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

[Hokinaittii]

I feel like he should have gotten more ice-time in the last few games, he was solid most of the times and it definately showed that he is one of the better skaters from Finland.

Looking forward to watch him in U18.

 

[JJTT]

Hopefully he finally gets a fair shot with Kärpät.

 

[JJTT]

Back in Liiga today, centering the third line. Hopefully he gets to stay at that spot for the rest of the season.

 

[JK2K]

For the life of me I cannot find one reason why he should be ranked where he is.
His stats are really terrible.
I have only seen the Hlinka a parts of 2 games. Not impressed at all.
What is the reason?

 

[BusQuets]

I thought Kupari was really impressive in the Hlinka tournament.

 

[JJTT]

For the life of me I cannot find one reason why he should be ranked where he is.
His stats are really terrible.
I have only seen the Hlinka a parts of 2 games. Not impressed at all.
What is the reason?

He's been playing with terrible players all season without any PP time, averaging only 10 minutes per game. It's just not fair to look at his stats.

Reasons he is ranked high:

-Good size(6'1) and lots of room to bulk up.
-One of the fastest skaters in the draft.
-Plays a mature game already and positions himself well on the ice
-Rarely makes mistakes
-Can play every forward position.
-Very slick hands and elite puck handling ability.
-Good wrist shot.

Good report here: Rasmus Kupari - NHL entry draft 2018 prospect report October 2017 | Pucks for Breakfast

 

[Kaako Kappo]

He has 17 year old Sebastian Aho numbers in Liiga. Cmon. He's a great skater with good hands, has a lot of potential. He will get a proper chance next year.

 

[Ippenator]

For the life of me I cannot find one reason why he should be ranked where he is.
His stats are really terrible.
I have only seen the Hlinka a parts of 2 games. Not impressed at all.
What is the reason?

I have seen him play quite a lot and I have to say that I’m not really at all impressed with him. Sure an excellent skater and pretty good hands, but skating is nowadays the easiest reason for a prospect to become seriously overrated. He is at best mediocre with practically all the other elements in hockey, and especially his hockey IQ does not match even close to his magnificent skating.

He kind of reminds me of a lot less talented but a bit bigger version of Nikolaj Ehlers. And I’m honestly not the biggest fan of Ehlers, although he can at least produce goals and points. But he is also lacking in hockey IQ when comparing it to his excellent skating. A bit blind sighted players that this era of hockey is producing because of the overemphasized admiration of great skating.

In my opinion Kupari should not be a first rounder, at least with how he has been playing so far. A lot should change still during this season for me to see him as a legitimate first rounder.

 

[Ippenator]

He has 17 year old Sebastian Aho numbers in Liiga. Cmon. He's a great skater with good hands, has a lot of potential. He will get a proper chance next year.

No use to compare him to Sebastian Aho. Aho’s hockey IQ is off the charts compared to Kupari’s. I’m practically sure that Kupari will never be even close to the quality that Aho is and will still become as a player. The reason is exactly that he is seriously lacking with his hockey IQ compared to top players of his age. That area of hockey does not develop so much anymore after his age, so I just don’t see it possible for him to become a true top class player.

Maybe at some point he will be a 3rd or 4th liner in the NHL because of his excellent skating, but with his hockey IQ and other mediocre abilities, it would be truly a miracle if he would ever become more than that.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

No use to compare him to Sebastian Aho. Aho’s hockey IQ is off the charts compared to Kupari’s. I’m practically sure that Kupari will never be even close to the quality that Aho is and will still become as a player. The reason is exactly that he is seriously lacking with his hockey IQ compared to top players of his age. That area of hockey does not develop so much anymore after his age, so I just don’t see it possible for him to become a true top class player.

Maybe at some point he will be a 3rd or 4th liner in the NHL because of his excellent skating, but with his hockey IQ and other mediocre abilities, it would be truly a miracle if he would ever become more than that.

Yes, and per you Rantanen is a third liner at best and Pulju will never be anything. Honestly, your opinion is worthless to me. If the scouts see something in him then there's probably something there.

 

[Ippenator]

Yes, and per you Rantanen is a third liner at best and Pulju will never be anything. Honestly, your opinion is worthless to me.

With Rantanen I gladly admit that I have been wrong with. But in his case I never really doubted his skills. The reason why I seriously doubted his future in the NHL was because of his lack of intensity and certain kind of softness. I’m happily surprised that he really seems to after all have the killer instinct that he was seriously missing before. I will be of course very happy if I’m wrong about Kupari. But he is seriously lacking with his hockey IQ and that is still even more difficult to fix than some a bit phlegmatic attitude or lack of intensity.

 

[Ippenator]

Yes, and per you Rantanen is a third liner at best and Pulju will never be anything. Honestly, your opinion is worthless to me. If the scouts see something in him then there's probably something there.

I have never said that Pulju will not become anything by the way. Just that he is not even close to as talented as Laine or Aho. And I have not changed my opinion on him yet with that. I have seen him all the time as 1st or 2nd line potential. And that he has so far been. But I don’t still see Pulju as such a special talent as Laine and Aho are. His hockey IQ is not too good and he has some puck handling problems even still, although he has become at least better with his puck handling. But I never doubted that Pulju can’t be a 50-70 point player at best in the NHL, so you are now barking at the wrong tree when claiming that I have said that Pulju will never become anything. It has been some other posters that you must remember.

 

[JK2K]

Good skater, great hands, great vision, room to bulk up? C’mon, he hasn’t been an elite player ever? At least not in the stats. Not anywhere, at any time any year. Except one 5 point outlier game in Hlinka against a weak apponent which amounted to 72% of his entire output in the tournament. Another Sampo Ranta?

 

[Hokinaittii]

For the life of me I cannot find one reason why he should be ranked where he is.
His stats are really terrible.
I have only seen the Hlinka a parts of 2 games. Not impressed at all.
What is the reason?

His stats are just fine in Liiga considering he doesn't get any PP time and he barely averages more than 10 minutes ice-time. Also, 4 points in 5 games against men in Mestis is pretty solid considering his team Hermes is 2nd worst team in the league. From what I saw him play there, he was already among the best players out there and seemed to create something every period.

When it comes to Hlinka, Finland played poorly there but Kupari was among the very few who actually stood out there from Finland.

Despite what some posters think (everyone is entitled to their opinion), I think Kupari has more into his game than just elite skating and I think we've seen glimpses of that when he has played against his peers and even against men in Mestis. I admit it's been a while since I've watched Kupari play in Liiga but I would guess an organization like Kärpät wouldn't keep Kupari in the lineup (especially playing center) if he isn't doing the right things.

I think some people are too eager to judge whether player have top-6 potential in NHL if they are not able to tear in Liiga at 17 years old.

 

[JJTT]

Good skater, great hands, great vision, room to bulk up? C’mon, he hasn’t been an elite player ever? At least not in the stats. Not anywhere, at any time any year. Except one 5 point outlier game in Hlinka against a weak apponent which amounted to 72% of his entire output in the tournament. Another Sampo Ranta?

Maybe actually try seeing him play instead of stat watching? I don't think he would be ranked as first rounder in every list if he was another Sampo Ranta.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Maybe actually try seeing him play instead of stat watching? I don't think he would be ranked as first rounder in every list if he was another Sampo Ranta.

Honestly, I've watched him quite a bit this season (Liiga, 4 nations, and WJC) and his ranking mystifies me. McKeen's, Future Considerations, Hockey Prospect and ISS all have him as the top Finnish prospect and his rank has barely decreased this year despite him not doing a whole lot of, well, anything.

I love the tools but he's gotta do something with them to convince me to draft him as high as he's being ranked.

 

[JK2K]

Sorry, he wasn’t even scoring in u17 tournaments. On elite prospects there is no year where he was dominant. I’ve watched him play, and I don’t see it.
Lots of “good hands”, “good skaters”, “playing with men” in this age group.
He’s a good player......
Just way over rated.
Low first, high second in my opinion.

 

[Tormentor]

If the scouts see something in him then there's probably something there.

But do we actually know what real NHL scouts think about him?

ISS can have him as a high 1st rounder, but what does that really mean and do they even have a scout watching games in Finland this season? It's good to remember that ISS had Otto Mäkinen ranked as a 1st rounder for 2016 draft after a productive Hlinka Cup. It's also good to remember that they didn't rank Miro Heiskanen as 1st rounder until April/May last year. Some of the public scouting agencies may do a better job than ISS, but as far as I know none of them have full time staff in Europe apart from Central Scouting and that probably impacts the end result quite a bit.

Not a carbon copy, but Kupari reminds me of Roope Hintz in both good and bad. Great speed and skating, good skill level, but maybe a bit soft in some aspects and doesn't necessarily stand out with his hockey sense. It's wrong to judge Kupari just based on his play in Liiga due to limited ice time, but from what I've seen his play in Jr.A hasn't been particularly great or uplifting either. Kupari can easily go in the 1st round, but he's such an enigmatic prospect that it wouldn't surprise me much if several NHL organizations rank him outside the top-31 come draft day.

 

[Hokinaittii]

I feel like this could be similar case with Vesalainen last year when bunch of people lost hope in him due to lack of production/missing hockey IQ etc and then he suddenly skyrocketed back to people's list after dominant U-18 tournament.

 

[JK2K]

That could be true for pretty much every player

 

[kelsier]

It is much too early to tell whether he has issues with hockey IQ based on the showings in the league. I've watched those games and he hasn't been let to play in a position to really see what he's capable of. It was the same thing at the WJC where he played very limited minutes with no PP time. Of course for those who have also been following him in the JrA can probably make some assessments already. Whenever his face appears on the screen it reminds me how young he still is. Kind of too bad that often these talented youngsters are scouted and brought in by the more wealthy and better competing organizations that tend to already be stacked with high earning veteran players so there's less room to play. With lesser teams they'd get bigger roles and better chance to earn powerplay minutes.

 

[Smeagoal]

Where do you think this kid is going to get drafted? Top 10? Top 20? or First round....

 

[Hokinaittii]

Where do you think this kid is going to get drafted? Top 10? Top 20? or First round....

I'd be shocked if he isn't picked in the first round. I think a lot depends on how he looks in U-18. If he has a great tournament, I could see him picked in top-10/15.

 

[Hokinaittii]

From what I heard, Kupari had again really good game vs HPK (0+1, FO% 69,2/season average 63.1). He was fast, cunning and apparently he has started to utilize his strengths more by arrogantly driving the net, something that you don't see many 17yo players do regularly against men. It takes some balls and courage so it's nice to see him show some of that already.

Huippuhetket: Kärpät - HPK

Interestingly enough, some fans from Kärpät feel like Kupari has been more impressive than Aho was for them at the same age. Needless to say that doesn't mean Kupari will become better than Aho but he sure has the potential to become something great.

 

[JJTT]

Yeah he was really good again, had an assist and almost scored twice after beating the defender.

Just a shame that he has to play with two useless grinders.

Hopefully he at least gets the 3C spot for the rest of the season, instead rotatating in and out of the lineup.