Kapanen embracing role as a penalty killer
Finnish forward knows that unfamiliar assignment is his best shot at getting ice time
Like most first-round picks, Kasperi Kapanen was a goal-scorer. He grew up being the best player on his team, the focus of the power play.
But on a Maple Leafs team filled with young talent, Kapanen is not the best player. That’s no insult to his talent. It’s a mere reality that made his journey to the NHL a bit more circuitous than some others.
A little over a year ago, as Leafs coach Mike Babcock perused his lineup and projected what was to come, he saw Kapanen’s speed and told him if he wanted to play for the Leafs, he’d have to become proficient at something he’d never done: kill penalties.
“I just said, ‘That’s the way you’re going to play in the National Hockey League,’ ” Babcock said. “We’ve told (Andreas Borgman) the same thing. You’re not playing on the power play, you better figure out how to make yourself important.
“Kapanen can really skate and he can really shoot the puck. He just doesn’t, but he can really shoot the puck. He’ll figure that out over time. But, he’s competitive.”
While his friend and one-time Marlies linemate William Nylander — chosen 14 spots ahead of Kapanen in the 2014 draft — graced Auston Matthews’ wing, Kapanen toiled in the minors learning a new skill. He admitted he was hesitant at first.
“I had never done it before,” Kapanen said. “When I played back home (in Finland) they didn’t want me killing penalties. My first year here (with the Marlies), I didn’t kill penalties. Then they told me they wanted to start doing this.”
He’s gotten better at it. “I’ve been doing it for a couple years now . . . it’s an honour to go out there on the PK. At first, I didn’t know if I could do it or not but the coaching staff and everybody in the organization has been helping me.”
Kapanen has been recalled three times this season and he may well be here to stay. The Leafs are 6-1-0 during his latest stint, including Wednesday’s win when Kapanen scored short-handed on a near breakaway with his speed and puck sense on full display.
He tipped a puck past P.K. Subban, then overskated it. He stopped to get the puck and, from a standstill, held off a pursuing Craig Smith down the ice. Kapanen curled away at the last second, fooling Smith, and shot the puck between Pekka Rinne’s pads. It was his fourth goal of the year. “I was getting pretty tired there so I just gave it all I got. And, lucky enough, I just got him on my back and it ended up the way it did,” said Kapanen.
The penalty kill hasn’t been all that great since Kapanen’s recall, allowing five goals in 19 chances, or 73.7 per cent efficiency, 21st in the NHL. But Kapanen was on the ice for only one of those goals against.
Babcock notices those things. He also notices who’s playing well and who isn’t and rewards his best skaters with more playing time. Kapanen was rewarded late in the third period and into overtime with key playing time, sometimes with Matthews.
“Three-on-three hockey is the best kind of hockey, at least for me,” Kapanen said. “I try to get some speed, wind it up and try to make something happen.”
As a player who doesn’t require waivers to be sent to the minors, Kapanen’s yo-yo-like season may have more to do with the Leafs’ roster management than his readiness to play in the NHL. But no doubt he’s a better player now than he was in his previous recalls.
“He used to be a skinny little kid and now he’s got some meat on his bones and he has worked hard at it,” Babcock said.
“That’s a great thing about earning your way and being in the minors and riding the bus and learning what it’s like. It makes you not want to go back there . . .
“He looks like a good player to me. He’s made a difference, flat out made a difference. We can come at you faster with more people, he’s penalty killing every night and doing a good job for us. I think he’s important.”