16-05-2025
Kapanen comes in from the cold to become Oilers hero
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Kapanen's heroics are somewhere between the out-of-body Fernando Pisani experience in 2006, where he scored almost every game, and the 'where did he come from?' Brad Winchester, who scored a playoff goal in Detroit, also in '06.
Kapanen is a former first-round draft pick, but was scratching and clawing to, frankly, stay relevant after the Oilers claimed him on waivers back in November from St. Louis, because the Oilers wanted his speed and tantalizing skill after not matching the Blues' offer sheet on Dylan Holloway.
The Finnish winger was skating for weeks as an extra, until he replaced Viktor Arvidsson, measuring being a team guy and the disappointed human being side. 'It's not the most fun job in the world, everybody wants to play but you just have to remember to keep your body in shape and your legs in shape so that when to play comes, you will succeed,' Kapanen told local scribe Jouni Nieminen, who writes for the Finnish website after his hitting in Game 4 here.
