Remember when we were talking about Brendan Leipsic on #9 of this list, and I said that not all prospects need to be drafted by their respective teams? There's another case here. On July 1st 2015, the Leafs made a huge trade to kick off their rebuild, trading Phil Kessel along with Tim Erixon, prospect Tyler Biggs, and a 2016 2nd round pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for forward Nick Spaling, prospects Kasperi Kapanen and Scott Harrington, a 2016 1st round pick and a 2016 3rd round pick. Today, we're going to analyze Kasperi Kapanen.
The son of former NHLer Sami Kapanen, Kasperi is an extremely gifted playmaker. The Pittsburgh Penguins selected him at 22nd overall in the 2014 NHL Draft, and he's been showing why he should be ranked around there since people started hearing his name. The Kuopio, Finland native spent his entire junior career playing for KalPa of the SM-Liiga. Playing for KalPa U18 in the 2012-13 season, he recorded 6 points in 3 games and then went on to post 29 points in 36 games for KalPa U20. In his draft year, he put up 14 points in 47 games playing against men on KalPa, and in his most recent campaign, recorded 21 points in 41 games, followed by a grand total of 7 points in 11 games playing for the Penguins' affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
POSSIBLE NHL CEILING: TOP SIX SCORER
If Leafs and Marlies management treats Kapanen right and handles him like he should, by not rushing him to the NHL, then he should turn out to be a dangerous scorer for the Leafs in the future. Though it was a short stint, he showed that he could put up points at the pro level and will likely spend this season with the Toronto Marlies, and might get a chance to prove himself in 2016-17.
PROSPECT GRADE: A-
Kapanen doesn't lack too many aspects to his game. He's a great playmaker and sees the ice very well, and he's not too big but not too small, standing at 6'0 and 187lbs. He needs to work on his defensive game a bit, but working under new Leafs head coach Mike Babcock, he should be able to push his skills to the max.
What do you think of Kapanen, Leafs fans? Should he be ranked higher or lower, or is #3 good for him? Weigh in below.
Thanks for reading.
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