Kasperi Kapanen has lost his game on the eve of the playoffs. If the direction does not change at a fast pace, the player will find himself in the stands, writes Sport’s NHL reporter Tommi Seppälä.
Pittsburgh paid Kasperi Kapasesta a year and a half back to the hard price. Pittsburgh, who booked a third-generation top hockey player in the summer of 2015, repurchased Kapanen and paid Toronto three players in addition to his first-round booking turn. Of these, though Evan Rodriguesin and Filip Hållanderin it later regained it.
Equally, expectations were high for Kapa, who made his breakthrough in Toronto.
And Kapanen did not disappoint last season. Russian star Yevgeny Malkin Kapanen, who found the same tone with the team, knocked 30 (11 + 19) points in 40 matches and the power stats were a handsome plus of fifteen hits. The return to the steel city was a success.
However, the people thirsted more, as Kapanen himself certainly did, because now the so-called contract period is at hand.
Weak performance
So far, however, Kapanen has not been able to build a particularly good starting point for next summer’s contract negotiations. In fact, Kapanen’s season has so far been quite a pancake against expectations, both playfully and purely in terms of results.
If we talk purely about the result, Kapanen’s weakest NHL season since the breakthrough season 2017-2018 is at hand. Kapanen have scored one point more in 77 matches this season than 40 games last season. In his breakthrough season four years ago, Kapanen made 20 hits in 78 matches, now 11 in 77 games.
However, lagging performance is a consequence, not a cause.
For one reason or another, Kapanen has shown virtually no strength in the NHL troughs this season. Kapas would have all the lunch to tear open the opponent’s five with his sharp skate and on the other hand with his skillful hands also take responsibility for the finish, but for one reason or another the player is content to play the game outside the game.
Kapanen’s biggest hem sin this season has been reluctantly curving outside the game. Instead of Kapanen trying to break into the core with or without a gameplay, this has too often made choices out of the game. This is problematic because only a handful of players in the NHL are able to score regularly outside of the immediate vicinity of the goal.
The goals and points come from close range in today’s hockey, but Kapanen has not been ready to pay the price for the points.
It should be clear that the season, which went badly, has also affected Kapanen’s mood. Self-confidence is certainly a test and the further the spring has progressed, the more often the frustration may have been felt in the player’s body language. There’s a snowball effect going on in the total wrong direction – negativity is easily starting to feed negativity.
However, there is no pity for Kapase in a society whose identity has been built to a high standard for years.
Head coach Mike Sullivan has, in fact, only tightened the lines with Kapanen. In the previous three Pittburgh matches, Kapanen played nine, seven and five minutes – and seconds on. This is a clear message from the well-known Sullivan to the Finns.
And there is nothing new here.
Sullivan benched Kapanen last season and earlier this fall Kapanen and a few other players got a so-called full ear from the pilot during the training. Sullivan has spoken publicly about Kapanen’s challenges to getting the best out of the match himself. The coach has stated that he will do everything possible to make him a top player in Finland.
However, the project has not progressed this season and in March Sullivan once again threw Kapanen to the side of the auditorium.
The next spectator command is waiting around the corner.
The fact that Kapanen has played in the nine matches of April with only an 11-minute ice time average tells the importance of the seriousness of the situation: the coach’s measure is starting to fill up. As for Kapanen’s defense, it must be said that this has not leaked to the defense and in advanced statistics this is the best of his team, but with the naked eye the proof is rude to follow.
A disturbing feature in Kapanen’s grips
Kapanen is a player with an average earnings of three million, of whom the club has hoped to be a key player in two of the top chains. That’s why nice basic gaming isn’t enough – and especially not enough in Pittsburgh, where one of the NHL’s toughest club cultures has been cherished for more than a decade.
Of particular concern is that Kapa’s intrusion into the core of the game seems to be of less and less interest to Kapa.
When Kapanen is at its best, this one gets constant mileage thanks to its speed, and in general, it is able to electrify the gaming of the chain in a way that few can. When combined with the ability to handle a puck and make a game, there’s a bundle in the pile that could help Malkin shine, for example.
Now that Kapanen is playing, it looks like this is kind of waiting for someone else to start the machines, and it doesn’t fit in Sullivan’s sauna. Kapanen must resolve his situation himself.
The consolation for Kapanen is that it is still not too late. Pittsburgh will continue through the regular season in the playoffs, where by taking a stand, Kapanen could set off a lot of the autumn black regular season. However, the foot should be mobilized and the overalls genuinely set foot in the here and now.
Otherwise, the starting points for the summer contract talks are pretty weak – that is, even if they are held with Pittsburgh if the season ends in a totally negative mood.