The Explanation for Kapanen; McKenna Defends Hiller and Fowler’s Workload

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The Explanation for Kapanen; McKenna Defends Hiller and Fowler’s Workload
Credit: Chris Tanouye/Getty Images

Oliver Kapanen will play his first game of the 2026-27 season tonight. The Finnish player, who was expected to be the club's second-line center heading into the season, has not yet been able to play.

We knew he had a lower-body injury… but he'd been “day-to-day” for several weeks.

All of this made his absence seem strange from the outside. But Kapanen, who spoke to the media after his team's practice today, explained what happened.

Basically, the Finnish player got injured at the very end of training camp. He thought he'd be able to return as early as the second game of the season, but a setback in his recovery slowed him down.

As a result, his absence was “day-to-day” for a while… because he was indeed being evaluated on a daily basis.

The situation was clearly quite unusual. But the good news is that the kid is feeling good and is ready to play as early as tonight.

We'll see if his return helps the Canadiens.

Gavin McKenna Defends Jim Hiller

On Thursday night, Gavin McKenna played just 6:36 in a Maple Leafs game that went into overtime. The forward was benched starting in the second period… and wasn't seen on the ice again after that.

After the game, coach Jim Hiller explained that his team's numerous penalties prevented him from putting McKenna on the ice in the second period… and afterward, he had trouble putting him back in because he hadn't played in a while.

So we were wondering how McKenna would take it… and the young forward seems to be handling the situation well. He says he had a good conversation with Hiller and that he trusts his coach.

McKenna mentioned that Hiller told him his play wasn't the issue. The young player, more or less, repeated the same line his coach used on Thursday night.

Of course, no one expected the team's most recent first-round draft pick to publicly call out his coach… but we'll see how that relationship evolves over the coming months. And most importantly, what kind of ice time the young player will get tonight against the Islanders.

Jacob Fowler's Workload

Jacob Fowler will be the Canadiens' starting goaltender tonight. This isn't necessarily a huge surprise, considering he's the team's hot goaltender right now.

That said, if you look at the Habs' last five games (including tonight's), you'll see that Fowler has started four of them. The only start he didn't get (Wednesday against the Capitals) came during a back-to-back series.

Which is surprising for a guy who, just 10 days ago, was in Laval, you know.

One might think that the Canadiens, even though they're big fans of Fowler, didn't necessarily intend to give the kid such a heavy workload so early in the season. But for reasons we're all aware of (Jakub Dobes' struggles and Samuel Montembeault's injury), that's what the team was forced to do.

I'm not criticizing the decision—on the contrary: Martin St-Louis is showing that he makes decisions to win games. And right now, it's a guy who was in Laval 10 days ago who gives him the best chance to win every night.


In Brief

– The Flyers (0-6-3) believe they can find solutions from within.

– Artem Zub, a key player in Ottawa.

– Too bad.

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