Transferred to the Winnipeg Jets for this season Rasmus Kupari shines as the NHL’s statistical leader. On October 17, in the match against his old club Los Angeles, the forward skated past the Kings’ Swedish defender by Andreas Englund.
– It’s pretty wild! It’s fun data like that, who has been the fastest. It does say something about the fact that something was done right even in the summer, Kupari tells Urheilu.
Skating coach who used to practice skating with Kupari Lari Joutsenlahti takes care of how the player can produce such speed.
– I’ve known that Rasmus is fast, but such a result requires such speed that there must first be space on the field. You also have to be able to build up speed for curling, because you can’t get to that kind of speed just from the start, Joutsenlahti analyzed.
Kupari’s sprint also earned him a good finishing position. Cole Perfect passed to the Finnish attacker in front of the goal, but the puck flew at high speed from the side of Kupari’s platform towards the opposite attack corner.
Kupari’s exact speed in the situation was measured at 38.54 kilometers per hour, which is the lowest time of this NHL season.
Second fastest is Edmonton forward Ryan McLeod (38.34 km/h). On the other hand, Columbus’s has been the fastest defenders in the early season Zach Werenski (37.82 km/h).
The brightest star in the league and known for his magical skating skills Connor McDavid’s the fastest run of the season has been 37.18 km/h.
Winnipeg Expressway
Kupari has been one of the best skaters on his team since he was a junior.
– Skating and speed have always been my strengths in the rink. Now we have also tried to acquire explosiveness, so that we could leave the defender (behind) immediately at the start.
– Yes, it is Rasmus’ strength that he has always been a good skater. Especially when he played in the League then, he really stood out from the crowd with his skating. Physics has also always been at a good level, having worked as Kupari’s personal summer coach last summer Teemu Valtonen says.
Has operated as a right winger in his own career Teemu Selänne charmed Winnipeg fans in the 90s precisely with his speed, and henceforth carried the nickname “The Finnish Flash”. Kuparis is not necessarily Selänte’s successor, although the 23-year-old center forward has speed.
– Vladimir Yursinov always said that he “leaves like a pike from the beach”, so Teemu was just the kind who was always like a pike there between the packs. Senter’s playing position means that Kupari doesn’t get to steal anything, hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen to point out.
In spite of everything, Kupari has had enough scoring opportunities – instead, goals and power points have eluded the young puck player from afar. In the 14 matches played, only one assist point has been created, and the Goal Account is still unopened.
– There really hasn’t been too much power. There have been plenty of good scoring chances and a few through runs, where you could have scored a goal. Sometimes it depends on the little things whether those effects will come. Of course, when that place comes, it could be a little sharper, Kupari says.
The summer paid off
Valtonen, who works as Kupari’s summer coach, has previously worked for, among others, the League team KooKoo and the football club KTP.
– Maybe this was the third summer when we did things with Rasmus, but the first summer when we trained completely together. I have been before Marko in Yrjövuori at work and through that also did work with Rasmus.
Valtonen says that during the summer special attention was paid to speed. Kupari’s speed of 38.54 kilometers per hour surprised even the physical trainer in a positive way.
– Developing speed was our big theme in the summer. Didn’t really realize how hard he really went. Such fast, such strong results, such a positive surprise, Valtonen praises.
– Kupari has his own personal skating style. It’s good that he has recovered from his knee injury and his speed hasn’t lost any of it. Inline skating is perhaps his greatest strength, Joutsenlahti says.
Gunpowder wet
Copper was traded from the Kings to the Jets together during the summer Alex Iafallon and Gabriel Vilardin with. You traveled in the other direction Pierre-Luc Duboiswho scored the best power points of his career 27+36=63 in 73 games in last season’s regular season.
Warm California has changed to cold Winnipeg, but Kupari is still happy with his new place of residence.
– Yes, I’ve liked it at least so far – I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. After all, it’s quite a different environment than what I was used to in Los. It’s nice to get to see different places and different culture. The gang has been well received in Winnipeg and there are a lot of nice people around.
Copper’s Winnipeg Jets are in seventh place in the Western Conference. After 14 matches played, the group has seven wins.
Since the beginning of the season, the playing position has been found mainly by a Swedish player by David Gustafsson and the United States Morgan Barron’s between the team’s foursomes. The Finn’s playing time per match has been around 10 minutes on both sides.
Kupari’s chain mates Gustafsson and Barron have both managed to light the red light twice. Kupari’s Maalitili is still unopened.
– In the beginning of the season, we scored a few own goals, but later we have kept our own end more clean. We have tried to bring energy to the gang and use our skating speed and dueling power to our advantage. Through that, we have tried to get opportunities for the team to make mistakes, Kupari commented on the excerpts of his chain.
The current NHL season is already Kupari’s fourth. In the previous three seasons in the Kings shirt, the forward collected a total of 29 power points in 129 matches.
In each Kings season, the account has also accumulated a lot of AHL matches. Going into this season, Kupari’s big goal was to take on a bigger role in the team and set the net swinging at a tighter pace than last season (3).
Fast Finns
Kupari is by no means the only Finn who shines with his speed in North America.
The skating coach at Joutsenlahti has clear views on which areas of skating Matias Maccelli, Miro Heiskanen and Kupari are at their best.
– Maccelli’s strength is definitely small space translations. Economical skating and insidious well-timed weight shifts are, on the other hand, Heiskanen’s area of control. Kupari is probably very Finnish in his explosiveness and skating speed.
Joutsenlahti also points out that the player’s own strengths and abilities should always be adapted to skating.
After about 15 games have been played in the NHL season, there are a lot of Finns among the top ten fastest players in various comparisons.
NHL EDGE in the statistics, the number of overtakings over 35 km/h are the best in the league Roope Hintz and Kasperi Kapanen. Kapanen and Hintz have both cooled off more than eight times during the season at a speed of over 35 km/h.
Since the beginning of the season, Kupari has accelerated his speed no less than 60 times to a speed of over 32 kilometers per hour. The top name in the statistics for crossings over 32 km/h is Nathan MacKinnonwho has been able to reach the speed a whopping 138 times.
The Colorado Avalanche has by far been the fastest of the teams in terms of the aforementioned speeds (35 km/h, 32 km/h). The team’s players have managed to exceed a speed of 35 km/h a total of 46 times.
The Winnipeg Jets represented by Kupari are at the top of the league in all speed statistics.
Read more: Rasmus Kupari is moving from Los Angeles to Winnipeg as part of a giant deal