Kupari has played 9 games during the 2017-2018 Liiga season with 1+0=1, 0 penalty minutes and +5 ranking, averaging 11:05 time on ice. Now 185 cm / 6’1.25" and 83 kg / 183 lbs, Kupari is still growing.
Brilliant hockey IQ and skillset
Rasmus Kupari carries the puck confidently and controls it with a pair of soft hands. Tends to hold on the puck, setting the pace of the game. Likes to challenge defenders bravely and makes even adventurous decisions with the puck under pressure.
In addition to great puck-carrying and playmaking gifts Kupari likes to shoot. We've seen multiple quick and sharp wristers with accurate timing.
The 2018 NHL entry draft eligible prospect skates well, uses his blades effectively and has rather good top speed. Could be more explosive, accelerate faster and further improve his skating to become even more dangerous a threat.
What stands out most is his intelligence and vision. There is some similarity with Sebastian Aho: they both make decisions really quickly and can adjust when stepping up the level of competition.
First goal in Liiga:
Kupari has played left wing with a reliable defensive center Niklas Lasu. Third player assigned to their line has varied, last one was speedy and gritty hard working right wing Juha Koivisto. With these players Kupari was able to get even more offensively engaged as a right-hand shot on the left wing.
He shows good competitive attitude and doesn't give up on the puck easily. Plays rather offensively, but is responsible and willing to backcheck and win the puck back to his team.
Needs strength and toughness
Rasmus Kupari is still a young player playing among grown-up professionals. He has received limited and sheltered ice-time, and he hasn't played on the power-play, while being already on of most skilled players on the team. On the other hand, it's usually a bright idea to let the youngster adapt to the pace and speed of the game against men with limited and safe minutes.Kupari has to gain strength and confidence. He's not too strong with the stick, either on the puck or especially when pokechecking. Brave and creative style leads to mistakes at times and he also mishandles the puck and loses it occasionally. A bit of roughness and aggression along with his developing skillset could create a beast.
While playing with his age group Kupari can make the game look pretty ridiculous. Like against the Slovakia U18 Ivan Hlinka -tournament.
1+0 isn't much when compared to another Finnish NHL entry draft 2018 prospect Jesperi Kotkaniemi who has scored 3+4=7 in 11 games. However Kupari has the 6th best plus/minus of his team having 6 plus-goals and only 1 minus. If the development continues, we could see some serious point production from the kid in the playoffs and the World Junior Championships 2018 in Buffalo.
The coaching this year in his team Kärpät seems to be in good hands and many promising players are stepping up with their development. The team turns the plays over quickly and execute aggressive forechecking with passion. This game plan stands in opposition to Finnish "Meidän peli" (Our game) tradition of 2010s with slow takeoffs from the own end and attacking in a strict 5-player formation.
This season pretty much every team in Liiga has accelerated the tempo and moved away from the tradition, following the trend mainly HPK, KalPa, Kärpät and JYP have established. Liiga is now again closer to North American style of hockey and this climate will ease prospects' adaptation process to North America.
Kupari scoring 5 points against Slovakia in Ivan Hlinka:
Potential top-6 scoring forward
The prospect is developing rapidly, his best game this season was the most recent one against JYP (then second, now third) on October 7th 2017. While Kärpät (3. -> 2.) defeated one of the hottest teams of the Liiga, Kupari seemed to feel himself at home. The under-aged hockey artist shot 3 times on goal and was +1 during 12:07 of ice-time.
1+0 isn't much when compared to another Finnish NHL entry draft 2018 prospect Jesperi Kotkaniemi who has scored 3+4=7 in 11 games. However Kupari has the 6th best plus/minus of his team having 6 plus-goals and only 1 minus. If the development continues, we could see some serious point production from the kid in the playoffs and the World Junior Championships 2018 in Buffalo.
The coaching this year in his team Kärpät seems to be in good hands and many promising players are stepping up with their development. The team turns the plays over quickly and execute aggressive forechecking with passion. This game plan stands in opposition to Finnish "Meidän peli" (Our game) tradition of 2010s with slow takeoffs from the own end and attacking in a strict 5-player formation.
This season pretty much every team in Liiga has accelerated the tempo and moved away from the tradition, following the trend mainly HPK, KalPa, Kärpät and JYP have established. Liiga is now again closer to North American style of hockey and this climate will ease prospects' adaptation process to North America.
This is my first analysis on Rasmus Kupari. I've been following his development during the past two months. I will post notes on him and later on Jesperi Kotkaniemi during the season.
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