Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Who is Luca Caputi? The Pensblog explains

Luca Caputi
Probably the last ever photo
of Luca Caputi smiling.
News is breaking tonight that the Leafs have dealt Alexei Ponikarovsky to the Penguins for prospect Luca Caputi. The Leafs also take on the salary of veteran defenceman Martin Skoula, who will immediately be taken out behind the ACC and shot.

I have no idea who Luca Caputi is.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, since as a longtime Leafs fan I'm pretty fuzzy on the whole concept of a "prospects". But with all the talk of a possible Ponikarovsky bidding war and most rumors pegging the price at a pick and a prospect, it seems like a disappointment to get back a guy whose name only sounds familiar to me because I'm pretty sure it's how the Iron Shiek used to end all his promos.

Or is it? To find out, I asked for a Caputi scouting report from the folks from arguably the world's great hockey blog, The Pensblog. Here's what they had to say:

The Good: Caputi has a cool name. And he has some skill. We've seen him play for a grand total of less than 10 NHL games, but he made somewhat of an impact when he was up. He isn't overly big, or overly fast, but no reason he can't develop into a solid NHL top six player

The Bad: There really is no bad. Just don't know enough about him. The only thing we do know is that he just got surpassed by some other prospects in the Penguin organization, hence he was the odd man out. Burke knows how to develop players so he couldn't be going to a better place. You'll hear about some story about how he was demoted to the ECHL a few years ago, but look if you were stuck in Wilkes Barre you'd cause trouble too. Just tell people he beat up a stripper or something to help his street cred.

Summary: Luca Caputi is officially a part of one of the best "cool name for cool name" trades in NHL history. It's been so hard for Pens prospects to crack the lineup over the last three years that Caputi has got to be pumped to be coming to Toronto.

Anything could happen. He could be a 60+ point guy a year for the next five years, or he will be serving you pizza.

Prediction: Caputi scores the game winning goal in the 2017 eastern conference finals sending the Leafs to the dance.

P.S. If you want to know about Martin Skoula, take the wheels off your car and try to drive to work every morning.
So there you have it. Trade Deadline 2010 has officially arrived for the Leafs. Let me know what you think about the deal in the comments. And don't forget that I'll be liveblogging all-day on Wednesday.




13 comments:

  1. He has some size at 6"3, just needs to add some more muscle to play his game. Power forward with some offense, will get a look this year, regular by next year. Toronto local too, if he can improve his skating hes got 60 point upside.

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  2. "If you want to know about Martin Skoula, take the wheels off your car and try to drive to work every morning."

    This is probably the best thing I've heard all night...In fact, that joke alone justifies Skoula being included in the deal, imho

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  3. Well you got to know that their going to flip him tomorrow.

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  4. I am honestly in love with you. This blog literally killed me
    -Damian

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  5. Caputi deal is solid. I've seen him play once or twice. Pens vs Habs I think. Plus its a bonus that he's from my hometown

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  6. Sheldon KannegiesserMarch 3, 2010 at 12:31 AM

    This Pensblog link works:
    http://www.thepensblog.com/

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  7. Sheldon KannegiesserMarch 3, 2010 at 12:33 AM

    ... and suddenly, so does the original one. Never mind.

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  8. Well, everyone knew Poni would be gone by the deadline. Goodbye and fair winds.

    I know Caputi only by name, but I know the name well enough to be aware that he was at best a rather highly rated prospect for the pens. But this talk of him needing to improve his skating sounds a bit ominous to me. Call me a pessimist, but smell a bottom six grinder with sketchy amount of toughness for his size. Until he'll be traded on two or three years from now, and he'll turn into a 30-goal, 60-point second line power forward at the Carolina Candycanes, or wherever that franchise will be by then.

    Yeah, I'm a pessimist, and I sincerely hope I'll be wrong.

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  9. Had a seriously good OHL season the year after he was drafted. He may not be fast enough to be more than a 50-60 point guy at his peak ... but that alone would put him right around Poni's average.

    Even if he ends up being a 40-50 point guy, the added physicality he brings (which Poni lacked) will make this a fair deal.

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  10. I like this trade. We need more former Ice Dogs on the Leafs. Someone drug the Blues GM so we can send Stempniak & Exelby for Petro.

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  11. Skoula and New Jersey were worldwide Trending Topics on Twitter today http://bit.ly/bfjwXC Just glad it had nothing to do with Snooki.

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  12. As long as he beats out Luca Cereda for the title of "Best Maple Leaf Ever Named Luca", it will be fine.

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  13. I have been watching the Leafs build for 43 yrs, so just set back and enjoy.
    The people the Leafs have now in the building process know there hockey very well.
    They also know you cannot trade a clunker for a Caddie.
    If the scouting brains in past years could identify prospects, this present horse trading would not be taking place.
    It is a must for the Leafs to keep all of there young players now and see what takes place down the road.
    This will be painful for awhile longer but in the long run we will be ok.Hang in there.

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