TSN’s Chris Johnston reports the St. Louis Blues will be re-signing forward Kasperi Kapanen. The new contract will be for one year and it will pay the Finnish a total of $1MM, according to PuckPedia.
After the Blues claimed Kapanen on waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2022-23 NHL season, he appeared to look like a promising middle-six option within the organization. Appearing in 23 games down the stretch, Kapanen put up eight goals and 14 points while averaging nearly 17 minutes of ice time per night.
Unfortunately, Kapanen could not keep up that pace over a full regular season in St. Louis as he was only able to muster six goals and 22 points over 73 games this past year. Kapanen also saw his average ice time drop by nearly two minutes as he was primarily relegated to a bottom-six role with the organization. Despite his poor showing on the offensive side of the puck, there were some positive developments in his defensive game which may have led to this contract by the Blues.
Kapanen helped St. Louis with 37 takeaways over the 2023-24 season while only giving the puck away a total of 16 times. Furthermore, Kapanen held a 90.3% on-ice save percentage in all situations while making a majority of his starts in the team’s defensive zone. If the Blues can turn Kapanen into a defensive first forward that can generate 25-30 points a year, he will be a serviceable option towards the bottom of the team’s forward core.