RWJC Posted November 18 Posted November 18 (edited) Oilers Claim Kasperi Kapanen Off Waivers From Blues November 19th, 2024 at 1:04pm CST • By Josh Erickson The Oilers announced on Tuesday that they’ve claimed winger Kasperi Kapanen off waivers from the Blues. Kapanen, 28, hit waivers yesterday with St. Louis needing to open a roster spot for Robert Thomas‘ activation from injured reserve. He’d been a healthy scratch in three of their last five games since returning from an upper-body injury and had just one goal in 10 games on the season with a -6 rating, so it wasn’t terribly surprising to see the pending unrestricted free agent hit the wire. The Oilers are hoping Kapanen, who carries a $1MM cap hit, can rediscover the form that landed him 15 goals and 34 points in 66 games split between the Blues and the Penguins in 2022-23. St. Louis nabbed him off the wire amid that campaign, and a good deal of that production came in his final 23 games of the season after the move. ————————- Blues Place Kasperi Kapanen On Waivers November 18th, 2024 at 1:06pm CST • By Josh Erickson The Blues have placed winger Kasperi Kapanen on waivers for the purposes of assignment to AHL Springfield, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports Monday. Kapanen, 28, has been limited by an upper-body injury and multiple healthy scratches to 10 appearances this season. He has just one goal and a -6 rating with a 45.9 CF%, struggling to limit chances against while failing to generate many chances himself with 11 shots on goal. That underwhelming showing has led head coach Drew Bannister to slash Kapanen’s ice time to 11:19 per game, his lowest average since his rookie season with the Maple Leafs in 2017-18. With Kapanen now sitting in the press box for back-to-back games and the team needing to clear a forward spot eventually to activate Robert Thomas from injured reserve, it was clear that he was becoming the odd man out. The Blues had their chance to walk away from Kapanen over the offseason after he recorded six goals and 22 points in 73 games last year, his lowest points-per-game rate as a full-time NHLer. Instead, they opted to re-sign him to a one-year, $1MM contract shortly after the free agent market opened on July 1. While it’s a one-way deal, his cap hit is fully buriable and won’t count against St. Louis’ books if he clears waivers and reports to Springfield. The Blues acquired Kapanen, a first-round pick by the Penguins back in 2014, by claiming him off waivers from Pittsburgh in Feb. 2023, less than halfway through a two-year, $6.4MM deal he’d signed with the Pens. It initially looked like Kapanen might have found a home in Missouri, posting 14 points in 23 games down the stretch while averaging 16:45 per game, the most minutes he’d ever shouldered as an NHLer. But inconsistency and a career-worst 6.1% shooting rate plagued him in 2023-24, kicking off a slow slide down the depth chart. As a former 20-goal scorer with Toronto and a five-time 30-point getter, there might be some interest in Kapanen on the wire as a fully buriable expiring contract with some rebound potential. If not, he’ll be staring down his first minor league assignment since the 2017-18 season. https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2024/11/blues-place-kasperi-kapanen-on-waivers.html#ref=home Edited November 19 by RWJC 1 Quote
RWJC Posted November 18 Author Posted November 18 Don’t need to up the level of inconsistency. Please refrain PAJR, please. Step away from the phone on this occasion. Quote
flickyoursedin Posted November 18 Posted November 18 PA and Rutherford salivating at the idea of getting another former penguin! 1 Quote
Captain insano Posted November 18 Posted November 18 Feel like the sharks would be a good situation for kapanen 1 Quote
Elias Pettersson Posted November 18 Posted November 18 He would be a better fit in Tocchet's system than Sprong. Might be worth a shot at $1 million. Can always send him to Abby if it doesn't work out... 1 Quote
RakuRaku Posted November 18 Posted November 18 I can feel it coming.... Rutherford will pick him up.... a familiar face that used to work for them and now we don't have a lot of options to shake things up offensively.... but only if teams lower than us in the standings pass though.... Quote
Rekker Posted November 18 Posted November 18 I liked Kaspeir when he was in Toronto, one of the few I liked back then. His game has really fallen off though. The only way I see a fit here is if Brock is out longterm. I sure hope is better soon. Quote
Curmudgeon Posted November 18 Posted November 18 17 minutes ago, Rekker said: I liked Kaspeir when he was in Toronto, one of the few I liked back then. His game has really fallen off though. The only way I see a fit here is if Brock is out longterm. I sure hope is better soon. Not even then. Kapanen has been a disaster. Why do you think he'd benefit from playing top six minutes when he's scored 15 goals in three seasons with St. Louis? He's a thirteenth forward on a team unlikely to make the playoffs. There is nothing to suggest he'd be an adequate replacement for Boeser. 1 Quote
Rekker Posted November 18 Posted November 18 1 minute ago, Curmudgeon said: Not even then. Kapanen has been a disaster. Why do you think he'd benefit from playing top six minutes when he's scored 15 goals in three seasons with St. Louis? He's a thirteenth forward on a team unlikely to make the playoffs. There is nothing to suggest he'd be an adequate replacement for Boeser. I agree to an extent. But at a million dollars per, if BB is out long term, maybe. Kasp is a righty and can play with pace. Haven't seen him play this year though. If he's dog barf this year then no. 1 Quote
Popular Post Lewlowned Posted November 18 Popular Post Posted November 18 1 hour ago, flickyoursedin said: PA and Rutherford salivating at the idea of getting another former penguin! I made this earlier today with the same thought 5 Quote
RWJC Posted November 18 Author Posted November 18 36 minutes ago, Rekker said: I agree to an extent. But at a million dollars per, if BB is out long term, maybe. Kasp is a righty and can play with pace. Haven't seen him play this year though. If he's dog barf this year then no. No fucking way do I want Kapanen taking valuable time away from any current roster player. Enough stop gap shit that only impedes our direction imho. Guy is a shell of his best and even then wasn’t a full fledged top 6 50% of the time he was deployed as one. No offense to Kapanen, but even Catsperi Catpanen says… Quote
D-Money Posted November 18 Posted November 18 He used to be a decent player, but is no longer NHL calibre. He played 470 games and made over $20 million in his career, so he did alright. No sense making fun of him, or feigning sadness that he’s done. Quote
RWJC Posted November 19 Author Posted November 19 1 hour ago, D-Money said: He used to be a decent player, but is no longer NHL calibre. He played 470 games and made over $20 million in his career, so he did alright. No sense making fun of him, or feigning sadness that he’s done. Who are you directing this at? Quote
D-Money Posted November 19 Posted November 19 2 hours ago, RWJC said: Who are you directing this at? The internet. These discussions often devolve into a back-and-forth with one side expressing how much a guy sucks, and the other side crying about how sad we should be that this guy’s NHL dream is over. 1 Quote
King Heffy Posted November 19 Posted November 19 He's able to skate but he's still absolutely useless. Only got this many chances because of his last name. Quote
g_bassi13 Posted November 19 Posted November 19 Had to double check to see if Rutherford was the GM that drafted him, and he was (his first pick in charge of the Penguins). But I assume he passes through cleanly. I can't imagine that even we take a shot at him at this point. As someone who likes the Penguins, I was pissed when they traded back for him to begin with. Never saw the true upside. Quote
gwarrior Posted November 20 Posted November 20 This screams revenge. You offer sheeted 2 of our guys, so we will claim one of your guys who is CLEARLY doing fuck all.......... ooh, that'll show em Edmonton Quote
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