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C Alexandre Texier - KalPa, Liiga (2017, 45th, CBJ)

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Passchendaele said:
What a strange decision from him.. is he even ready to play at that level?
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I think this decision makes sense.

Relationship between Columbus and KalPa:
- Kekalainen is former player of KalPa and has still close relationships to Kuopio
- Jarmo's brother Janne is kind of "sportmanship director" in KalPa (besides his job as Nashville's scout
- Owner and head coach of KalPa is Sami Kapanen. Jarmo Kekäläinen has played in same line with Sami and was Sami's agent the beginning of his career... very close relationship.

KalPa as a development platform before moving to NA:
- A head coach might have some good advises... Before moving to head coach in this year, Kapanen was focused on individual development of youngsters. Also assistant coach is another former NHLer, Marko Tuomainen.
- Kapanen is going to change KalPa's playing style to more NHL-style (more speed), there are also plans to change rink size to be in line with NHL (after next season, probably)
- KalPa have quite good record on developing youngster and also very good record on teaching young (or older) players to live and practice like pro-athletic should.

Playing time
- Despite last year success (KalPa lost in finals to Tappara), KalPa is average team in Liiga and don't have that many star players so there are available spots for youngsters.
- Texier won't get automatically spot on playing roster, but there is a full possibility to get it and even break through to toplines and powerplay, as most of KalPa's key forwards of last year are gone and KalPa haven't signed clearly replacing players for them but many potential topliners.
-If Texier don't get spot on Liiga roster, he will probably be sent to KalPa's co-operation team in Mestis (FIN-2), instead of playing in A-junior league. I would say Mestis is on similar level than top league of France (I'm not going to argue about this, just guessing).

Glad to get him to Finland. One thing that also helps in reviewing his performance in next year is that there are also two other 2017 2nd rounders competing on spot in roster with Texier (Joni Ikonen, Eetu Luostarinen).
 
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He has been solid in Kalpa so far, I was watching one game at Arena and followed him. And I also watch every KalPa game on TV. His speed is good, stickhandling is good. He clearly Belongs to Liiga, and is a good player to it.

KalPa was struggling a bit as Opponents have been HIFK, who always is hard when the CHL stuff is over and real season starts, TPS, that is one of 3 big contenders, Tappara, that has been dominating the league like a dynasty, and Kärpät, that is always a top team and has highest budgets.

That is why we didin't see Texier to lit em up yet, the opponent teams were overall better, but KalPa competed evenly and won HIFK, went to OT with TPS and could've on that too, competed well against Kärpät and lost only 0-1 to tappara.

I'm expecting him to lit up against "even" competition, when KalPa plays other mid tier teams.

Showed some offensive skills against the pretty stacked TPS when I was at the game, went a smooth between Legs deke and dished great backhand pass to the slot. TPS had Tallinder on ice who was earlier solid NHL D and has 700 NHL games on his belt.
 
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QnebO said:
He has been solid in Kalpa so far, I was watching one game at Arena and followed him. And I also watch every KalPa game on TV. His speed is good, stickhandling is good. He clearly Belongs to Liiga, and is a good player to it.

KalPa was struggling a bit as Opponents have been HIFK, who always is hard when the CHL stuff is over and real season starts, TPS, that is one of 3 big contenders, Tappara, that has been dominating the league like a dynasty, and Kärpät, that is always a top team and has highest budgets.

That is why we didin't see Texier to lit em up yet, the opponent teams were overall better, but KalPa competed evenly and won HIFK, went to OT with TPS and could've on that too, competed well against Kärpät and lost only 0-1 to tappara.

I'm expecting him to lit up against "even" competition, when KalPa plays other mid tier teams.

Showed some offensive skills against the pretty stacked TPS when I was at the game, went a smooth between Legs deke and dished great backhand pass to the slot. TPS had Tallinder on ice who was earlier solid NHL D and has 700 NHL games on his belt.
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Thanks for the update :)
 
QnebO said:
He has been solid in Kalpa so far, I was watching one game at Arena and followed him. And I also watch every KalPa game on TV. His speed is good, stickhandling is good. He clearly Belongs to Liiga, and is a good player to it.

KalPa was struggling a bit as Opponents have been HIFK, who always is hard when the CHL stuff is over and real season starts, TPS, that is one of 3 big contenders, Tappara, that has been dominating the league like a dynasty, and Kärpät, that is always a top team and has highest budgets.

That is why we didin't see Texier to lit em up yet, the opponent teams were overall better, but KalPa competed evenly and won HIFK, went to OT with TPS and could've on that too, competed well against Kärpät and lost only 0-1 to tappara.

I'm expecting him to lit up against "even" competition, when KalPa plays other mid tier teams.

Showed some offensive skills against the pretty stacked TPS when I was at the game, went a smooth between Legs deke and dished great backhand pass to the slot. TPS had Tallinder on ice who was earlier solid NHL D and has 700 NHL games on his belt.
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Can you provide insight on KalPa's coach and how he might handle young player development?

In the Liiga, having a good coach makes a major difference in player development.
 
Crede777 said:
Can you provide insight on KalPa's coach and how he might handle young player development?

In the Liiga, having a good coach makes a major difference in player development.
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Sami Kapanen. Kalpa has tons of youngsters so every young player has gotten a fair shot so far.

Liked what I saw from Texier yesterday. His puck handling and skating looked good but still needs to add some weight to be more effective.
 
Crede777 said:
Can you provide insight on KalPa's coach and how he might handle young player development?

In the Liiga, having a good coach makes a major difference in player development.
Click to expand...

Sami Kapanen is former NHL player with around 800 games and 0,5 PPG, so he knows what it takes to succes in NHL (as undersized player).

His experience in coaching is around 5 years in KalPa I think, but he might have some background that I dont know about.

Before this year and year before how ever, he was focused to help KalPa juniors as Individuals. Last season he was assistant coach and now the head coach.

The way he talks about the team, he thinks only way to succes is to have good "prospects" and try to develop them, because team can't buy itself to a top team status by hiring best squad on paper. Usually it's longer run process though, I don't know how long they plan for Texier to stay in Finland.
 
QnebO said:
Sami Kapanen is former NHL player with around 800 games and 0,5 PPG, so he knows what it takes to succes in NHL (as undersized player).

His experience in coaching is around 5 years in KalPa I think, but he might have some background that I dont know about.

Before this year and year before how ever, he was focused to help KalPa juniors as Individuals. Last season he was assistant coach and now the head coach.

The way he talks about the team, he thinks only way to succes is to have good "prospects" and try to develop them, because team can't buy itself to a top team status by hiring best squad on paper. Usually it's longer run process though, I don't know how long they plan for Texier to stay in Finland.
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Kapanen started his coaching career two years ago. He has one season as a junior head coach and one season as an assistant coach in Liiga under his belt. He has stated many times that developing young talent is number one priority since it's the only way they can succeed.

Texier has a two year contract.
 
iso jorkki said:
Kapanen started his coaching career two years ago. He has one season as a junior head coach and one season as an assistant coach in Liiga under his belt. He has stated many times that developing young talent is number one priority since it's the only way they can succeed.

Texier has a two year contract.
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Afaik He did individual coaching earlier but it doesnt show on elite prospects i think
 
I like this player, but I am still skeptical of trading Kolesar for him. I guess we will see in time, but good results so far.
 


1st assist of the year on a game tying goal with less than 3 minutes to go. Pretty high skill set if he is on the ice late in the game as an 18 year old in Liiga,
 
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I just come to this thread for your updates haha good job keeping the rest of us CBJ fans up to date he seems to be coming along faster then expected.
 
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