Hockey

Jack Han: “I don’t think Oliver Kapanen will finish the season in Montreal”
Marc-Olivier Cook
Jack Han: “I don’t think Oliver Kapanen will finish the season in Montreal”
Credit: Getty Images

Oliver Kapanen is off to a… surprising start to the season.

I wouldn't have bet on him having seven points on the board after only 10 games, and I'm probably not the only one either. He impresses on many levels because he plays good hockey and produces offensively.

The center is developing a nice chemistry with Alex Newhook and that seems to be helping him:

However, we can expect to see him slow down at some point. I'd be surprised to see him keep up the momentum and finish the season with 57 points (that's the pace he's on at the moment) and then again, I'm probably not the only one thinking along those lines.

In fact, I know Jack Han agrees with me… because he mentioned on the Sick Podcast this morning that he doesn't see him finishing the campaign in Montreal.

Note that colleague Charles-Alexis Brisebois was (also) on Tony Marinaro's Sick Podcast earlier today. For those interested:

Back to Kapanen.

According to Han, who coached against him last year in Finland, the player's advanced stats aren't great and he's hurting his line a little too much.

Han sees him being demoted to the American League at some point this season… because he believes Kapanen still needs time to progress:

Would this be a disavowal of the player? Not necessarily, no. Kapanen is only 22 and still has a long way to go before establishing himself as a true impact player in the National League.

But it will be hard for the Canadiens to send him down if he keeps putting points on the board.

If he starts to struggle offensively and doesn't give as much as he is now, the Habs might think it would be better for him to move to Laval and play an important role with the Rocket for the sake of his development.

But if Kapanen continues to be effective in the offensive zone and helps the team score goals, the Canadiens won't have all the arguments on their side to say it would be better to send him to Laval.

It all depends on his production, in my opinion.


Overtime

– A great line-up awaits him.

– Hampus Lindholm has been given the green light to return to action.

– The message is pretty clear.

– Yes.

– Happy reading.

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