Mired in a two-game losing skid, the Edmonton Oilers dipped into the waiver wire for some added forward depth on Tuesday, grabbing Kasperi Kapanen from the St. Louis Blues.
The son of former NHLer Sami Kapanen, Kasperi was a notable prospect in Finland when he came up through the system of his hometown club, KalPa Kuopio. The Pittsburgh Penguins selected the speedy winger with the 22nd overall pick in the 2014 draft and he was moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs the following summer as part of the exchange for Phil Kessel.
Kapanen scored nine goals and 25 points over 44 games for the Toronto Marlies in his first season in North America in 2015-16 and added eight points in 14 playoff games. He also helped Finland to a gold medal victory at the 2016 World Juniors in Helsinki with five points over seven games, highlighted by an overtime winner over Russia in the final.
The Leafs called Kapanen up for a cup of coffee in the latter part of the 2015-16 season but he didn’t register any points across nine games. After scoring 18 goals and 43 points in 43 games with the Marlies in 2016-17, Kapanen was called up to the big-league club in late March.
He scored his first NHL in a win over the Penguins, the team that drafted and traded him, and earned a spot on the roster when the Leafs matched up with the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs. Playing mostly with Matt Martin and Brian Boyle on the fourth line, Kapanen scored two goals for the Leafs in Game 2, including another overtime winner.
Kapanen bounced back and forth between the Marlies and Leafs during the 2017-18 season, scoring 24 points in 28 AHL games and nine points in 38 NHL games. In 2018-19, the final season of Kapanen’s entry-level contract, he broke out with 20 goals and 44 points over 78 games. That showing netted him a three-year, $9.6 million contract in the off-season as a restricted free agent.
Kapanen had another productive season for the Leafs in 2019-20, scoring 13 goals and 36 points over 69 games before the season was shut down due to the pandemic. Because of salary cap difficulties, the Leafs opted to move Kapanen in the off-season, shipping him back to the Penguins for some depth players and a first-round pick. That same summer, the Oilers were among the teams reportedly interested in Kapanen.
Between the shortened 2021 season and the 2021-22 campaign, Kapanen scored 22 goals and 62 points over 119 games for the Penguins. He inked a two-year, $6.4 million contract with Pittsburgh in the summer of 2022 and was placed on waivers a few months later in February of 2023. The St. Louis Blues put in a claim and Kapanen finished the 2022-23 season with 15 goals and 34 points over 66 games with the two teams.
After scoring six goals and 22 points in 73 games for the Blues in 2023-24, Kapanen became an unrestricted free agent and re-signed in St. Louis on a one-year, $1 million contract. Through ten games so far in 2024-25, he has just one goal.
With Jeff Skinner and Derek Ryan providing little for the Oilers on the fourth line, taking a flyer on a player with Kapanen’s wheels makes sense. This isn’t a game-changing addition, but it could help raise the floor a little bit.
It’s been a few years since Kapanen produced in the range of 15-20 goals and 30-40 points, so the Oilers probably shouldn’t expect him to come in and solve the team’s depth-scoring woes. That said, Kapanen will give Edmonton some much-needed speed up front and he’ll give them another veteran option to use on the penalty kill.
Maybe he’s got another huge overtime goal in him, as well.