Prospect Info: Oliver Kapanen, RHC, KalPa U20 (U20 SM-sarja), 64th Overall

[schwang26]

Will Kapanen be "another" failure from our scouting-drafting crew in Finland and Sweden ?

It's quite the pathetic track record. If I'm not mistaken, I think there's 4 who had good careers since 1980. Naslund, Lumme, Koivu and Leks. Dahlin had one amazing year, so I'm not counting him.

 

[LaP]

It's quite the pathetic track record. If I'm not mistaken, I think there's 4 who had good careers since 1980. Naslund, Lumme, Koivu and Leks. Dahlin had one amazing year, so I'm not counting him.

You forgot the legend himself Marko Kiprusoff

 

[Price is Wright]

It's quite the pathetic track record. If I'm not mistaken, I think there's 4 who had good careers since 1980. Naslund, Lumme, Koivu and Leks. Dahlin had one amazing year, so I'm not counting him.

Patric Kjellberg would have been good. Dunno his story. He came over in 92-93 and split back to Sweden then came back to play for Nashville in the late 90s/early 00s and was still decent.

 

[WeThreeKings]

- KalPa won 7-4
Kapenen with 0 pts / -1 / 5 SOG / 56% FOW / 16:51 TOI

Pretty disappointing that Kapanen couldn't get on the score sheet when his team scored 7 goals.

My expectations for Kapanen couldn't be lower.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

I liked the Kapanen pick at the time FWIW, ditto with Ikonen in 2017, I could see the potential there. It's hard to translate the U18 production sometimes and even harder to know what role a prospect will have on the big Liiga/SHL team once he gets there. Picking guys with limited skating from the get-go does make everything else harder though, which the new regime seem to have realized, thank god. For whatever reason Timmins and co. went for a lot of guys that were both small AND slow over the years, I never got that.

Kapanen was on my draftable list, but for the 3rd round. I wasn't a fan of Pastujov but when he started falling, I went absolutely nuts in draft thread when we didn't take him. He absolutely should have been one of our picks with our back-to-back late 2nds.

Kapanen would have been there in 3rd

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

My expectations for Kapanen couldn't be lower.

Yep. There's just nothing there for me too.

I don't follow prospects closely like you two do, but from the moment he was drafted it sounded like there was nothing there for him.

Pretty much like the majority of prospects drafted by Bergevin/Timmins and Co. It's why I have no real hope for our prospects pool to do anything.

 

[Whitesnake]

I don't follow prospects closely like you two do, but from the moment he was drafted it sounded like there was nothing there for him.

Pretty much like the majority of prospects drafted by Bergevin/Timmins and Co. It's why I have no real hope for our prospects pool to do anything.

Well I can't say that. WAsn't following him that much in his draft year. Stats wise, it's interesting. 2in the U20 league as a U18 player. Though Huuhtanen who was picked last in the 7th round, was 4th....But then Huuhtanen biggest obstacle was his skating. Kapanen was and is always seen as a 2-way player. Just that after seeing him, I just see a very meh player with no definite top end skills, those types of players rarely make it.

But...we have a new found development now so..who knows.

 

[morhilane]

I don't follow prospects closely like you two do, but from the moment he was drafted it sounded like there was nothing there for him.

Pretty much like the majority of prospects drafted by Bergevin/Timmins and Co. It's why I have no real hope for our prospects pool to do anything.

Kapanen is the personification of MB/Timmins/Churla era draft selection at forwards: all about their defense play. He might make it at 24-25 years old as a bottom 6 defensive player, but he's nothing to get exited about.

 

[26Mats]

Kapanen is the personification of MB/Timmins/Churla era draft selection at forwards: all about their defense play. He might make it at 24-25 years old as a bottom 6 defensive player, but he's nothing to get exited about.

I don't like writing off prospects early. But if he becomes what you say he'll become, he sure as hell will be the personification of Timmins et al picks when it comes to forwards.

 

[ahmedou]

6 POINTS IN 14 GAMES

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[Adam Michaels]

After Engstrom was named to Sweden, Kapanen is named to Finland.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Using "Translate Tweet," they say here that Kapanen has cemented a Liiga spot this year. And also that he is the leading scorer among rookies in the league.

 

[Et le But]

Reports of Kapanen's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

 

[Adam Michaels]

Kapanen went hard into the boards yesterday and left the game. No update on his health or if he'll miss time and if so, will he be able to still play at the WJC.

At this link, you can see the play where he went hard into the boards: Hiljentävä tilanne: Oliver Kapanen lähti tarkkailuun pään retkahdettua – valmentaja vihjaa markkinaliikkeistä

The good news is that he was able to get up and skate off on his own.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

 

[Jorma Heart]

Lately he's been playing every situation and over 16 minutes per game mostly centering third line. His 13 points is good for 6th place on the team. He's play without the puck is great too, obviously still needs to get faster and stronger, but I see NHL player in the making. Very smart player overall and dangerous in front of the net.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Kapanen is second in the league in scoring among U20 players.

 

[Jorma Heart]

Scored a goal and second star of the game, lately he's been constantly one of the KalPa's best players. Very well placed shot today, he has a knack for that kind of thing. I also think that his skating has improved this season, it's still not anything special but I think i saw glimpse of actual speed today.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Well I can't say that. WAsn't following him that much in his draft year. Stats wise, it's interesting. 2in the U20 league as a U18 player. Though Huuhtanen who was picked last in the 7th round, was 4th....But then Huuhtanen biggest obstacle was his skating. Kapanen was and is always seen as a 2-way player. Just that after seeing him, I just see a very meh player with no definite top end skills, those types of players rarely make it.

But...we have a new found development now so..who knows.

Sounds like you’re describing a Louis Leblanc

 

[Whitesnake]

Sounds like you’re describing a Louis Leblanc

It's all about development now. We will see.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

I'm happy he's starting to find his game as a pro. It's easy to forget he's still a U20 player, we don't even have to sign him before june 2025. He could still very much be a factor in our prospect pool.

 

[LaP]

You forgot the legend himself Marko Kiprusoff

How could anyone forget super-nhl behemoth Peter Popovich?

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

He is probably our most underrated prospect on this board. That is not to say that I think he is a sure fire NHLer but he has a much better chance than most posters give him credit for.

If he was in the CHL he would very likely have out produced Mysak who I think has been overrated on this board.