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RW Kasperi Kapanen (2014, 22nd, PIT; traded to TOR)

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Tulipunaruusu said:
And it ain't easier to get that chance (and especially minutes) to put up points in last season's KalPa than in for example Jokerit (one of the most valuable rosters in Finland) who took bronze during Teräväinen's draft season?
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Probably not? Hockey is a team game, even if your individual skill is good it certainly doesn't by itself compensate for poor players to play with on the long run. Kapanen's stubborn and unsuccesful attemps at the U18 showed you can't carry the team's offense by yourself, so how could he reasonably be expected to produce well at a men's pro league level? Obviously the fault also lies in himself if he's hogging the puck to a point of it becoming detrimental to the overall offense (don't know if this was an issue in Liiga as it was in U18's), but let's not pretend he had good team mates in KalPa to work with. This is a team that won 15 games all season, and scored 101 goals overall. The team's scoring leader, Habs prospect Artturi Lehkonen posted 7+13 (in 33 games) while Kapanen had 7+7 (in 47 games). I think there were injuries as well.

That being said, my viewing of Kapanen was mostly limited to U18's but seeing how impressive some of his peers were, I am suprised he is/was ranked above or close to many other Euro players like Nylander and Fiala. Again, my viewing was limited and the scouts of course follow these long-term.
 
combine

Anyone who knows what hes messures stod at on the combine? Wheight and hight? Also how did he do against the other prospects on the other tests?
 
We've started our draft countdown and Kapanen is featured in our first release. A little blurb.

There will be a lot of proud former NHLers come the draft at the end of this month, with a number of their sons expected to be drafted. One of which is Kasperi Kapanen, son of Sami. The junior Kapanen however isn’t exactly a chip off the old block. He’s fast, he’s skilled and he’s dynamic. Kapanen can create offense from seemingly anywhere in the offensive zone and has dizzying puck skills.
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We've got more Kapanen chatter here: http://futureconsiderations.ca/fcs-draft-countdown-30-26/
 
Pittsburg have now signed him for a 3 year entry level contract. Intressting to see if he could take a spot in the line up allready this year!
 
fr9dd9 said:
Pittsburg have now signed him for a 3 year entry level contract. Intressting to see if he could take a spot in the line up allready this year!
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Doubt he will. Think most are expecting him to spend a year in the SM-Liiga before he comes over to the NHL.
 
Kid has some of the best offensive instincts and hands in the draft. If he can gain some weight playing in Finland this year he'll be making a very serious run at our top 6 the following year.
 
fr9dd9 said:
How is it going for him at the camp? Any one who know?
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Good from what i've read anyway. There hasn't really been much. Tomorrow afternoon is the scrimmage so we should be able to get more updates then from people in attendance and from people watching the stream.

Here's a few tweets though:

Wes Crosby ‏@OtherNHLCrosby 9h
Kapanen with some impressive stick work. Handles through two white shirts and slips a pass to Dea, who can't convert. #Pens

@PensNation_Nick ‏@PensNation_Nick 9h
Kapanen with a nice snipe lower glove side in the shootout.

Josh Yohe ‏@JoshYohe_Trib Jul 15
Quick observations from prospect camp: Dumoulin sticks out, as he should...Harrington, too. Kapanen is fun to watch. Skates with pizzazz.
 
Kapanen has big upside and has a skill set that will some day wonder how he was not taken earlier. Kid has some serious skills and needs to physically mature. He already thinks the game beyond his years. Pens lucky he fell to them and may have fell into a great situation with Sid. Blew it away at Pens rookie camp and scrimmage.
 
2 years before the draft Kapanen was in top3
1 year before the draft Kapanen was in top5
Before u18 tournament Kapanen was top10
After u18 tournament Kapanen was 22nd

His got the potential to become just as good as any player from the draft. Fell way too low.
 
Erikfromfin said:
2 years before the draft Kapanen was in top3
1 year before the draft Kapanen was in top5
Before u18 tournament Kapanen was top10
After u18 tournament Kapanen was 22nd

His got the potential to become just as good as any player from the draft. Fell way too low.
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Just because he was drafted 22nd doesn't mean anybody had him ranked that low. For all we know every team in the league had him top 10, but each team before 22 simply had one other player available ranked higher.

Granted, that's not likely, but draft position does not necessarily imply the general consensus.
 
Cannot believe he fell to 22. I honestly thought he'd be a surprise pick for Carolina at #7. Anyway, Pens got ****ing lucky again and got a top-10 talent in this kid. He's about as talented as anyone. VERY high ceiling.

Kind of reminds me of TT in that he's a Finn with a high offensive ceiling who was initially thought of as a riser but fell on draft day to a cup contender.
 
Every time someone drops compared to where they were ranked, people claim it's a steal. Sometimes it's a good pick (Fowler, Maatta) and sometimes the teams passing on the player got it right (Esposito, Kabanov).
 
The U18 performance probably made him fall combined with other players raising their profile.

I'll just quote myself from another thread, posted after the brutal 10-0 loss to Sweden.

Periwinkle said:
It would be a great form of irony if team- and individual disappointment ends up benefitting Kapanen in the draft. What I mean is, if his position falls to a late first rounder and he ends up on a contender team. Might suck for the other guys though.
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I would say getting the chance to play with Crosby and Malkin in the near future counts as a pretty prize...
 
Freudian said:
Every time someone drops compared to where they were ranked, people claim it's a steal. Sometimes it's a good pick (Fowler, Maatta) and sometimes the teams passing on the player got it right (Esposito, Kabanov).
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Like I said before, you never know why a player drops. Kapanen, Fowler, Maatta, etc. could have been the #2 remaining player on every team's list. It's not fair to say that the teams that passed on these players didn't like or want them. All we can really glean from a fall is that every team before the pick had at least one player remaining that they liked more.

Trying to extrapolate more would be inferring things that are not there.
 
He is going to make 18 some teams look very stupid. Ridiculous how far he slipped. The best finnish prospect in a long time.
 
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