When the Edmonton Oilers claimed Kasperi Kapanen off waivers in November 2024, they were in the midst of an underwhelming start to the season. They sat 15th in the NHL with a 9-8-2 record, and their veteran forward core lacked the pace and efficiency they had shown the prior year.

Kapanen possesses a mix of speed, physicality and offensive upside that made him an intriguing claim. He played up and down the lineup in his first season in Edmonton and made his way into the top six at times, including during the Stanley Cup Final. The experiment was successful enough to earn him a one-year extension worth $1.3 million.

Kapanen rewarded the Oilers for extending him and built on his strong post-season with a productive 2025-26 campaign. He finished with 1.79 points per hour at five-on-five, which ranked fourth best among Oiler forwards.

The coaching staff found a nice fit for him as a wing partner for Vasily Podkolzin, with whom he developed excellent chemistry. In 292 minutes together, Kapanen and Podkolzin outscored opponents 17-8 with a 51.8 per cent expected goal share. They spent significant time flanking Leon Draisaitl in the top six and had a consistent impact together.

While Kapanen provided great value for the Oilers when he was in the lineup, injuries whittled down his season to just 41 games. He missed over two months with a lower-body injury suffered in late October, which he re-aggravated in practice just before he planned to return.

Another challenge for Kapanen was a late-season slump where he scored 2 points in the team’s final 15 regular-season games. It was a brief reminder that although he played well for most of the year, his floor as a player is quite low. He was on waivers for a reason, after all.

Despite the impressive production in his half-season of action, some of the underlying numbers were skeptical of his season. HockeyViz ranked Kapanen’s offensive play driving 13 per cent below league average. His poor metrics are partly due to the struggles he had away from his regular linemates. In his minutes without Podkolzin, he had a 40.5 per cent expected goal share and a dreadful 33.3 per cent goal share. His late-season slump also came when Leon Draisaitl was out with an injury.

Regardless, Kapanen fit well into his role in the lineup, and he carried that over into the playoffs. He scored a team-leading four goals and finished a plus-seven in the first round against the Anaheim Ducks. Say what you want, he’s shown up in the playoffs for the Oilers in back-to-back runs.

Kapanen has earned a new contract, but with some young wingers knocking on the door, a new deal with the Oilers will come down to whether they can agree on a low enough cap hit.