There’s a long list of things that need to get done this offseason for the Edmonton Oilers, and some decisions will require weighing the options, but re-signing Kasperi Kapanen should be an easy one to make, and extending him should be at the top of the priority list.

The 2025–26 regular season was a rather tough one for Kapanen, as it was filled with injuries that limited him to playing exactly half the season, 41 games, in which he produced 17 points (eight goals, nine assists). He also mentioned back in January, while out of the lineup, that “I feel like I’ve got to some pretty dark places.”

Yet, the 29-year-old battled through the adversity of an injury-filled season, and eventually, the light at the end of the tunnel began to shine.

Because when the playoffs started, he rejoined Leon Draisaitl, who had missed the last 14 games of the regular season, along with Vasily Podkolzin on the second line, and Kapanen was dialled in from the opening puck drop in Game 1 versus the Anaheim Ducks and for the rest of the series.

The Kuopio, Finland native came out flying in Game 1, getting on the scoresheet in the first period by batting down his own rebound and finishing in tight. He then scored the game-winning goal with less than two minutes left on a night where he led the team with seven shots.

Overall, Kapanen kept his foot on the gas pedal throughout the series and was one of the Oilers’ best players each night against the Ducks, and even rode shotgun when Draisaitl and Connor McDavid were loaded up on the top line, finishing third on the team with six points, while his four goals led the club in the playoffs.

Moreover, diving a bit deeper, within that time period over the Oilers’ six games in the first round, Kapanen ranked highly in the NHL at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick, ranking 2nd in total points with six and 3rd in total shots with 15.

Among Oilers at five-on-five versus the Ducks, he ranked:
-1st in goal share at 8–1
-1st in high-danger chances for percentage (HDCF%) at 62.96
-3rd in expected goals for percentage (xGF%) at 50.84

And taking a look at the Oilers’ all “Euro” line of Podkolzin, Draisaitl, and Kapanen as a whole, they were flat-out dominant and were without a doubt the Oilers’ best line throughout the first-round series, outshooting the Ducks 37–22 and outscoring them 6–0.

Now, prioritizing re-signing Kapanen, who is coming off a one-year deal worth $1.3 million, isn’t just because he had a big playoffs. He brings several intangibles to the table, but I feel the most important is the clutch factor he brings.

Terms like “clutch gene” and “clutch factor” get thrown around often, but in sports psychology, Mark Otten’s 2009 study Choking vs. Clutch Performance: A Study of Sport Performance Under Pressure, defined clutch performance as “performance improvement under pressure beyond an athlete’s typical level.”

Over the last two Oilers’ playoffs, Kapanen has definitely shown that “performance improvement under pressure beyond an athlete’s typical level,” having scored two huge game-winning goals, with the most recent one coming this season in Game 1.

The other massive goal Kapanen scored came in last season’s playoffs in the second round. In Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights, with the score tied 0–0 in overtime, he rose to the occasion under pressure and tucked home the game-winner to send the Oilers to the Western Conference Final.

And that clutch factor isn’t just a fluke. Plain and simple, Kapanen finds another gear with the game on the line, showing it on other occasions, including scoring the game-winning overtime goal for Team Finland at the World Juniors to win the gold medal in 2016, and scoring a double-OT goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2017.

In addition to that clutch factor he brings to the lineup, there’s a lot to like in Kapanen’s game. He flashes skill on a nightly basis that reminds you why he was a former first-round draft pick back in 2014.

He brings speed to the lineup, so much so that, according to NHL Edge data, his 23.92 MPH top speed ranked in the 98th percentile in the NHL during the 2025–26 regular season. He’s also very versatile, able to play up and down the lineup, and he played the most PK minutes among Oilers forwards in the playoffs (8:25).

Now for the big question: how much should the Oilers re-sign Kapanen for?

Hopefully, they can sign him within the ballpark of what he was making this season, perhaps between a $1.3 million and $1.8 million cap hit, and maybe give him a little security with a two-year deal, though nothing beyond that, because his ability to stay healthy remains in question.

Additionally, the 29-year-old mentioned in his end-of-season media availability that he would like to stay in Oil Country, saying, “I do consider this home, my son was born here, so it’s a special place and if it was up to me, I’d love to come back, but there’s a lot of things that go into it. Hopefully, the talks will work out and I come back.”

Kapanen’s been around the league for 11 NHL seasons, and perhaps earlier in his career, he put high expectations on himself to produce a ton of points, but I think he’s done some soul searching and, in his season and a half in Edmonton, he’s reinvented his game to be a very effective role player.

That said, if the price is right, the Oilers shouldn’t think twice about bringing Kapanen back.

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