Angeles Kings Brandt Clarke CA D
8 Detroit Red Wings Marco Kasper AT C

Devin Setoguchi was an all time great.

... At diving. But an all time great nonetheless.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Always like to remind about this...

Comparing to Florida, last 2 season production:

1. Barkov 1.12 points per game
1. Larkin 1.00 points per game

2. Bennett 0.61 points per game
2. Compher 0.63 points per game

3. Lundell 0.45 points per game
3. Copp 0.47 points per game

4. Stenlund 0.19 points per game
4. Veleno 0.30 points per game

If Kasper becomes the "next Copp", that's becoming the next Lundell. I could even see the Bennett potential in him. Physical and tenacious pain-in-the ass Center everyone hates to play against.

Now do wingers, goalies and defense in Florida.

 

[Henkka]

Now do wingers, goalies and defense in Florida.

Don't have to. Because people are whining only how our Centers aren't good enough.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Don't have to. Because people are whining only how our Centers aren't good enough.

And they might not be. I asked you about the rest of the panthers because they’re a superior team. Their wingers are better than Detroit’s. Their defense is better than Detroit’s. Their goaltending is light years better than Detroit’s. It’s more than just center ppg being similar. There’s a reason they won the cup and Detroit was out of the postseason.

 

[newfy]

The point is that people don't know. So yeah, people (such as you) throwing around "half a point per game AHL season" in a derogatory manner also don't know. Arguably one of Kasper's strongest comparables in terms of development path, size, position and statistical profile is Adrian Kempe. Mika Zibanejad and Elias Lindholm also come to mind. Of course people can be excited about a guy despite the point totals not being massive at this stage of his development. The only people who aren't excited tend to be those who compare Kasper to the statistical profile of small scoring wingers or Connor Bedard types.

I think a lot of people also dont realize how low scoring the AHL actually is. The teams where younger players score like crazy often have serious flaws with their defensive games.

This season, in the top 20 AHL scorers a whopping total of 5 were over a point per game just for some context on the scoring. Kasper, as a 19 year old with no training in the offseason, was 4th in scoring on a really good AHL team. Outside of the scoring he played one of the biggest roles on the team, playing all situations, killing penalties, defending empty nets and being an absolute pest. I watched them live at the Van once this year, at forward, Kasper looked by far the most like an NHL player. Edvinsson was the only guy that looked similar as an "NHL" guy.

Theres questions about his offence, but anyone saying hes only a third liner right now are wrong. This is going to be a big year to see what hes got offensively. If he can become a 60 point guy in the NHL, with everything else he does... a lot of fan bases are going to be very jealous