Why Canadiens’ Oliver Kapanen’s rookie season deserves more love

The Montreal Canadiens have had plenty of quality young players come up through their system over the last few years, and this year is no different. But while Ivan Demidov and Jakub Dobes have all the attention, Oliver Kapanen is putting together a decent rookie season himself.

Steven Ellis joined Daily Faceoff Live to talk about Kapanen and his impact on the Canadiens so far this season.

Steven Ellis: So it feels like Montreal, no matter what, is going to be very involved in this Calder race. And it’s because of Ivan Demidov and even Jakub Dobes, who at his best had an outstanding October before, statistically, being one of the worst goalies in November.

But with Oliver Kapanen, his consistency has been huge, because you look at this team and look who’s been injured for them, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook. They’re missing some center depth here. And Oliver Kapanen has found a way to just continue to push himself up the lineup. Right now, he is that number two center for the Montreal Canadiens.

He’s got eight goals. He’s challenging for the goal-scoring lead among rookies, but he’s on pace for 25 goals and 44 points. That’s pretty incredible for a guy that, when you think about it, last year, he played 18 games in the NHL. He had two assists, no goals, was very quiet. But you watch him at every other level, whether it be the Swedish Hockey League last year, whether it be the world championships two years ago when he scored six goals.

This is a guy that knows how to make things happen with the puck, but it feels like in the long run, he’s going to be more of a bottom-six player from Montreal. He’s got that really good penalty-killing ability. He scored his first NHL goal shorthanded. He loves blocking shots. He plays in all situations.

When you look at how good Emil Heineman was for the Canadiens last year, being able to do so many things, Oliver Kapanen has been able to do that this year. So the Canadiens must be so thrilled with what they’ve been able to get out of a guy that they drafted in the second round in 2021. That seems to be a good spot for them, given that’s where they picked Lane Hutson the year after.

You can watch the full episode here…