Can't find a way to watch the game
Is he getting pushed around in physical battles like Hokinaittii predicted?
Can't find a way to watch the game
Is he getting pushed around in physical battles like Hokinaittii predicted?
Junnila kills every play with his terrible play.
Thanks for the report, guys... I know its very early, but how do you feel Kupari is stacking up against some of your more recent prospects?
It's very hard to say. He's not at the Laine/Barkov level, but I think he is near Aho/Rantanen.
I mean yes and no, he can make up for it by skating circles around others.Can't find a way to watch the game
Is he getting pushed around in physical battles like Hokinaittii predicted?
I wasn't able to watch the first period and he got little ice time due to penalties. Really hoped to see him on one of the power play units but of course they are not going to let an unproven kid to get any time on special units. I agree with Ippe about having to prove he has hockey IQ. So far due to limited viewings it is impossible to tell. He does need that in order to be placed anywhere near Kotkaniemi, I truly hope that Pronman etc (who have him high) have actually scouted the s*** out of him and determined as much, because a kid with good height, superb skating and great hands added with high level of IQ could go really far in the future. He looked a bit small out there and I'd appreciate to have his real measurements. Hopefully he does have some frame and is just lanky at the moment.
If these scouting agencies haven't actually paid much if any attention to him before Hlinka and are basing most of their predictions on one tournament, it would be kind of unprofessional to have him that high so soon. Kotkaniemi looks to be the real deal and I'd have hard time having Kupari ahead of him at the moment, and I really like Kupari. What a year would that be if they both panned out though. No center worries for team Finland for the next two decades.
First of all Aho is in the same class with Laine. Barkov might be close to those two, but in my opinion he is still only the third best Finnish young player. What they have done so far at almost every stage clearly shows that Aho is already better than Barkov. At least when you compare their 19 year old seasons it is obvious. Barkov 36 points vs Aho 49 points. And for Aho it was only his rookie season, as Barkov already had experience for one season in the NHL before. Aho has also been clearly better in the national teams than Barkov. Aho is just criminally underrated by even many Finnish fans, which is very weird to me, as I saw how special player he is almost instantly when I saw him play the first time.
I don't know if Kupari is even in Rantanen class, as so far I haven't been too much impressed with his hockey IQ. Sure he can skate really well and he has great hands, but if you don't have also first class hockey IQ, you will never become a real star player. Of course I could be wrong, but at the moment I see Kotkaniemi as a clearly better prospect than Kupari. This is mostly because Kotkaniemi has a clearly higher hockey IQ.
I wasn't able to watch the first period and he got little ice time due to penalties. Really hoped to see him on one of the power play units but of course they are not going to let an unproven kid to get any time on special units. I agree with Ippe about having to prove he has hockey IQ. So far due to limited viewings it is impossible to tell. He does need that in order to be placed anywhere near Kotkaniemi, I truly hope that Pronman etc (who have him high) have actually scouted the s*** out of him and determined as much, because a kid with good height, superb skating and great hands added with high level of IQ could go really far in the future. He looked a bit small out there and I'd appreciate to have his real measurements. Hopefully he does have some frame and is just lanky at the moment.
If these scouting agencies haven't actually paid much if any attention to him before Hlinka and are basing most of their predictions on one tournament, it would be kind of unprofessional to have him that high so soon. Kotkaniemi looks to be the real deal and I'd have hard time having Kupari ahead of him at the moment, and I really like Kupari. What a year would that be if they both panned out though. No center worries for team Finland for the next two decades.
Kupari stays in the lineup, playing with Kestilä and Humaloja today.
Good news if that happens.Leskinen is out tomorow so Kupari will most likely be promoted to the second line and PP unit.
Sent back to juniors instead.
Cannot frigging believe it. I watched most of the two games and to me at least he didn't really seem to be a liability or that much "out of place". On top of it all, he barely even got to play. During the last game f.ex. there were so many penalties, he hardly got the chance to touch the surface. Not even a minute on PP. We are talking about a top prospect on his draft year who gets a two game tryout with little actual time to show what he can do.
To me it seems like Karpat isn't really that much of a team who focuses on the youth like they used to be. The difference quite likely being Suikkanen. Marjamaki seemed to really put at least an effort on development and cared about the youngsters. Suikkanen looks to be more about results, which raises a question of Kupari being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I wonder if Aho (can't remember anymore) was any better on his first two games and what would have happened if they didn't show patience with him. He was nowhere close to being the same level of prospect at the same age. The kid might not be anywhere close to even playing in the NHL today if he wasn't shown good faith at the time he needed it.