Kasperi Kapanen quietly leading Penguins in even-strength offensive categories
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ leader in even-strength points isn’t Sidney Crosby or Jake Guentzel.
The Penguins player who has been on the ice for the most 5-on-5 goals by his team this season isn’t Evgeni Malkin or Kris Letang.
Instead, it’s a player who through less than a half of a shortened season with the team has already at separate times been benched for a period, demoted to the fourth line and had immigration issues delay his training camp.
With the midway point of this 56-game season a week away, Kasperi Kapanen leads the Penguins in 5-on-5 points (14), plus/minus rating (plus-11) and 5-on-5 goals for that he’s been on the ice for (21).
“It isn’t (just offense); it’s about the details and the process, and that’s what we’ve really liked about (Kapanen’s) game here over the last stretch of games,” coach Mike Sullivan said after Kapanen had a goal and two assists in a win Sunday against the New York Rangers. “He’s a real good kid, he’s a terrific player, and we are really excited about what he can bring to our team.”
Kapanen has four goals and five assists over the past eight games. That span happens to coincide with the aftermath of a Feb. 20 game in which Kapanen played just one shift in the third period. Kapanen and Sullivan shared a one-on-one discussion soon thereafter.
“It was a nice little sit-down with Mike to kind of just talk about certain areas that I need to be better in to help the team,” Kapanen said. “It’s not always about offense; it’s taking care of business down low in our own zone, and that translates to the rest of my game.”
In the eight games since the benching, according to naturalstattrick.com, Kapanen has been on the ice for 11 Penguins 5-on-5 goals. For basis of comparison, that’s as many as Crosby and Guentzel have been on the ice for combined in that time.
The players who have most been Kapanen’s linemates over the past week — Malkin and Jared McCann — are second and third among Penguins forwards in 5-on-5 goals on the ice for (seven and nine).
McCann’s status is in limbo after leaving Sunday’s game because of injury. But Malkin snapping out of a stretch of season-long sluggish production (11 points in his past 10 games) has roughly coincided with Kapanen’s season resurgence.
“They’ve established some pretty good chemistry,” Sullivan said. “We’ve really liked it when we’ve put them together.”
Columnist @MarkMaddenX: Given the proper chance, Penguins winger Kasperi Kapanen could be an even bigger story. https://t.co/KP0WFbuq8l
— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) March 3, 2021
Malkin and Kapanen each have six points over the past four games — five each at even strength. Each assisted on the other’s goal Sunday.
“With new (linemates), it always takes some time to know where he is and kind of mesh together,” Kapanen said. “Lately, we have been finding each other and playing better.”
Former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford twice invested a first-round pick in the speedy, 6-1, 194-pound Kapanen, first by taking him with the 22nd overall selection in 2014 and again in August when he swapped the 15th overall pick as part of a deal to re-acquire Kapanen from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Kapanen has shown to be, roughly, a 20-goal, 40-point player when extrapolated to a traditional 82-game season. After a slow start to his Penguins’ tenure, Kapanen is producing above that level this season.
Per naturalstattrick.com, Kapanen’s season 67.74% goals-for percentage (rate of goals scored while a player is on the ice for his team versus by opponents) at 5-on-5 leads all Penguins with at least 20 games played. Crosby is closet at 61.54%.
“A lot of the credit goes out to the guys I play with and out here with giving me a chance to make plays and score goals,” Kapanen said in that type of selfless answer that would please any coach.
Even a coach that felt compelled to demote and then summon said player for a one-on-one chat two weeks prior.
“I give Kappy a lot of credit because I think he’s responded the right way,” Sullivan said. “He’s really making a concerted effort here to play the game a certain way. And when he does, in our estimation, he can be an impact player for us.”
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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