Oliver Kapanen hasn’t done much on offense in the past two months

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Oliver Kapanen hasn’t done much on offense in the past two months
Credit: Capture d'écran/Twitter

Oliver Kapanen's start to the season exceeded expectations.

The player took over the #2 center spot and even had Kent Hughes say he had what it takes to try to keep his spot long-term.

It was a nice surprise.

That said, a slump was always a possibility. And clearly, over the past two months, we've seen exactly that happen: he's creating absolutely nothing offensively.

He's hit a wall, which isn't unusual for a rookie… and for a guy who was playing above his level. Just like Jake Evans did last year, in fact…

Since the game on January 13 against the Capitals, Kapanen has played 22 NHL games. During that span, he has scored four goals and recorded two assists (all in the same game, against the Nordiques on January 29).

That's a pace of 23 points over a season. That's too few for a top-6 forward… and that might be why this morning, he followed the tireless Lane Hutson to go skating in Brossard.

So in over two months, he has only six points. Yes, there was the Olympic break (during which he didn't register any points, given his very limited ice time), but that's still a sample size of one-quarter of the season.

This season, Kapanen has 33 points. He had 27 points in his first 46 games of the season, which was better… but still unsustainable for him.

Is the real Kapanen somewhere between the two versions we've seen this year? Will we see the young man get a second wind at the end of the season?

Who knows.

Because if he doesn't, it won't be good for Ivan Demidov or for the Habs—a team that needs offensive help from its depth lines—in general.

And it's not as if the team has 36 other options to fill the position…


in a nutshell

– Incredible.

– Wow.

– That's no small feat.

– Note to self.

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