kelsier
Registered User
- Aug 17, 2013
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Way too early to tell. It's a bit different to play regular season games than it is against somewhat unknown foreign teams that have a different approach to the game. And let's face it, the French and German opponents didn't exactly fly on their skates.
That doesn't look at all like the Kupari we saw last season. I watched a lot of his games and despite the speed he got separated from the puck wayyy too easy, hence not getting much advantage over being amongst the fastest players out there. But yeah, the competition will get a lot tougher.
First of all what he has done so far now is only pre-season games and against weak opponents in the not so high level CHL stage. On that level Niklas Nordgren had already last season a hattrick, but we didn't see him do much of anything in Liiga.
But yes, I have said that part of Kupari’s weak production in Liiga last season for sure was his mediocre hockey IQ. If someone is lacking with their hockey IQ, but they have some other great abilities still, they are usually players whom need very specific players in their line to do well with their productivity. Luckily Kupari has excellent skating and great hands. So if he can play the whole Liiga season with players like Heponiemi and Pyörälä, there should be no way how he could be as unproductive as last season.
Heponiemi is really excellent for Liiga level with his speed, hands, passing and IQ. The only question with him is really with his lack of strength. But in the bigger rink, I’m quite confident that Heponiemi’s great abilities should truly help him and his teammates shine. Kupari and Pyörälä seem also like quite well suiting linemates for Heponiemi and his abilities.
My point with Kupari’s mediocre hockey IQ and not so good production was still the fact that he shouldn't have been picked in the draft in the earlier rounds. I said exactly clearly that I see him at best as a late first rounder. And that’s how he was picked, so so far my estimation on him has been pretty accurate. And of he is expected to ever have an NHL career, he will need to start producing at least close to or preferably over PPG . He should really be able to do it with the linemates that he seems to get for the season. Of course his ice time will be a big factor also with how his productivity will be.
Still, as I said, I’m not some on him having more than mediocre hockey IQ, and thus I’m at least not yet changing my prediction of him being most likely a 3rd or 4th line winger at the NHL level.
That's a lot asked. I couldn't find the all time U20 or more specifically 18 year old stats from the FEL, but the only player I know who has been able to break the ppg barrier at the same age is Aho, and that requires extreme talent. Even last season there was only one player who was able to score over point per game, so it's not like in the NHL where there are usually several players who score 82+ points each year. If Kupari gets even close to this kind of production then he'll absolutely need to pull all the pieces together, including the hockey IQ (which pretty much either is there or it isn't).
Between Hepo and Kupari for me it's actually the other way around. I didn't watch Heponiemi at all prior to the WJC because I didn't have time/resources to follow up on WHL, but based on what he had accomplished overseas I had pretty high expectations coming into the WJC, where he unfortunately failed utterly with the rest of the team. I didn't see blazing speed and his hockey IQ wasn't able to save him from being outplayed by his peers. Although as you said, he certainly fills in all the check marks for boom or bust project. Hepo's also young so guess there's going to be a learning curve for him as well to adjust playing in a pro league so I doubt he's going to be the rainmaker instantly if at all.
I'm glad about the two finding the same frequency and while the early signs are quite promising, we should keep the expectations at bay or at least reasonable. If either of them gets awarded with the Ketola trophy by the end of the year, that would mean a major success while possibly setting up new benchmark.