Rob Ramage, the Canadiens’ director of player development, won’t be surprised that Oliver Kapanen now looks like he has a real chance to make the team this season.
“He didn’t come here just to get a T-shirt for camp,” Ramage said about the 21-year-old forward on the first day of training camp. “He came here to make the team. So if it works out, he sticks around, that’s perfect.”
If Kapanen doesn’t make the Canadiens, he has a Swedish Hockey League contract that stipulates he must play this season for Timra IK. Ramage said that’s also fine as Kapanen continues to develop.
The Canadiens selected Kapanen, who was born in Sweden, in the second round (64th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft. The 6-foot-1, 194-pounder has been impressive since the start of training camp. He is very calm and smooth with and without the puck and carries himself with a quiet confidence both on and off the ice.
Kapanen is a centre, but he can also play wing, which works to his advantage. Head coach Martin St. Louis believes a team can never have too many centres, even if some of them end up playing on the wing. The sprained knee that will sideline winger Patrik Laine for 2-3 months could open up a spot for Kapanen.
Kapanen started Tuesday’s 4-3 pre-season loss to the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre at right wing on a line with centre Christian Dvorak and left-winger Alex Barré-Boulet. But after Kirby Dach took a major penalty for fighting Ridly Greig, along with a 10-minute misconduct penalty, at 10:37 of the third period, Kapanen was moved to centre between Joshua Roy and Joel Armia. Kapanen then scored his first pre-season goal at the 13:56 mark.
“I think he can do a lot,” St. Louis said after the game when asked what makes him believe Kapanen might be ready to play in the NHL. “He’s got an offensive game. He can take faceoffs. I think he’s a player that could eventually be a strong penalty-killer, too. So I think he brings a lot. He’s not just one-dimensional.”
St. Louis added that Kapanen’s instincts on where to go on the ice, both offensively and defensively, are excellent.
It was his hockey sense that led the Canadiens to draft Kapanen, who was only 6-foot and 166 pounds at the time. Hannu Laine, the team’s scout in Finland, really liked what he saw from Kapanen as he posted 25-16-41 totals in 37 games with the Finnish KalPa Kuopio U-20 team during the 2020-21 season.
“What we like about him is his growth potential,” Trevor Timmins, the Canadiens’ former assistant GM, said after Kapanen was drafted. “We think he’s going to continue to physically grow and he’s got very good hockey sense. You take a look around the league a lot of players that are having success have strong hockey sense. We believe in this guy as a centreman moving forward and he’s going to continue to grow.”
Last season, Kapanen had 14-20-34 totals in 51 regular-season games with KalPa Kuopio in the Finnish Elite League and added 7-7-14 totals in 13 playoff games. He then signed with Timra IK, the Swedish team where his father, Kimmo Kapanen, is the general manager and former NHL player Olli Jokinen is the head coach. Kapanen’s uncle is former NHL forward Sami Kapanen and his cousin is current St. Louis Blues forward Kasperi Kapanen. His grandfather, Hannu Kapanen, was a forward for Team Finland at the first Canada Cup tournament in 1976.
The soft-spoken Kapanen said scoring a goal Tuesday night definitely gave him a confidence boost. He hadn’t heard Ramage’s comment about him not coming to training camp just for a T-shirt, but Kapanen remains confident he can earn a spot with the Canadiens.
“Of course, I came here to take a spot,” he said. “I had a great six weeks in Sweden before the camp. I was ready at games and at hard practices. I was ready mentally and physically, so it was easy to jump in. The mindset was to come here and fight for a spot. I still have work to do and I want to take a spot.
“Every day here is a bit closer to that,” he added. “But I don’t want to think too far away. That’s basically my mindset. Live day by day.”
Kapanen took part in the Canadiens’ practice Wednesday morning at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard before boarding a bus with the other players for the ride to Mont-Tremblant, where they will practise Thursday and Friday before the final pre-season game Saturday in Ottawa against the Senators (7 p.m., TSN5, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM). After that, Kapanen will find out if he’ll be with the Canadiens when they open the regular season next Wednesday at the Bell Centre against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“So far, it’s all good,” Kapanen said about training camp. “Of course, I’m still young and learning, but everything has gone well so far.”
Make that very well.