RealGM

This kid is unreal good and going to be a future Hart trophey challenger. I personally dont see much difference between him and Malkin, both big guys with good speed, awesome hands and great finishing ability, not too mention Kopitar is a year younger then Malkin. Malkin with prolly finish with 10-15 more pts this season but he has arguably better talent to play with on the powerplay (Crosby, Gonchar, Whitney) then Kopitar.

What a steal the Kings got with him in the draft at that draft position.

I havent had the chance to see him play, but from all accounts he sounds to be special. Now i dont think he will be better than Malkin, but probably close.

I still don't understand how he fell so far at draft time. It was a mystery to me then, and its a mystery now.

ajaX82 wrote:I havent had the chance to see him play, but from all accounts he sounds to be special. Now i dont think he will be better than Malkin, but probably close.

There skill sets seem to be very similar to me with Kopitar actually being the bigger player. Im not saying he will be better then Malkin but at this current moment I dont see much difference in the two. Put Kopitar on that Pittsburgh team with all the coverage they get and he'd be getting the exact same hype Malkin is. Kopitar is a different player then last year and more agressive offensively and looking to shoot more.

I think Kopitars ceiling is just as high as Malkins but most people havent seen much of him cause hes on the west coast and plays for a bad team before this year.

ajaX82 wrote:I havent had the chance to see him play, but from all accounts he sounds to be special. Now i dont think he will be better than Malkin, but probably close.

Heres a youtube mix to see what kind of player he is, althought most youtube mixs make all players look awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCcTM_fk ... ed&search=

BlueJay_ wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Heres a youtube mix to see what kind of player he is, althought most youtube mixs make all players look awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCcTM_fk ... ed&search=

While i agree that a youtube video mix about anyone makes them look sweet, i am impressed. His puckhandling is quite advanced and he appears to be pretty creative.

Ill keep an eye on him.

Gretz on kopitar-

"Darren Pang: I was thinking about so many great young players, we obviously know about Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, are there other guys that you like watching so far, that maybe haven't caught your eye in the west but that you're looking forward to see develop?

Gretzky: Well, I think that, uhm, those two guys are really special. And I think it's great for the game that we have those two guys. The guy that I really think that doesn't get as much credit, maybe as time goes on he'll get a lot more recognition, but, Kopitar in Los Angeles. I just happen to think that this guy is a horse, plays the game the right way, plays hard every shift, a wonderful young man, and I think he has an outstanding future. So, unfortunately for us, we see him 8 times, but I think he's up there amongst the best young guys in the game.