Tavernier: Smooth skating forward with great hands and solid shot. Also has the ability to find his line mates with good passes in the offensive zone. Looks like a solid prospect for sure.
I need to see him playing a bit more, though, but I like the player.
In that picture he looks noticeably taller than his dad who is listed at 5'10.. Kasperi is also listed at 5'10 but has he grown? looks a good 1-2 inches taller than Sami
In that picture he looks noticeably taller than his dad who is listed at 5'10.. Kasperi is also listed at 5'10 but has he grown? looks a good 1-2 inches taller than Sami
He does look taller. According to EP Kasperi is 179cm, but he could easily be an inch more than that. If he ends up 6'0-6'1 that could be huge for his career.
Can anyone tell me something about Ville-Valtteri Leskinen? He's been on fire lately in jr. A with 51 points in 30 games. He's got good size also at 6'1, 185.
Can anyone tell me something about Ville-Valtteri Leskinen? He's been on fire lately in jr. A with 51 points in 30 games. He's got good size also at 6'1, 185.
Leskinen has fairly good puck handling skills and an above average shot. He’s a strong skater in comparison to most of his opponents. 6’1’’ might be a tad too much for him, I’d say he’s closer to 6’0’’. Leskinen and his linemate Mäenalanen play a fast transition game and are good at cycling the puck in the offensive zone.
HockeyNator has uploaded a fairly interesting Jr.B game to Youtube: Tappara - Kärpät. Jesse Puljujärvi (white #39) and Patrik Laine (blue #42) are putting up good stats for 14-year-old players. Both are tall wingers that play with their right hand down. Laine scored a nice goal onwards from 1:13:30.
And I suppose you find it impossible that he knows the scouts(Finnish?) and talked to them before the game?
It’s entirely possible, either he talked with them or just overheard them talking about Kulmala, but that’s not the point. Barkov, Ristolainen, Lehkonen and is some cases possibly Ikonen or Antonen are likely the main targets for scouts in Finland. They build their schedules primarily around the top guys (~ top-100 prospects from their point of view), the rest are mostly secondary or an added bonus.
They probably wrote a small report of most young players in that game, including Kulmala, but it doesn’t change the obvious. Ristolainen was by far the most valuable prospect in that game, and a big reason for them being in that game in the first place.
Sometimes it’s hard to get one fully honest word out of scouts, you need to learn to read between the lines. For many it’s an industry policy to unveil as little as possible, in addition some of them like pulling your leg every chance they get.
There's a possibility that our U18 team will be pretty good this year:
Jonatan Tanus - Aleksander Barkov Jr - Juuso Ikonen
Artturi Lehkonen - Aleksi Saarela - Kasper Kapanen
A hot goalie in Saros and some good forwards if all the top guys are available. Otherwise the team doesn't seem too promising, one or two good D's would make that team clearly more competitive.
Marttila didn't mention Saarela as a candidate prior the most recent U18 tournament and he hasn't tested/added hardly any new players during the season. Remains to be seen if that has changed now.
Kasperi Kapanen hasn't provided much scoring for the U18 team, would be interesting to see what his role is if Barkov, Lehkonen, Ikonen, Mustonen, Tanus and Saarela are all in the line-up.
