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

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He has skill and is bigger than I initially thought.

I still think he'll need another year in the AHL though. He's much less polished than Nylander by comparison.
 
How Kasperi has done in Toronto Marlies.
And when he arrives to Finland's U20WJC camp.

Original schedule was somewhere next week but how trustful that is.
 
FinnHockeyFan said:
How Kasperi has done in Toronto Marlies.
And when he arrives to Finland's U20WJC camp.

Original schedule was somewhere next week but how trustful that is.
Click to expand...
He's doing okay with the Marlies. There are games here and there where he looks like one of the better players on the ice and he makes highly skilled plays here and there, but he's not doing it consistently yet. He's also had some injury/health problems. He sat out the first couple weeks of the season and lost a lot of weight due to illness. And then he was out of the lineup for a while again a few weeks later with an injury.

I've got no complaints with his season so far, though. Although other teens like Nylander and Rantanen putting up much better numbers the AHL this year, it's still a league that players under 20 years of age rarely play in, so I think it's important to keep that in mind when judging Kapanen this year. And I think very few people would rank Kapanen on Nylander or Rantanen's level anyway.

As for when he goes to the WJC; Leaf management hasn't even officially confirmed yet that he (or Nylander) will be going at all, let alone when they'll get released to their national teams. Now, I do still think they'll go---Mike Babcock & Lou Lamoriello have both talked to the media about what a positive experience the tournament is. But it wouldn't surprise me if the Leafs waited until the last possible moment to send them.

Last year, for example, the Senators waited until the weekend before the tournament started (Dec.18th) before releasing Curtis Lazar to the Canadian team. I would bet that the Leafs are looking at a similar timeline for Nylander and Kapanen. That would allow them to play in the Marlies game today, and their games on Wednesday, Friday & Saturday of next week. They'd then have six days to travel to the tournament and get settled in with their respective teams.
 
LeafGm said:
He's doing okay with the Marlies. There are games here and there where he looks like one of the better players on the ice and he makes highly skilled plays here and there, but he's not doing it consistently yet. He's also had some injury/health problems. He sat out the first couple weeks of the season and lost a lot of weight due to illness. And then he was out of the lineup for a while again a few weeks later with an injury.

I've got no complaints with his season so far, though. Although other teens like Nylander and Rantanen putting up much better numbers the AHL this year, it's still a league that players under 20 years of age rarely play in, so I think it's important to keep that in mind when judging Kapanen this year. And I think very few people would rank Kapanen on Nylander or Rantanen's level anyway.

As for when he goes to the WJC; Leaf management hasn't even officially confirmed yet that he (or Nylander) will be going at all, let alone when they'll get released to their national teams. Now, I do still think they'll go---Mike Babcock & Lou Lamoriello have both talked to the media about what a positive experience the tournament is. But it wouldn't surprise me if the Leafs waited until the last possible moment to send them.

Last year, for example, the Senators waited until the weekend before the tournament started (Dec.18th) before releasing Curtis Lazar to the Canadian team. I would bet that the Leafs are looking at a similar timeline for Nylander and Kapanen. That would allow them to play in the Marlies game today, and their games on Wednesday, Friday & Saturday of next week. They'd then have six days to travel to the tournament and get settled in with their respective teams.
Click to expand...

Kapanen is coming over tomorrow.
 
LeafGm said:
Yep, you are correct. The Leafs have officially confirmed it:

Click to expand...


That's great news for Finland.
I really hope Kasperi plays much better in front of home-crowd than last year in Montreal and Toronto.

What comes Nylander's situation, Swedish daily journal Aftonbladet published an article last monday ( December 7th).
There's still minimal chance Nylander gets called up for NHL.
 
FinnHockeyFan said:
That's great news for Finland.
I really hope Kasperi plays much better in front of home-crowd than last year in Montreal and Toronto.

What comes Nylander's situation, Swedish daily journal Aftonbladet published an article last monday ( December 7th).
There's still minimal chance Nylander gets called up for NHL.
Click to expand...
Yeah, hopefully he has a nice tournament. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does going back up against junior-aged players after a few months at the AHL level. I admittedly didn't pay a ton of attention to him last year, because Canada only played Finland once, and Kapanen was still a Penguins prospect at that point.

He did finish his final AHL game before the WJC in fine fashion though. Here he is with the assist on the Marlies OT goal yesterday:

VengefulTornHapuka.gif
 
LeafGm said:
Yeah, hopefully he has a nice tournament. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does going back up against junior-aged players after a few months at the AHL level. I admittedly didn't pay a ton of attention to him last year, because Canada only played Finland once, and Kapanen was still a Penguins prospect at that point.

He did finish his final AHL game before the WJC in fine fashion though. Here he is with the assist on the Marlies OT goal yesterday:

VengefulTornHapuka.gif
Click to expand...

WOW that was great move.
I have tickets for two Finland's games ( Belarus and Czech Republic) can't wait to see Kasperi on the ice
 
Kapanen got some coverage in the game report from yesterdays FIN-SUI game. The reported said something like this:

"I wonder who has promised Kapanen a spot in the team, considering that he had time to surf around aimlessly. He was on the ice when the Swiss scored three of their four goals. Kapanen plays in Toronto's farm team, but he did not seem very professional"

Kapanen really has to wake up, he can't be a disappointment in the national team every year.
 
Esko6 said:
Kapanen got some coverage in the game report from yesterdays FIN-SUI game. The reported said something like this:

"I wonder who has promised Kapanen a spot in the team, considering that he had time to surf around aimlessly. He was on the ice when the Swiss scored three of their four goals. Kapanen plays in Toronto's farm team, but he did not seem very professional"

Kapanen really has to wake up, he can't be a disappointment in the national team every year.
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I would take this with a grain of salt unless somebody credible confirms it or I see it myself. Not the being on ice during the three Swiss goals, but the part about surfing around aimlessly, obviously.
 
HockeyHistorian said:
I would take this with a grain of salt unless somebody credible confirms it or I see it myself. Not the being on ice during the three Swiss goals, but the part about surfing around aimlessly, obviously.
Click to expand...
Other people's reports from the game also confirms Kapanen's game really wasn't there last night and he seemed phlegmatic on the ice.
 
HockeyHistorian said:
I would take this with a grain of salt unless somebody credible confirms it or I see it myself. Not the being on ice during the three Swiss goals, but the part about surfing around aimlessly, obviously.
Click to expand...

Well HS is the biggest newspaper in Finland so I don't know why you suspect his credibility.
 
Esko6 said:
Well HS is the biggest newspaper in Finland so I don't know why you suspect his credibility.
Click to expand...

Not just him, sports writers in general. Especially if there are no other sources confirming this (EDIT: it seems that there are some other people that have confirmed this). I'm not a big fan of Kapanen by the way. It's just that people tend to get confirmation bias quite easily. There has been so much talk about Kapanen's disappointing WJC last year that I feel that people go out their way to criticize him no matter what he does.
 
While Kapanen had far from his best showings last night, I think that story goes a bit overboard in blasting him. A single practice game that didn't decide anything (against an opponent that's probably not the most motivating one, to boot), and it was his first one under Jalonen and his system ever.

I won't be saying nice things of him if he keeps this up, but as of right now, there are plenty of reasons to excuse his performance.
 
No comments about his game today, eh? People only post to criticize it seems.

Kasper was apparently the 2nd best Finnish player today. Good rebound game.

Even then, I don't know why people put any stock into these preliminary games.
 
Nice to hear Kasperi had a great game today.

His biggest issue was always consistency - he shows flashes but he just needs to bring his A game every night. Excited to see if he sinks or swims with that first line winger spot.
 
95 said:
No comments about his game today, eh? People only post to criticize it seems.

Kasper was apparently the 2nd best Finnish player today. Good rebound game.

Even then, I don't know why people put any stock into these preliminary games.
Click to expand...

obviously, he's a leaf prospect :laugh:
 
snizzbone said:
Finnish posters have been on him for a long time. Before he was a Leaf spec.
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I have always liked Nylander better than Kapanen.
But now Kasperi has a chance to prove his top level and show how wrong i'm.

I have my doubts for Kasperi's top level.
But lets see how he performing in front of home-crowd.

Hopefully he'll be better than last year.
But if he wont do that i'm sure for that Jukka Jalonen has a balls to put Kasperi for 13th forward or 4th line to wake him up.
 
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The other thing to remember, not just about Kapanen but about any prospect who crosses the Atlantic later than the rest of the group, is the effect of jet lag. It varies from person to person but is enough to make a person feel slightly "off." A young, fit person is less affected generally but, on the other hand, he is being compared to other fit young players who are at their peak.

Many people say west to east is harder than the opposite. FWIW, that is certainly the case with me.
 
This tournament is going to be boom or bust for Kapanen. Playing with Hintz and Rantanen can boost his play alot because he doesen't have to be the key catalyst in that line. If he plays smart i think he is going to be really good. If he is too selfish and tries to keep the puck for too long time on his stick he is going to hurt this team with turnovers. Smart game is the key for his success in this tournament. Otherwise i could see him hurting this team.
 
thomast said:
This tournament is going to be boom or bust for Kapanen. Playing with Hintz and Rantanen can boost his play alot because he doesen't have to be the key catalyst in that line. If he plays smart i think he is going to be really good. If he is too selfish and tries to keep the puck for too long time on his stick he is going to hurt this team with turnovers. Smart game is the key for his success in this tournament. Otherwise i could see him hurting this team.
Click to expand...

Considering that he plays with both C and A of the team, I doubt he is going to be selfish with the puck. If all goes well and according to expectations, Kapanen is the finisher of that line.
 
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