Hockey

Oliver Kapanen is overturning his reputation as the guy who doesn’t get his nose dirty
Marc-Olivier Cook
Oliver Kapanen is overturning his reputation as the guy who doesn’t get his nose dirty
Credit: Getty Images

Before the start of the season, Oliver Kapanen was described as being a bit… soft.

We talked about him as a guy who was afraid of getting his nose dirty and as a guy who was a little cold.

But right now, the exact opposite is happening. We've seen him get involved in battles after the whistle, we've seen him go into traffic to create chances, we've seen him have fun in the scrum and we've seen him disgust certain opponents…

Renaud Lavoie, who saw Kapanen squabbling with a Mammoth player on Saturday night in front of the Canadiens bench, summed it up this morning in his column on BPM Sports: Kapanen is turning his reputation around.

He's really becoming a no-nonsense guy. And it's always nice to hear comments like that.

Personally, I have the feeling that the kid is starting to feel really confident.

And that's normal, after all. Things have been going well for him on the ice since the start of practice camp, because he's doing things the right way. We rarely see him get his team into trouble, because he makes the right decisions, and it's clear that his success offensively can help him gain confidence.

We're talking about the NHL's top rookie scorer right now…

So much the better, if Oliver Kapanen has that element in him.

He's proving to everyone that he can play with a lot of intensity… and we know that in the playoffs, it's important for a player to understand these aspects of the game.

I can't wait to see how he responds when the Canadiens are in the playoffs…


Overtime

– Coming up.

– Happy reading.

– We've done it.

– Here's hoping he's doing well.

– Oh.

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