Q & A with Sami Lepistö

LIIGA, NHL / Haastattelu
With the season down the drain, NHL fans everywhere are already looking for the future. For Sami Lepistö, a Washington Capitals prospect and a core defenseman with Jokerit Helsinki at the tender age of 20, the future is certainly looking bright.

Lepistö came out of nowhere in 2003-04 to claim a regular spot in the Jokerit defense. He was also selected to the World Junior Championship squad of Team Finland, after being looked over in the national team selections for his whole junior career. After a spectacular WJC, he was named in the All Stars team and the most outstanding defenseman of the tournament.

After his breakthrough season Lepistö has continued to develop at a fast pace. This year he already has a big role in the first powerplay unit of Jokerit and he's 8th in defenseman scoring in the whole Finnish league with 23 points (7 goals and 16 assists) in 46 games.

Jatkoaika (later JA): You've played your whole career with Jokerit, right?

Sami Lepistö (later SL): Right. My uncle was coaching the 1982-born team of Jokerit and he asked me to join it. That's how it got started.

JA: How old were you back then?

SL: Five or six... six years old, I guess.

JA: As a junior you were kind of in the shadow of Mikko Kalteva (a Colorado Avalanche prospect, editorial note) and Kevin Kantee (a Chicago Blackhawks prospect, both the same age and playing the same position as Lepistö in Jokerit, ed. note).

SL: When I was smaller I used to play with older boys, but then I couldn't keep up with them anymore, my puberty started a bit later than others' and I didn't grow as much as them. At some point I guess the level of my game started to lag as well and then I dropped from one age group to the other, one by one. When Kalteva came to Jokerit, him and Kantee played in the U20 team, whilst I played a season in the U16 team.

Someone else might have quit at that point, thought that there was nothing left anymore, but it wasn't such a big deal for me. I played that year in the U16 team and though I don't remember that much about it, I must've done something right, because the next year I was promoted to the U20 team and I was the captain of the U18 for a while as well.

JA: I've heard a couple of stories related to your paperwork and the 2003 NHL entry draft. What went wrong?

SL: I knew that I had to opt-in for the draft, file a registration. I didn't have - in fact, I still don't have an agent here in Finland, so I told my father about it and he replied "no, you don't need to opt-in". I didn't know at all what the deadline was. At some point my father realized as well that I actually needed to opt-in, but it was already too late, the deadline had already passed.

On the other hand, it wasn't such a bad thing, I got drafted earlier a year later. If I would've been drafted at all in 2003, it would've been at the last rounds.

JA: Did you have any idols growing up, or are there any players you look up to nowadays?

SL: Well, Jari Kurri and Teemu Selänne were some kind of idols when I was smaller. Nowadays... Kimmo Timonen comes to mind, his skating technique is simply magical, and Brian Rafalski is another one.

JA: Apart from the two you just named, do you have a favorite player in the NHL?

SL: I like highly skilled Russian players, Sergei Gonchar for example. Pavel Bure was a favorite of mine at some point as well.

JA: Let's talk a bit about last season, which was a breakthrough season for you personally. What kind of expectations or goals did you have before the season?

SL: I didn't really dare to expect anything. I thought that it would been nice to get to play some games with the seniors, but I expected to spend most of the season in the juniors. Our team had some injuries and then I got to play the first game, which was already kind of a surprise for me. Even bigger surprise was that I got to play the whole season in SM-liiga.

JA: You didn't have any games with Team Finland at any age group before last season, right?

SL: When we won the U16 Finnish championship, I got called to a training camp, but that's all the experience I had with the national team. I hadn't played any official games, no.

JA: The World Junior Championships must've been some kind of highlight of the season for you.

SL: Definitely. Before the season it was one of my main goals to make the WJC team. When I made it, the WJC itself quickly came one of the main goals. Of course, had we made it further than the quarter finals with Jokerit, it would've been another big one, but I was relatively satisfied with the season as it was.

JA: Are there any single memories or moments from the WJC which are special for you?

SL: The whole tournament really is something that'll last in my mind forever. It was such an experience, a big event like that. The both games against Czech Republic were great, the atmosphere (in the round robin game, ed. note) in Hämeenlinna was unbelievable and then the bronze game, of course.

JA: In the game against Russia you got to play against a possible future team mate of yours, Alexander Ovechkin.

SL: He's a great player - a bit different from other Russians, more North American style, I guess. Once I thought he didn't see me and I tried to hit him, but I guess I was the one who got hurt more. He's a tough player, he's strong and he skates well.

JA: Is there a single aspect that you think developed the most on during the last season?

SL: Probably I developed the most in using my head. When I was smaller I used to try to do completely strange things with the puck. I simplified my game quite a bit which helped a lot.

JA: Did you have any kind of contact with the Capitals before the draft?

SL: I had an interview with them, so I met the guys and that left a good feeling. I can't say I guessed that they were going to pick me, but it was one of the options I had in my mind.

JA: What about after the draft, have you been in contact with them?

SL: Not during the season, no. After the draft when I stayed in North America for a while, my agent's secretary called and told me that the Capitals wanted me on their prospect development camp. But my military service was about to start, so I had to pass that. If there's going to be a similar camp next summer, I'm interested.

JA: What about this year, what kind of expectations and goals did you have before the season?

SL: My goals were pretty much what I've achieved so far - making the top four in defense and playing on the powerplay as well.

JA: You did your compulsory military service during the first half of the season, how much did it harm your training?

SL: In the end, not that much. It was more on the emotional side. Of course, sometimes when we were on a camp and came to games straight from there, I felt tired, both physically and emotionally, but it went surprisingly well.

JA: Are there any specific aspects of your game that you've tried to develop during this season?

SL: My shot is at least one of the things that I've tried to work on. It needs both power and accuracy. Then I've tried to be more of a playmaker. I have got a bit more responsibility than last year, so I've also tried to meet the expectations that come with the responsibility.

JA: You've had the chance to watch two NHL defenseman (Ossi Väänänen and Brian Campbell, ed. note) closely this year, do you think you've been able to learn anything from them?

SL: It would be good to learn some things from Ossi, but it's not easy to throw around a body this small. Brian is a bit more like me, he skates extremely well and shoots well from the blueline, but it's not that simple. I've watched them, of course, but there's a risk of messing your own game if you start thinking too much about how someone else plays.

JA: Do you have any kind of timetable for your future in North America?

SL: No, not really. Of course, when I feel that I'm both physically and mentally ready to make the jump, then the time will come, but that time is certainly not now. I still need to add a few pounds and lift a few weights before that.

JA: Would you be ready to work your way up from the farm team, if the Capitals wish that you'd take that route?

SL: I guess everyone would rather just go and play in the NHL and be a star player there, but that's not always possible. So yes, I'd be ready for that, if that kind of situation comes ahead.

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