Kupari vs. Heponiemi

[SAS]

Who has the brighter future among these 2 Finnish centers? Both struggled in their first AHL seasons and both have slipped down the prospect depth chart on their teams.

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[Ana Crusis]

I vote for neither.... I lost all hope in both. Hopefully they prove me wrong

 

[Just doink]

Heponiemi is way too fragile and small for making it while Kupari have all the tools for some kind of NHL-career. Neither gonna be game changers, but Kupari has better shot to make an impact. Heponiemi suit better in Europe.

 

[Just doink]

But what a beauty of a goal they made together.

 

[thomast]

Heponiemi is a perimeter player and Kupari is way more dynamic but lacks poise which is best skill of Heponiemi. For NHL i would choose Kupari without thinking too much but i would actually choose Heponiemi for european hockey.

 

[biturbo19]

Heponiemi is way too fragile and small for making it while Kupari have all the tools for some kind of NHL-career. Neither gonna be game changers, but Kupari has better shot to make an impact. Heponiemi suit better in Europe.

Yeah. This is more or less why i go with Kupari here.

I don't think either is looking on track to become a real impact player, and in that respect...Kupari is far better suited to carving out an NHL career, even it's as more of a bottom-6 grinder with a bit of skill. Whereas Heponiemi is a kind of classic case of that type of player who is either a clear-cut Top-6 Forward, or off to Europe. Just isn't built for bottom-6 work physically, or in his style of play. So if he doesn't look on track for a Top-6 role (which his rough transition to NA Pro hockey in the AHL shows), he's not really a useful player. While Kupari can at least potentially grow into a guy who fills a depth spot on the cheap, at the bottom of your roster.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

Voted Kupari even as a FLA fan.
Hepo played wing while in the AHL, haven't followed him as much this year with MODO but assume he's still wing.

As stated above, he's too lean and will likely never hit top 6 NHL potential so that makes him useless in the bottom 6 if he can't go into the corners and win puck battles.

FLA fans had high hopes for him coming out of the junior days but his size was always the biggest worry.
Any website still has him listed under/around 150lbs.