The Edmonton Oilers have claimed St. Louis Blues winger Kasperi Kapanen off waivers, the club announced Tuesday.
Kapanen, 28, has appeared in 10 games in The Lou this year, scoring one goal and taking 11 shots on net. The veteran winger of 10 years has played in 470 NHL games, spending five years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, three with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and another trio with the Blues, including this season. In them, he’s scored 85 goals and 209 points.
His best years came between the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons, his final two in Toronto and first in Pittsburgh, scoring 44 goals and 110 points in 187 games. But in the years since his production has dipped, putting up 33 goals and 89 points in 228 games.
Drafted by the Penguins 22nd overall in 2014, Kapanen was traded to the Maple Leafs in the 2015 blockbuster that saw Pittsburgh pick up Phil Kessel and other pieces. Kapanen would return to the Penguins by way of trade in 2020, as Toronto sent he, Pontus Aberg and Jesper Lindgren for a 2020 first round pick, Evan Rodrigues, Filip Hallander, and David Warosofsky.
Ahead of his return to Pittsburgh, the Oilers reportedly had interst in acquiring Kapanen.
Kapanen will bring some speed to an Oilers bottom-six lacking in it, with his top skating speed ranking in the 95th percentile, according to NHL EDGE, even though his speed bursts rank in the bottom-half.
Hockey Viz pegs his contributions as that of a fourth liner, providing offence at a seven percent rate below league average, his defence at a two percent rate below league average, and his penalty kill work at four percent below league average.
With Kapanen on the ice for 1,739 five-on-five minutes since the start of the 2022-23 season, teams have struggled to drive play with him on the ice, controlling 46.3 percent of the shot attempt share, 43.6 percent of the expected goals share, 42.9 percent of the scoring chance share while getting outscored 85 to 63 for a 42.6 percent goal share.
This past off-season Kapanen signed a one-year, $1-million deal with the Blues, and is set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer. The claim of Kapanen will see the Oilers dip into their LTIR pool, meaning they will no longer accrue cap space.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
