The St. Louis Blues have claimed right wing Kasperi Kapanen off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Kapanen has been scoring below a 0.5 PT/GP pace both this season and last. However, he finished with 30 points in 40 games during the shortened 2020-21 season, so he still provides some scoring upside.
Kapanen and his $3.2 million cap hit seemed likely to clear waivers with possible AHL assignment to follow as the Penguins were clearing cap space to allow Jan Rutta to return to the lineup from injury. However, the Blues are in the midst of a retool, having recently cleared cap space by trading both Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O'Reilly.
Kapanen didn't provide much value as a bottom-6 player for the Penguins, so on the surface he doesn't seem like a Craig Berube type of player. That being said, there are now potential openings in St. Louis's top 6 for Kapanen, with Ivan Barbashev believed to be trade bait as well. To accommodate, either Pavel Buchnevich or Jordan Kyrou could move to the left side, with Brandon Saad potentially moving to the bottom-6.
Overall, Kapanen should benefit from the move. He had fallen out of favor in Pittsburgh, even being a healthy scratch for nine games in November. He may only receive a handful of games to prove he can gel with some of the Blues' better scorers (Buchnevich, Kyrou, Robert Thomas, Brayden Schenn). Berube went off on a rant about the lack of effort from his team following Thursday's overtime loss, so Kapanen could easily find himself irrelevant if he does not quickly demonstrate the qualities that the coach is looking for.
Players this helps, in order:
Kapanen
Drew O'Connor (stays in the NHL)
Players this hurts:
Saad
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