Kasperi Kapanen is a ??? line winger

[Wings4Life]

Kapanen is on a 64 point pace on the season with his new team in Pittsburgh. I am told he has worked his way up the lineup, after missing training camp due to quarantine and starting the year on the 4th line. At 24 years old, Kapanen is now entering his prime, and so it's a good time to decide on what level of winger he has become.

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[Trade]

I question the Toronto fans who said he could never create chances on his own.

That’s about as far from what we’ve seen as Pens fans this year.

He’s performing well in spite of Sullivan, as well. Sully hasn’t given him PK time pretty much all year, and Kapanen is one of the best young PKers in the league.

I’d say he’s easily a top-6 winger. Should he be your best winger? Absolutely not.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

He has been a solid 6 forward all year from the games I have seen, and pretty clearly the best winger on Pittsburgh’s second line.

 

[NotLeddy]

Ideally second line winger

 

[Gurglesons]

2nd liner. Was in Toronto when he got the chance too despite what that fanbase tries to argue.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

2nd liner, top 6 forward, middle 6 forward.. all accurate

 

[Kelly]

I question the Toronto fans who said he could never create chances on his own.

That’s about as far from what we’ve seen as Pens fans this year.

He’s performing well in spite of Sullivan, as well. Sully hasn’t given him PK time pretty much all year, and Kapanen is one of the best young PKers in the league.

I’d say he’s easily a top-6 winger. Should he be your best winger? Absolutely not.

Top 6 winger prob. 3 liner on a top offense.

Did Toronto fans argue that? I've always thought the opposite. Doesn't work well with others, suffers from tunnel vision. Creates chances on his own because of his speed...

I mean that's how he was in Toronto, haven't watched him much this year.

 

[Hisch13r]

Either 2nd or 3rd line. His pt totals are definitely inflated right now. He's been on the ice for 31 GF on an xGF of 17 and he's riding a 15% on ice SH%.

 

[CatchyTune]

Top 6 winger prob. 3 liner on a top offense.

Did Toronto fans argue that? I've always thought the opposite. Doesn't work well with others, suffers from tunnel vision. Creates chances on his own because of his speed...

I mean that's how he was in Toronto, haven't watched him much this year.

yeah i always thought he was capable of 2nd line duties but didnt work with our top guys.

 

[Steven Toast]

I would prefer to label him a middle 6 winger, but top 6 will do.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

He's a second line winger.

If he had better on-ice vision and consistency, he's got the tools to be a first line winger. But since he seems to lack that, he's better suited to being on the second line.

 

[The Nuge]

Middle 6. Voted 3rd liner, because he’s definitely not a first liner, so that seemed more accurate

 

[AvroArrow]

I question the Toronto fans who said he could never create chances on his own.

That’s about as far from what we’ve seen as Pens fans this year.

He’s performing well in spite of Sullivan, as well. Sully hasn’t given him PK time pretty much all year, and Kapanen is one of the best young PKers in the league.

I’d say he’s easily a top-6 winger. Should he be your best winger? Absolutely not.

Who said that ? We loved him here, we just had Marner/Nylander in front of him, and giving Kappy 3rd line minutes with Kerfoot just wasn't ideal for anyone. He was one of our best pkers, blazing fast and good offensive skills. Most of us were predicting him to put up good numbers when he got traded to Pittsburgh, he finally got the opportunity to play bigger minutes with elite line mates. He's a solid 2nd line winger. I'm glad he's doing well and finally given more TOI.

 

[biturbo19]

He's a Top-6 Forward. Where that means he slots in within that Top-6, could be on the first or second line, but he belongs there, and would be there on most teams, short of a team sliding him down the roster for "spreading the wealth" reasons, weird chemistry issues, or insane winger depth.

He's not a "Top-3" Forward that i think should be anchoring or expected to really drive play on a Top-6 line as the go-to guy. Not sure i'd really expect him to be a sustainably 60pt+ sort of winger every year, in whatever Top-6 situation. But it's pretty evident that winger depth ahead of him was what pushed him down for the most part in Toronto. Heck, even playing behind Marner and Nylander, he still managed to produce at a more or less "top-6 rate" from essentially outside the Top-6.

 

[The Moose is Loose]

He's an average 2nd line winger

 

[IceHockeyDude]

Solid second liner and ~50 point player

 

[ijuka]

Pretty easily a second line winger.

Not sure on what planet he would only be a third liner.

 

[MrThomas]

Crazy how Toronto let him go even his salary is really low due to Marner Mathews and Tavares

But yeah answering to you question, hell yes! He is really good top6 winger and still very young

 

[5 14 6 1]

I'd say 2nd liner pretty comfortably

 

[shaner82]

I will only speak about his team in Toronto. Haven't seen him play since.

He is a fast, explosive skater with a good shot. He lacks vision and struggles to find the other players on the ice. As a result, he takes a lot of shots from poor angles, which end up just being turnovers. He's very good on the PK though as you don't really want much passing when defending a penalty.

In Toronto, he could play on the 2nd line, but he took away from AM and JT's ability to bury the puck because he had such terrible vision. He was better suited on the 3rd line.

Perhaps he has improved, or Pittsburgh is using him differently, or his linemates are better suited to match his abilities.

 

[The90]

I question the Toronto fans who said he could never create chances on his own.

That’s about as far from what we’ve seen as Pens fans this year.

He’s performing well in spite of Sullivan, as well. Sully hasn’t given him PK time pretty much all year, and Kapanen is one of the best young PKers in the league.

I’d say he’s easily a top-6 winger. Should he be your best winger? Absolutely not.

Were leaf fans saying that? I never saw that. We always just thought he never really fit anywhere’s. Never seemed to click with JT or Matthews in the top 6.

Happy to see him do well. He’s always created tons of chances. It’s just he was the type of player that needed 10 breakaways to score 2 goals.

Strange he’s not being used on the pk. His speed alone makes him good on the kill

 

[Trade]

Were leaf fans saying that? I never saw that. We always just thought he never really fit anywhere’s. Never seemed to click with JT or Matthews in the top 6.

Happy to see him do well. He’s always created tons of chances. It’s just he was the type of player that needed 10 breakaways to score 2 goals.

Strange he’s not being used on the pk. His speed alone makes him good on the kill

I remember reading similar things on the initial trade thread on the Pens board, but i may be misremembering exact verbiage. Something similar to Grabner with more skill. His finishing ability has been amazing for us and his chemistry with Geno is amazing. But he produces regardless of linemates. When Sully had him start on line 4 he was still soloing goals.

Absolutely agree he should be a regular PKer. We just definitely have a team full of good PKers.

 

[The90]

I remember reading similar things on the initial trade thread on the Pens board, but i may be misremembering exact verbiage. Something similar to Grabner with more skill. His finishing ability has been amazing for us and his chemistry with Geno is amazing. But he produces regardless of linemates. When Sully had him start on line 4 he was still soloing goals.

Absolutely agree he should be a regular PKer. We just definitely have a team full of good PKers.

Good for him. Wish the leafs had the money to keep him.

 

[theicebox]

Top 3 forward.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Kapanen ends the shortened season with 30 points in 40 games (62 point pace per 82 games). Those are pretty clearly top 6 winger numbers, more in line with first liner or elite second liner production.