Oilers Claim Former First Round Pick Kasperi Kapanen On Waivers From St. Louis Blues

Kasperi Kapanen is a 28 year old Finnish right winger who was drafted 22nd overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014. He's gone on to play 470 career games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, and St. Louis Blues.

Kapanen will bring one stand-out skill that the Oilers desperately need in their bottom six: speed. Without the puck, Kapanen is in the top 5% of fastest skaters in the NHL, which can really be an asset on the forecheck.

After losing bottom six speedsters like Dylan Holloway and Ryan McLeod, picking up Kapanen to give the bottom six some energy makes a lot of sense - and also to give a rest to some of the veterans like Corey Perry and Derek Ryan.

The problem with Kapanen's game is that despite his great speed and flashes of offensive talent, he's never been able to score at a consistent rate, and often makes defensive mistakes. His career best year of 20 goals came with the Leafs in 2018-19, and he hasn't came close to that total since.

Oilers insider Bob Stauffer believes that Kapanen will be a major asset on the penalty kill, which has been the worst in the NHL so far this year.

After being claimed on waivers, Kapanen will immediately report to the Oilers. It's not likely that he'll arrive in time for tonight's road game in Ottawa, but Kapanen could make his Oilers debut on Thursday against the Minnesota Wild.

We'll see if this comes with another roster move for the Oilers to create room for Kapanen. The Finnish forward is under contract for the rest of this season at $1M.

Derek Ryan is the prime candidate to be sent down at forward, but the Oilers could also send down one of their extra defenceman: Josh Brown, Travis Dermott, or Troy Stecher.

After last night's embarrassing shutout loss to the rebuilding Habs, the Oilers were in need of a roster move to shake up the team. Perhaps this is the first sign of more changes coming to the Oilers.