C/W Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Ässät, Liiga (2018, 3rd, MTL)

[NotProkofievian]

Jesperi sniped his 5th of the season tonight.

 

[jalperi]

1+1 against SaiPa already, 7min left.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Jesperi is on a 3 game point streak. He's been playing very well this month. The last time he got fewer than 4 SOG in a game was November 1st. He's changed the way he plays since late October.

 

[FinPanda]

I can't remember last time when a possible 1st round prospect playing in Finland has got so little hype from the Finns.

Ok, maybe Vaakanainen too last year. I think it's quite nice actually lol.

 

[HockeyHistorian]

I can't remember last time when a possible 1st round prospect playing in Finland has got so little hype from the Finns.

Ok, maybe Vaakanainen too last year. I think it's quite nice actually lol.

Now that us Finns have had some continued success on the prospect front, it appears that we don't have to make a huge deal about every prospect who might one day reach the NHL.

 

[Patrik Barkov]

I can't remember last time when a possible 1st round prospect playing in Finland has got so little hype from the Finns.

Ok, maybe Vaakanainen too last year. I think it's quite nice actually lol.

It's nice and quiet but wait until he kills it at WJC and the mainstream media hype train gets going

 

[93LEAFS]

I can't remember last time when a possible 1st round prospect playing in Finland has got so little hype from the Finns.

Ok, maybe Vaakanainen too last year. I think it's quite nice actually lol.

To be honest, I've seen him talked more about by the Fins than Kupari (atleast around here).

Also, there was a long stretch where the 1st round prospect from Finland was probably the best Finnish prospect that year. With your recent uptick in production of good prospects, there is no need to really hype up the next hope. Its been a long time since Toni Rajala was the best player. The last 2 years have been really good producing two or more guys who went in the first that were playing in Finland (Laine, Puljujarvi, Borgstrom, Heiskanen, Vaakanainen) on top of the guys playing outside the country (Juolevi, Vesalainen, Jokiharju)

 

[HockeyHistorian]

To be honest, I've seen him talked more about by the Fins than Kupari (atleast around here).

To be fair, I think that apart from Hlinka, Kotkaniemi has just been more impressive than Kupari.

 

[FinPanda]

To be honest, I've seen him talked more about by the Finns than Kupari (atleast around here).

Also, there was a long stretch where the 1st round prospect from Finland was probably the best Finnish prospect that year. With your recent uptick in production of good prospects, there is no need to really hype up the next hope. Its been a long time since Toni Rajala was the best player. The last 2 years have been really good producing two or more guys who went in the first that were playing in Finland (Laine, Puljujarvi, Borgstrom, Heiskanen, Vaakanainen) on top of the guys playing outside the country (Juolevi, Vesalainen, Jokiharju)

Yeah, I know. I meant like more posts here. Kotkaniemi has been better than Kupari for sure. It's nice and quiet here. There was like 10 years without any top prospects from Finland. I am quite young and I haven't followed hockey that much before Granlund.

It's nice and quiet but wait until he kills it at WJC and the mainstream media hype train gets going

So true.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

To be fair, I think that apart from Hlinka, Kotkaniemi has just been more impressive than Kupari.

I just don't trust his skating skills. That is what is making him a question mark for the international tournamanet like the World Juniors.

 

[NotProkofievian]

To be fair, I think that apart from Hlinka, Kotkaniemi has just been more impressive than Kupari.

It hasn't been particularly close, IMO. I don't know what Kotkaniemi has to do to be ranked ahead of Kupari in most rankings. Be watched by people who do the rankings?

 

[Ippenator]

I just don't trust his skating skills. That is what is making him a question mark for the international tournamanet like the World Juniors.

Well, he managed just fine with his skating in the last U18 WJC tournament as an underager. And his skating is already better than it was then.

I’m pretty sure he will do well at the U20 WJC already this year. But it’s good to remember that he will be there still a double underager and he can still play even in the next U18 WJC too. So it’s good to have still some realism with the expectations for him.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Well, he managed just fine with his skating in the last U18 WJC tournament as an underager. And his skating is already better than it was then.

I’m pretty sure he will do well at the U20 WJC already this year. But it’s good to remember that he will be there still a double underager and he can still play even in the next U18 WJC too. So it’s good to have still some realism with the expectations for him.

Well, at least, he's showing progress.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Well, at least, he's showing progress.

Skating is the concern with Jesperi, to be fair. It just looks weird. I started watching his Liiga play after his initial burst of production and there was a pretty clear reason why he wasn't putting up points for about a month. He was just late on most plays. That hasn't really been the case lately, at least in my opinion. He's getting looks every game now.

 

[Quethas]

Skating is the concern with Jesperi, to be fair. It just looks weird. I started watching his Liiga play after his initial burst of production and there was a pretty clear reason why he wasn't putting up points for about a month. He was just late on most plays. That hasn't really been the case lately, at least in my opinion. He's getting looks every game now.

Yeah it is the skating that is somewhat concerning. It is not like Kotkaniemi wouldn't accelerate quickly or wouldn't be mobile or agile, but it is the top speed where he loses against pro players. Well that and incomplete physical side of course but that is something that time should fix but I wouldn't be completely sure about the skating technique.

I think Kotkaniemi is getting more and more familiar with the pro game. He has simplified his game lately and he doesn't constantly carry the puck anymore. He is a smart kid and he starts to understand when it is a good idea to carry the puck and when to pass it. Of course he is still making junior mistakes but not as much anymore. At the same time he is doing more and more right decisions which can be seen in the score sheet.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Yeah it is the skating that is somewhat concerning. It is not like Kotkaniemi wouldn't accelerate quickly or wouldn't be mobile or agile, but it is the top speed where he loses against pro players. Well that and incomplete physical side of course but that is something that time should fix but I wouldn't be completely sure about the skating technique.

He's just really bent over. It looks like he's skiing without poles. That's why he doesn't really get a great push or a very full extension. However, because he's so low his turns and changes of direction are very good. I think it's fixable.

I think Kotkaniemi is getting more and more familiar with the pro game. He has simplified his game lately and he doesn't constantly carry the puck anymore. He is a smart kid and he starts to understand when it is a good idea to carry the puck and when to pass it. Of course he is still making junior mistakes but not as much anymore. At the same time he is doing more and more right decisions which can be seen in the score sheet.

It's pretty clear to see. His improved play seems to coincide with his return from the 4 nations tournament. He's getting to pucks first, winning battles, making smart plays and getting a tonne of shots. Perhaps the national team coaches had something to do with that.

 

[hawksfan50]

Well there are differences of opinion on Kotkaniemi. ..ISS does not have him in their Nov 1st top 31 ..but Craig Button has him up at #22 on his listbinmid-november.And Hockey Prospects has him at #12..so a wide range of different g opinions at this point on him.

But he is playing against MEN in the Liiga at his young age and doing quite well ...I think you must take that into consideration in rating him against those prospects for the draft just paying in the junior levels. ..

 

[NikF]

It hasn't been particularly close, IMO. I don't know what Kotkaniemi has to do to be ranked ahead of Kupari in most rankings. Be watched by people who do the rankings?

Kotkaniemi has always been ahead of Kupari on our board since last year, never less than a full tier apart. On our latest October ranking Kotkaniemi is #2 (has been there since our Blue Dispatch draft guide release in June) and Kupari #12 (as always this is a Europe-only ranking, Kupari is actually valued as an early 2nd rounder on our board) and this is actually the closest we had them so far.

If we were to guess, the Hlinka tournament is probably influencing others' opinions a bit too much. That said, different people obviously have different viewpoints so there might be different reasons for it.

Safe to say, for us it's always been Kotkaniemi and we never felt it was all that close up to this point. That's not to say Kupari is not a talented kid with significant potential, we will see how he does in Finland moving forward.

 

[JK2K]

Hands like JVR, but skating is very sub par.
Not sure if that equates to a 1-2 line c/w. He looks awkward and slow, but like him around the net. I do like him over Kupari who other than one five point game in the Hlinka has not really impressed me. Smallish size as well. Kotkaniemi has a good frame, just can't move it effectively.

 

[Zaddy]

It hasn't been particularly close, IMO. I don't know what Kotkaniemi has to do to be ranked ahead of Kupari in most rankings. Be watched by people who do the rankings?

Some scouts believe Kupari has higher upside. Generally they try and project these guys five years down the road, just because Kotkaniemi is doing better right now doesn't mean he'll be a better NHLer. Just saying. Personally I like both guys but I'd probably lean towards Kotkaniemi over Kupari as of right now. Kupari just hasn't showed me enough to rank him as high as some guys have him. But he does have some very nice tools to work with and I wouldn't be surprised to just see him explode when he puts it all together.

I just like the style Kotkaniemi brings though, it's like some combination of Draisaitl and Rantanen (two guys I really liked as prospects). I do wish he'd get more time at center though, think his impact on the game is a lot higher when he has the puck on his stick more. He's not really suited for that grinding in the corners type game, even though he isn't necessarily bad at it, but I think it's a waste of his talent to have him as a winger.

 

[TheFinnishTrap]

Extends his current scoring streak to five games. Currently at exactly 0,5PPG, same as Rantanen during his draft season.

 

[Hockeyisl1fe]

Extends his current scoring streak to five games. Currently at exactly 0,5PPG, same as Rantanen during his draft season.

Good pace, but TPS at the time was hot garbage and Rantanen was misused badly by Suikkanen before the WJC. Should say a lot that Rantanen was the leading scorer for us in the end, I don't think his numbers are that good of a comparison for Kotkaniemi.

 

[TheFinnishTrap]

Good pace, but TPS at the time was hot garbage and Rantanen was misused badly by Suikkanen before the WJC. Should say a lot that Rantanen was the leading scorer for us in the end, I don't think his numbers are that good of a comparison for Kotkaniemi.

Yeah I remember TPS that year, Rantanen was just the first guy that came in mind when I thought about prospects with similar numbers. For what it's worth, Puljujärvi also had very similar numbers (28 in 50).

 

[HockeyHistorian]

Yeah I remember TPS that year, Rantanen was just the first guy that came in mind when I thought about prospects with similar numbers. For what it's worth, Puljujärvi also had very similar numbers (28 in 50).

Pulju's numbers were very different before and after WJC though. Before the WJC Pulju had 5 + 7 = 12 points in 31 games and after 12 + 13 = 25 points in 29 games, playoffs included. If he matches Pulju's numbers after the WJC, I think he should be a top 10 pick.

 

[TheFinnishTrap]

Pulju's numbers were very different before and after WJC though. Before the WJC Pulju had 5 + 7 = 12 points in 31 games and after 12 + 13 = 25 points in 29 games, playoffs included. If he matches Pulju's numbers after the WJC, I think he should be a top 10 pick.

Funnily enough, it was the same with Rantanen. Kotkaniemi on the other hand had a better start before slowing down and then starting to pick up more points again lately. We'll see whether he will get that WJC boost.