Oliver Kapanen had his first point in 11 games last night. His “reward”? A one-way ticket to Sweden to play for his father Kimmo’s team in Timra.
The Canadiens announced today that Kapanen was heading back overseas after unexpectedly making the Canadiens out of training camp. Kapanen looked great in his first-ever NHL exhibition game versus Philadelphia but never built off of that early momentum. He played fewer than eight minutes last night in the 3-2 loss to Calgary and struggled at times with the pace and size of NHL players in recent outings. Kapanen had one point and was -5 in his last seven games with the Canadiens, and totaled no goals and two assists in a dozen NHL games. He will have a more significant role with Timra and continue developing his game in the SHL.
The Canadiens called up Lucas Condotta from the Laval Rocket to replace him, and it’s an indication that the club liked how Jake Evans looked centering the second line with Alex Newhook and Juraj Slafkovsky last night. Condotta is more suited at this point in his career than Kapanen to play a fourth-line NHL role. Condotta has no goals and four assists in nine games in Laval.
Former NHL first-round pick Jacob Perreault was called up from Trois Rivieres to replace Condotta in Laval’s lineup. He had one goal and four assists in five games with the ECHL club.
