Prospect Info: Oliver Kapanen, RHC, KalPa U20 (U20 SM-sarja), 64th Overall

[Tyson]

Respectful IMO. He wants to develop in the SHL and make the trip overseas when he can earn a NHL spot. His development has been going on very good so let him finish his goals in the SHL. This season was his first big step forward. It's what we didn't do with KK.... allow him to dominate his development league.

Difficult to argue with this.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Grant gets a lot of hate around here - but I watched him (I believe it was on Tony Mariano) mention Kapanen as one of our best prospects about 9 months ago.

I mean even with the strong year he had, he's still not close to being among our best prospects.
I would comfortably put Roy, Mailloux, Reinbacher, Engstrom, Hutson, Fowler, and Beck above him. After that, you can argue for any of Kapanen, Xhekaj, Mesar, Farrell, and Dobes to be the best prospect.

After the draft this year, Kapanen will likely not be among our top 10 prospects.

 

[Tyson]

I mean even with the strong year he had, he's still not close to being among our best prospects.
I would comfortably put Roy, Mailloux, Reinbacher, Engstrom, Hutson, Fowler, and Beck above him. After that, you can argue for any of Kapanen, Xhekaj, Mesar, Farrell, and Dobes to be the best prospect.

After the draft this year, Kapanen will likely not be among our top 10 prospects.

I have not seen him play very much so I don't think you can safely say that he isn't or hasn't become one of the top prospects. I can't say Roy, Beck, F Xhekaj, Engstrom are better.

 

[Kimota]

Beasting

 

[calder candidate]

I have not seen him play very much so I don't think you can safely say that he isn't or hasn't become one of the top prospects. I can't say Roy, Beck, F Xhekaj, Engstrom are better.

Well Roy is definitely ahead… F. Xhekaj is definitely behind him, Beck and Engstrom are likely ahead or in the same tier… 5 goal is great but he isn’t dominant those weren’t great teams and blow out wins, we have to pump a brake a bit like lot of those goal were tip in, plenty of guys over the years that had great WC and seem prime to break out and it just doesn’t happen… if he going to be changing league he should make the jump to the AHL getting acclimated to NA ice and future teammate…

 

[Tyson]

Well Roy is definitely ahead… F. Xhekaj is definitely behind him, Beck and Engstrom are likely ahead or in the same tier… 5 goal is great but he isn’t dominant those weren’t great teams and blow out wins, we have to pump a brake a bit like lot of those goal were tip in, plenty of guys over the years that had great WC and seem prime to break out and it just doesn’t happen… if he going to be changing league he should make the jump to the AHL getting acclimated to NA ice and future teammate…

I am not saying he is going to be a star but for people to rank a bunch of prospects ahead of him at this time is a bit premature. His developmemt has really taken off this season. I have no idea how he compares to other Habs prospects until I see a sample size like I saw with Reinbacher playing 11 AHL games late in the season.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I am not saying he is going to be a star but for people to rank a bunch of prospects ahead of him at this time is a bit premature. His developmemt has really taken off this season. I have no idea how he compares to other Habs prospects until I see a sample size like I saw with Reinbacher playing 11 AHL games late in the season.

Agreed. Great development year in the SHL but we need to see how that looks in the AHL/NHL. However, I don't think he has AHL plans. He wants to go from SHL to NHL and playing one more SHL is a good plan for both him and the Habs IMO.

 

[lamp9post]

I mean even with the strong year he had, he's still not close to being among our best prospects.
I would comfortably put Roy, Mailloux, Reinbacher, Engstrom, Hutson, Fowler, and Beck above him. After that, you can argue for any of Kapanen, Xhekaj, Mesar, Farrell, and Dobes to be the best prospect.

After the draft this year, Kapanen will likely not be among our top 10 prospects.

Can you really put Beck 'comfortably' above him though?

In 13 GP Kapanen had 7-7-14 in the playoffs vs men and now 5 goals in 3 games in the WC.
In 17 GP Beck had 4-10-14 in the playoffs vs teenagers.

Beck is only 6 months younger. This upcoming season will tell us a lot about both these players.