So just as an aside before going into it, this will be my first round mock draft. It feels weird doing it when the Stanley Cup Finals are going on, but oh well. This is my vague idea of how things shape up on draft day, though as we all know, things never go according to plan (I’m looking at you 2012!). I’ll be doing all the thirty picks sort of one by one and maybe go on to the second round if I have time. I usually do a four round mock draft, but by then nobody is interested and it’s more work than it’s worth. Feel free to mock away as always, because I do revel in it.
30. The New Jersey Devils select Right Wing Kasperi Kapanen from KalPa in the SM-liiga
5’10, 173lbs, 1996-07-23 : 17 years old 47-7g-7a-14p
Kasperi Kapanen seems to be riding last year’s level of play at least insofar as his rankings on most scouting services etc. His play level however this year has not been anywhere close to where it should be and in general has been a disaster. Like all disasters, sometimes it works out for a team and player (See Saad and his massive fall because his coach tried turning him into a gritty power forward when he got to the OHL). So too can Kapanen be for the team that has the balls to draft him.
Let’s go a little more in depth in that fall from grace. At this point last season Kapanen had just helped lead Finland to an U18 Bronze medal on the back of his team leading 5 goals, had had a very solid year in the JR. A U20 league in Finland and was impressive in his debut for the KalPa in the SM-liiga scoring 4 goals in 13 games. That basically put him number two in the European rankings behind only William Nylander. Fast forward to this season and Kapanen had a very rough season in the SM-liiga scoring 7 goals and 14 points in 47 games and was dreadful at the U18’s on a Finnish team that needed him to be a star again. All this being said however, Kapanen is still just 17 and while I can’t make excuses for the U18’s, on KalPa they are one of the worst teams in the league and aside from Habs prospect Lehkonen and…his father Sami who played at times on his line there isn’t a ton of scoring talent in a league notorious for low scoring.
Why would the New Jersey Devils pick him with their 30th overall pick? Very simply because they have a lot of interesting young defensive talent (that is languishing because they want to play old slow vets who can’t skate), but at forward they still have a lot to do. Obviously having seen their smallish talented Swedes simply fail in the system in the forms of Tedenby, Bergfors and Josefson (TBD), some Devils fans will probably revile in getting a similar player with similar traits…but hey, cheer up, he’s from Finland! With his mixture of great acceleration speed and some underrated one on one ability, Kapanen is highly effective scoring off the rush and creating chances largely through his speed through the neutral zone. While he’s typically more of a shooter when he does find himself set up in the offensive zone and stationary he’s always thinking pass and get open. Defensively…well he has holes, but again, this is a player that is usually working hard to take the puck away and head down the ice as fast as possible, he’s not one to grind things out or slog it up bellow the goal line. Getting stronger will be the biggest thing for him to do before entering the NHL.
If Kapanen falls (and I think he will) he will be a perfect fit for two kinds of teams, a team starved for high-end offensive talent at the prospect level like say the Devils or a team deep enough in their top-6 that they can wait 3-4 years and hope this bad year was just a one off like Chicago.
Comparison : Carl Hagelin
Thanks for reading.