Kasperi Kapanen of Pittsburgh seems to be in the midst of an identity crisis, writes Tommi Seppälä, NH Sport’s journalist for Urheil.
There are no two words about whether Kasperi Kapanen good NHL player. Yes it is. The top third generation player has all the tools from skating to skill level and head to play on high quality teams almost anywhere in the lineup. As for Kapanen, we are talking about a very versatile player. Right now, however, it is dry.
For Kapanen, Sunday night’s top match against Carolina was already the tenth in a row, where this was left without power markings. At the same time, a reading of -6 has been recorded in the power statistics during the dry season. On the other hand, there is nothing strange here, for even the best sometimes go through dry periods that seem to be eternal.
The break of Kapanen’s dry season is only a matter of time, as there has been no shortage of finishers in the last matches. In the ten games, the winger with a Kuopio background has seven places in the first sector, which is one captain who has played less than almost twice as much. Sidney Crosby. Sure, Crosby has created a bunch of situations for others.
For Kapanen, uniformity of execution is still a small problem at the NHL level. At its best, Kapanen’s skating brings electricity and energy to the chain in a way that gets the opponent on its hind legs, but this strength is still too often left unused. Kapanen sometimes settles for playing slower and out of the game. This is directly reflected in the power statistics.
Although Kapanen brings a lot more to the table than power points, this season has been disappointing. The average score per dock match is just 0.47, up from 0.56 in Toronto three years ago and 0.75 in Pittsburgh last season. In addition, last season’s power statistics +15 have changed to +1 this season.
In the statistics of goal location and goal expected, Kapanen’s readings revolve around 50. The readings are not weak, but for Pittsburgh they are the tail end of the group. It is clear that more is expected of Kapase in the steel city.
And now there has been no shortage of good playmates. Kapanen have played five to five minutes this season with almost 80 minutes to Sidney Crosby and more than 130 minutes Yevgeny Malkin with. Sure, the Penguins chains have lived through a lot of injuries, but nothing has been caught on the chain mates or the almost two-minute match-specific liability.
If the image is enlarged to one size larger, it is easy to see Kapanen still needing in some kind of identity crisis. From the outside, it feels at times difficult to determine what kind of player this profile will be in the NHL world. Are we talking about a top6 striker who is also responsible for scoring a goal, or more of a versatile three-way overall? It often seems that Kapanen himself does not know the answer to this.
In Toronto, a versatile player was baked from Kapase, whom the coaching management trusted as the killer of the ice. Now in Pittsburgh, Kapanen is a big part of the second superiority composition, and there is no responsibility for underpowering at all. Kapanen is an important player for Pittsburgh, and the idea of the club and coaching management has certainly been to get more out of being a Finn, especially as a player in the business unit.
It should be clear that Kapanen himself wants to profile himself as a key player in the puck game, who would also be able to take responsibility for the goal-scoring game. Every player wants to play the biggest possible role. But to play this role, Kapanen must be able to tighten the screw in his own making.
There is no endless time, as Kapanen, who is still applying for his player profile, will turn 26 in the summer – in addition to all this, a contract period is at hand. So far, the screens for the current season do not provide a particularly delicious starting point for next summer’s contract negotiations. Kapanen, whose rights remain in Pittsburgh, will earn $ 2.34 million this season.
If you look at Kapanen’s gameplay and power, this is the wounded three-way player in the NHL.
If he still wants to rise higher in the hierarchy, the tightening of the screw should start in the first place. How Kapanen would get his screw tightened is another debate. The NHL season is long and grueling, and the mid-winter relentless matchman doesn’t treat any player with silk gloves, but still Kapas would be more likely to expect a tougher charge and attendance at matches.
Kapas has lunch to be the driving force of the five, able to change the rhythm of the game with his own skating, but this is still too rarely seen. Only Kasperi Kapanen himself knows why this is so.
However, Kapanen’s career is soon coming to the watershed, as he is no longer in his twenties Prospect. It is clear that Kapase really has a lot better than he has seen, but there is no endless time to prove it. If Kapanen, who has finished the World Cup gold goal in Helsinki, wants to profile himself as a profit center player in the NHL, the pain of growth must be overcome soon.