C Rasmus Kupari - Karpat, Liiga (2018, 20th, LAK)

[Ippenator]

I don’t also care how much a player is critisized of being a bad or average skater, like Laine has been. But the main point is that the dude has the IQ and all the other needed skills and he GODDAMN PRODUCES! And he has done it at every level where he has played at. Kupari can only dream of ever matching Laine’s NHL rookie season’s point totals, or what he is going to get this season, let alone the numbers that Laine will produce at his prime.

Sure it’s nice and dandy if you can get to places quicker than with worse skating and maybe even do more in some situations. But if you can’t after all create real great chances that lead very often to goals or score a lot of goals yourself, then your great busy doings are pretty much counteraffected by your bad decision making and unefficiency, which will eventually be giving the upper hand way too often to the opponents.

So strange to see some posters that I do respect a lot, being so much into Kupari. Sure he is not really a bad player in that sense, but I see definitely at maximum a second or third rounder. Or maybe at best a really late first rounder, if he manages to play very well and also produce during the rest of his season. But having him in top 15 or even top 10 seems pretty much delusional to me.

 

[TheWhiskeyThief]

He does the right things on ice, he's played & produced ahead of his age group, but he hasn't produced at any level that he would be more like a late 2nd-early 3rd floor with a late 1st ceiling.

Sort of unfair to compare his production to Kakko as that kid has top 10 talent.

 

[ijuka]

Usually when a player looks good and has good skills but scores no points, they have low hockey IQ.

Kupari looked really good on WJC. He was surprise to me. He is the one name in team that actually was doing really well, the team just didint get it going. You can tell that his skating is really good and other skills are too. Outperformed Heiskanen and Tolvanen

This statement is pure insanity.

Especially the final word.

 

[Albatros]

I checked this Nordgren who seems to be on top of every list and who has wayyyy better statistics compared to Kupari and he has exactly 1 point in 11 games at men's level.

Nordgren scored 4 goals and 6 points in his two CHL games this season at men's level.

That is not to say that he would be anything like ready yet, for he is not. Nordgren has the skills and the energy, but he's about the size of Johnny Gaudreau and will need some time to adapt his game to fit a more physical environment.

 

[kelsier]

I don’t also care how much a player is critisized of being a bad or average skater, like Laine has been. But the main point is that the dude has the IQ and all the other needed skills and he GODDAMN PRODUCES! And he has done it at every level where he has played at. Kupari can only dream of ever matching Laine’s NHL rookie season’s point totals, or what he is going to get this season, let alone the numbers that Laine will produce at his prime.

Sure it’s nice and dandy if you can get to places quicker than with worse skating and maybe even do more in some situations. But if you can’t after all create real great chances that lead very often to goals or score a lot of goals yourself, then your great busy doings are pretty much counteraffected by your bad decision making and unefficiency, which will eventually be giving the upper hand way too often to the opponents.

So strange to see some posters that I do respect a lot, being so much into Kupari. Sure he is not really a bad player in that sense, but I see definitely at maximum a second or third rounder. Or maybe at best a really late first rounder, if he manages to play very well and also produce during the rest of his season. But having him in top 15 or even top 10 seems pretty much delusional to me.

If you look at Laine's draft season production and reflect that production to his rookie year in the Jets, you would never guess we were talking about the same player. Furthermore, he played tons of more in minutes in Tappara than Kupari has been playing this far in Kärpät (I mean what can kind of production can you expect when averaging 10+ min/game from a 17 year old). Laine was a different breed of talent from the get go, so he makes a pretty bad comparison anyway. If you wanted to compare Kupari to other prospects coming out of the country I would leave out Laine and Barkov of whom both have been considered far greater talents than him, while both achieving great things at the same age.

Also as I was trying to underline in the very first post, Kupari's skating took such a huge jump during last summer that he emerged from almost out of nowhere to suddenly being a first round talent. He didn't have this advantage before and I remember reading that some scouts already thought highly of him before even seeing him skate this year. So there definitely has to be something within him that separates him from the others, besides the skating. If he keeps playing like he played against HPK and Lukko and has success in the junior champs, his stocks could really elevate. Now as for who gets it right or has the better hunch doesn't really matter to me personally, other than the fact that naturally I want all the Finns to succeed. Lets just say that if Kupari emerges as the next star and all the ravings about his "bad" hockey IQ turns out nothing but a badly determined potential, I'd urge you to be more cautious before entirely bashing some other fast youngster out there. But again, we'll see in some years as I don't see the sample size of the Jr games this year being that huge and also considering his role and ice time, Kupari really hasn't been in a position to produce much in FEL so far. That's not to say that he couldn't have scored more points in the Jr league games this year, cause he could have and probably even should have, but 11 games isn't all that many and I have no clue who he played with, how many minutes did he spend on the ice in average or other possibly affecting factors. Do you? He wasn't half the skater last year so he didn't have the leverage back then. Guess he's a bit of a wildcard in a sense cause he doesn't have any mind-blowing seasons behind him.

Nordgren scored 4 goals and 6 points in his two CHL games this season at men's level.

That is not to say that he would be anything like ready yet, for he is not. Nordgren has the skills and the energy, but he's about the size of Johnny Gaudreau and will need some time to adapt his game to fit a more physical environment.

I really don't know much about him. Just used Nordren as an example of someone who's numbers will likely have little to no impact on the future's NHL career. For someone that size has to be truly special to make, let alone survive in the smaller rinks.

Apologies for late replies but with ongoing projects breathing on my neck I feel like I'm married with the workplace. Too tired to even read the boards when at home.

 

[JJTT]

Scored on the PP today. Been playing on the second PP unit after Kivihalme got injured.



70% on the faceoffs tonight, 55,81% this month. He has really improved on that part.

 

[JJTT]

1+1 today. Nice finish on breakaway and bit lucky assist

His faceoff % is up to 51% this season. Hasn't taken a tons of faceoffs(around 7-10 per game)but he's been really good on them for a 17 year old.

 

[Ippenator]

1+1 today. Nice finish on breakaway and bit lucky assist

His faceoff % is up to 51% this season. Hasn't taken a tons of faceoffs(around 7-10 per game)but he's been really good on them for a 17 year old.

Nice to see him producing a bit. Yes, for sure those faceoff stats are pretty darn impressive for a 17 year old.

What I would like to still see alot more from him would be playmaking and creating chances to others, not just to himself. What exactly bothers me with many of these speedskaters is the lacking of real playmaking in their game. So often they create some chances for themselves and some of them are really great on the forechecking.

But what I would really like to see is a player with Kupari’s skating using it more to create space for himself to then find better his teammates. I do definitely hope that Kupari will be able to clearly develop his playmaking skills. If he does that clearly, I’ll jump on the bandwagon

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

Personally i think he's the most overrated player in this draft class right now, he's clearly got some tools but so far it doesn't show up beyond flashes.

 

[Hokinaittii]

Personally i think he's the most overrated player in this draft class right now, he's clearly got some tools but so far it doesn't show up beyond flashes.

There is hardly any hype for him from the fans, so I'm not sure if overhyped is the right word here.

He only seems to be liked/hyped by the coaches and official NHL scouts, so maybe there is something in his game/upside that we normal people are missing.

Kupari now has 8 points in 27 Liiga games (0,3 PPG) and he only recently got some ice-time on the PP. From the recent draft rankings, I'd say he is expected to be drafted somewhere around 13-20. Sure, those rankings are not final and he can drop or even rise depending on how hot he ends his season.

Now let's take a look at similar player type to Kupari who got drafted at 12 last year, Martin Necas. Necas and Kupari both are amazing skaters with great agility and puckhandling skills. Both players look quite skinny on the ice but they are not afraid to drive the net and get in tight places.

Necas scored 15 points in 41 games (0,36 PPG) in Czech league in his draft year. Now I admit I didn't see Necas play in his draft year outside the highlights I found on the net but from what I saw, him and Kupari seem to be similar type of players.

I think both Kupari and Necas have some good quality tools in their game that NHL scouts value and they expect those tools to transfer well into how the game is played nowadays.

Finally here is his goal tonight

 

[HockeyHistorian]

He has shown flashes of brilliance, but most of the time I have not been that impressed. I feel like he is likely to reach NHL at some point, but I don't see him having that high offensive ceiling at the moment.

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

Necas was significantly better last year then Kupari this year. I really don't get what the scouts see here, it's kinda the same with Lundeström for me but i think he's better then Kupari... but neither should sniff the top 10, probably not even top 20 (i'd have Kupari in the 2nd round).

 

[JK2K]

Everyone is excited over 5 goals?

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Everyone is excited over 5 goals?

No, literally no one is. Good job with your reading.

 

[kelsier]

Created a few nice scoring chances there in the first period. Been a while since watching the last Kärpät game as been too occupied staring TPS (Kakko). If Kupari doesn't score today then lets hope Kotkaniemi does. Either way and I'm happy.

 

[FinPanda]

Kupari played with Kärpät ASM-team in the last three finals and they lost them all. Tonight Kupari didn't stood out from the rest. Without Kupari they won the first two games. So Kärpät lost the finals to KalPa. 2 assist in three games, not really impressive.

 

[JK2K]

Honestly. 2nd rounder.

 

[LastWordArmy]

Our Scouting Report on Kupari

Rasmus Kupari Scouting Report: 2018 NHL Draft #14

 

[BL92]

Measured 6-1.5, 188.7 at the Combine. Looks like he had quite the growth spurt.

 

[TheFinnishTrap]

Measured 6-1.5, 188.7 at the Combine. Looks like he had quite the growth spurt.

So the 186cm and 86kg that he was reported to be at the beginning of the season ends up being pretty accurate after all? Funny, he seemed smaller to be honest.

 

[BL92]

So the 186cm and 86kg that he was reported to be at the beginning of the season ends up being pretty accurate after all? Funny, he seemed smaller to be honest.

I thought he was still 181cm.

 

[TheFinnishTrap]

I thought he was still 181cm.

Yeah, he was listed as 186cm/86kg on Eliteprospects in August I think, then it was changed to the current 181cm/74kg.

On another note, I see quite a bit of Kapanen in him. Both are super fast and can do nifty stuff with the puck, but not always the most efficient players. Kupari has a bigger frame and a better shot in my opinion, though. Another style-comparable is William Nylander, I swear some of their highlights look identical. I think it's the upright skating posture and the overall smoothness in their play.

He's had a bit of a disappointing season statistically after starting with a bang, perhaps he made too much of a name for himself too quick. Still, his technical skills are great, he has plus-size and has elite skating. Even if he fails to put it all together, he has all the tools to become an utility player like Grabner for example. For a team picking in the mid-late 20s, he could bring great value, similar to how Vesalainen upped his stock this season, and at least size won't prevent him playing center.

 

[BL92]

Yeah, he was listed as 186cm/86kg on Eliteprospects in August I think, then it was changed to the current 181cm/74kg.

On another note, I see quite a bit of Kapanen in him. Both are super fast and can do nifty stuff with the puck, but not always the most efficient players. Kupari has a bigger frame and a better shot in my opinion, though. Another style-comparable is William Nylander, I swear some of their highlights look identical. I think it's the upright skating posture and the overall smoothness in their play.

He's had a bit of a disappointing season statistically after starting with a bang, perhaps he made too much of a name for himself too quick. Still, his technical skills are great, he has plus-size and has elite skating. Even if he fails to put it all together, he has all the tools to become an utility player like Grabner for example. For a team picking in the mid-late 20s, he could bring great value, similar to how Vesalainen upped his stock this season, and at least size won't prevent him playing center.

I just hope he turns out to be more of a Nylander than Kapanen. Kapanen's is a good example of a player with great skills but horrid hockey IQ.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Kupari to me could be this years Chytil.

 

[kelsier]

I'm surprised to read these combine measurements even though I've kept an eye on Kupari along the season. Thought he looked a lot smaller. I still consider him as an intriguing prospect due to the skill set even though his season was slightly underwhelming. It seemed as if he didn't have the toughness to battle against the grown ups in FEL, got tossed around too easy and it affected his ability to be productive. If I was a scout I'd be watching his games on a rewind just to see how many bad decisions did he make on the ice exactly or was is more about the lack of physicality that kept him in bay. Naturally there remains unanswered questions about the hockey IQ and I do hope that it won't turn out as his shortcoming. Since even if you have the skating, smooth hands, good shot and of course the size, it's still not enough to have a great career. Suppose we'll be much wiser next season, just like with so many other youngsters out there. I can't but hope he could follow the footsteps of Tolvanen, Aho and Vesalainen for example, but right now it's not what I'm expecting. Cannot remember how many times I've said it before but FEL isn't an easy step for any 17-18 year old kid no matter the talent.