Confirmed with Link: Kapanen re-signs for 2 years at $3.2 million AAV

[Buddy Bizarre]

I'm not the world's biggest Kapanen fan but, Nino Niederreiter is not really that much better than him, either. I don't think Niederreiter would have moved the needle for the Penguins tbh.

I understand he's the same dog but with different fleas
But Nino is a bigger guy and I think that's been some of our issues: we have too similar F's

 

[Shady Machine]

Yeah, I think people are a little in denial about what speedy 3rd liners with some skill and potential will fetch on the market.

Problem is we have a lot of them and collectively they seem to serve little purpose. Zucker, McGinn, Kap. Not sure I’ve seen more space spent for such a little return.

 

[eXile3]

Please don't saddle Sid or Geno with Kap. The 20 goal season was an outlier. The 11 goal in 40 game season his shooting % was well above his career average.

It's not Jeff Carter's fault Kap is a bottom six player. I'm not even sure Sid/Geno can drag mediocre 3rd liners into bad 2nd liners anymore.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I've only heard Hextall give relatively canned answers to Kap when he was asked about him specifically. He's never come out to defend Kapanen proactively or sing his praises unprovoked.

And it's ridiculous to compare Jarry to Kapanen. Jarry's contract is an absolute steal, and there are no other goalies of similar quality you could get for that cap hit.

Jarry had a few bad games in the playoffs 2 years ago, vs. Kapanen whose entire season last year was total shit except for the games when he was actually scratched. And Kapanen is easily replaced by other forwards via UFA or trade unlike Jarry.

He just praised his first season, talking about 30 points in 40 games and how they expect closer to that moving forward. This was a few days ago on radio.
He's talked about Kap playing here next year on 3 different occasions this summer. This is something he never did for Heinen, ERod, Marino or Matheson, AFAIK.

Bottom line #42 will suit up here in October. People need to accept that. Someone else is going, and we should be talking about that instead.

 

[SEALBound]

Hextall really should have given him a 1yr deal. If you know you're at the end, it may actually get his butt in gear. Plenty of guys with similar performances remain unsigned. He bought himself two tries. But he's 2 years and static performances away from being out of the league or in Europe/KHL.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Please don't saddle Sid or Geno with Kap. The 20 goal season was an outlier. The 11 goal in 40 game season his shooting % was well above his career average.

It's not Jeff Carter's fault Kap is a bottom six player. I'm not even sure Sid/Geno can drag mediocre 3rd liners into bad 2nd liners anymore.

And last year was a negative outlier, but people don't weigh those if it hurts their narrative.

 

[jmelm]

He just praised his first season, talking about 30 points in 40 games and how they expect closer to that moving forward. This was a few days ago on radio.
He's talked about Kap playing here next year on 3 different occasions this summer. This is something he never did for Heinen, ERod, Marino or Matheson, AFAIK.

That's just standard GM speak & PR-whatever.

A GM isn't going to come out and talk shit about a player while he's under contract or his rights still held by the team.

 

[Zbynek]

Dude has such low hockey IQ he has convinced himself it's a confidence issue.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

That's just standard GM speak & PR-whatever.

A GM isn't going to come out and talk shit about a player while he's under contract or his rights still held by the team.

He is coming back. All there is to it.

 

[jmelm]

He is coming back. All there is to it.

The only way I can see him coming back is if one or more of Zucker & McGinn move out.

So barring that, I’ll certainly make a gentleman’s bet with you that KK won’t be here.

Dude has such low hockey IQ he has convinced himself it's a confidence issue.

I love your incessant disdain for Kapanen. It makes me feel better about my own.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

Dude has such low hockey IQ he has convinced himself it's a confidence issue.

He really does have no idea what he's doing in any zone, the other post title had it right. Combine that with the fact that he's a classic perimeter player without the cajones to drive the net, and you have a guy who's mostly useless. Zucker at least understands if he's going to be successful, he needs to go take up space around the net, but he's just too small and brittle at this point to do it and stay healthy.

We are moving in the right direction with this though, Carter is a guy who has no qualms about hanging around the net, and he gets afforded tremendous respect by other players. Probably worried about the slashes in the back of the knees from his LA days. Rakell hangs around the net just enough to cause problems too, and Jake is fearless. We need more of that, and less of whatever Kapanen does.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Been saying it for a long time; Kap's a one trick pony. His bread and butter is using his speed to fly the zone and create odd-man rushes or breakaways going the other way. That's it. He's not a good passer, he's not a great shooter, he's not very good defensively, he's not physical, he's not a presence around the net, he doesn't have a one-timer.

The dude is the Kirkland version of Grabner, but the coach refuses to give him PK time for whatever reason so the bulk of his usefulness in trying to be Grabner is nullified. At ES Kap's doing nothing for his linemates, in any zone.

Just a weird guy to keep around. Hope he makes me eat crow but I'm pretty skeptical.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

The only way I can see him coming back is if one or more of Zucker & McGinn move out.

So barring that, I’ll certainly make a gentleman’s bet with you that KK won’t be here.

I agree that Zuck or McGinn are out. Those were the two guys I mentioned when it happened.
Blue leaving is my fear, but also a possibility.

They could also roll 22 and use Friedman as a Forward if necessary, as @Randy Butternubs wisely suggested.

I'll bet you that KK will be here vs not. No conditions attached
If I'm wrong I will own it.

Dude has such low hockey IQ he has convinced himself it's a confidence issue.

Disagreed with a lot of your posts lately but that was pretty funny.

 

[wheelz87]

Been saying it for a long time; Kap's a one trick pony. His bread and butter is using his speed to fly the zone and create odd-man rushes or breakaways going the other way. That's it. He's not a good passer, he's not a great shooter, he's not very good defensively, he's not physical, he's not a presence around the net, he doesn't have a one-timer.

The dude is the Kirkland version of Grabner, but the coach refuses to give him PK time for whatever reason so the bulk of his usefulness in trying to be Grabner is nullified. At ES Kap's doing nothing for his linemates, in any zone.

Just a weird guy to keep around. Hope he makes me eat crow but I'm pretty skeptical.

Answered your own question about why he doesn't PK - he sucks defensively. It kind of worked in Toronto though, right? Signing Kap was the worst move of the off-season, IMO. But I guess I wouldn't mind atleast seeing him on the PK before I write it off.

But let's be real, do you see him going on his knees to block a slapper? No me neither.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Answered your own question about why he doesn't PK - he sucks defensively. It kind of worked in Toronto though, right? Signing Kap was the worst move of the off-season, IMO. But I guess I wouldn't mind atleast seeing him on the PK before I write it off.

But let's be real, do you see him going on his knees to block a slapper? No me neither.

Eh, there are a bunch of ways a guy can be a competent and effective PKer. Doesn't always have to be a Bonino-type, throwing his body in front of shots, or a defensive specialist.

I think PKing carries this weird mystique for some reason. Awful, awful players PK all the time, all around the NHL. Jack Johnson for example. People/coaches/execs make such a huge deal out of PKing and it's wild to me. Hell, the most important PKer on the ice is the goalie. The rest of the dudes can be schlubs as long as they're capable of doing one thing correctly; be it reading plays and getting sticks in lanes, blocking shots, smothering guys along the boards, not failing clears, or whatever.

I don't expect anything from Kap, and I agree it was Hextall's worst move of the off-season (maybe as a Pens GM entirely). I just think Kap's only got one schtick and it happens to be kinda effective on the PK.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Answered your own question about why he doesn't PK - he sucks defensively. It kind of worked in Toronto though, right? Signing Kap was the worst move of the off-season, IMO. But I guess I wouldn't mind atleast seeing him on the PK before I write it off.

But let's be real, do you see him going on his knees to block a slapper? No me neither.

There's more than 1 way to skin a cat/effectively PK. Good PK teams have multiple ways to snuff out what you're attempting to do. Some overload along the wall, some hold up the blue line, some are passive, some extremely aggressive, etc

 

[HandshakeLine]

Eh, there are a bunch of ways a guy can be a competent and effective PKer. Doesn't always have to be a Bonino-type, throwing his body in front of shots, or a defensive specialist.

I think PKing carries this weird mystique for some reason. Awful, awful players PK all the time, all around the NHL. Jack Johnson for example. People/coaches/execs make such a huge deal out of PKing and it's wild to me. Hell, the most important PKer on the ice is the goalie. The rest of the dudes can be schlubs as long as they're capable of doing one thing correctly; be it reading plays and getting sticks in lanes, blocking shots, smothering guys along the boards, not failing clears, or whatever.

I don't expect anything from Kap, and I agree it was Hextall's worst move of the off-season (maybe as a Pens GM entirely). I just think Kap's only got one schtick and it happens to be kinda effective on the PK.

Yeah, so much mystique around what is basically "know your role and stick to it". PK schemes tend to be fairly static (i.e. the coach doesn't tear them down and rework them constantly) too.

There's more than 1 way to skin a cat/effectively PK. Good PK teams have multiple ways to snuff out what you're attempting to do. Some overload along the wall, some hold up the blue line, some are passive, some extremely aggressive, etc

Sure. And by the postseason we were not a good PKing team.

 

[Peat]

Sure. And by the postseason we were not a good PKing team.

I'd put that all on the opposition. Sound like an excuse but we handled NYR's powerplay as well as Carolina and Tampa. Carolina's PK was first ranked in the regular season, Tampa's was 10th or 11th depending on how you want to measure and utterly shut down Florida and Toronto in the post-season. Sometimes you just get on the wrong end of a brute squad on a hot tear.

 

[Ugene Magic]

In the end, the team that allows/averages 27 shots on net against compared to allowing 33.3 is going to win more.

So.... maybe shot blocking and limiting shots altogether "is" important.

Um...., yeah, you could see that as an issue considering the multitude of times players were left unattended in front of their own net. The many times they failed to clear a puck with a lot of unforced errors.

 

[wheelz87]

There's more than 1 way to skin a cat/effectively PK. Good PK teams have multiple ways to snuff out what you're attempting to do. Some overload along the wall, some hold up the blue line, some are passive, some extremely aggressive, etc

Eh, there are a bunch of ways a guy can be a competent and effective PKer. Doesn't always have to be a Bonino-type, throwing his body in front of shots, or a defensive specialist.

I think PKing carries this weird mystique for some reason. Awful, awful players PK all the time, all around the NHL. Jack Johnson for example. People/coaches/execs make such a huge deal out of PKing and it's wild to me. Hell, the most important PKer on the ice is the goalie. The rest of the dudes can be schlubs as long as they're capable of doing one thing correctly; be it reading plays and getting sticks in lanes, blocking shots, smothering guys along the boards, not failing clears, or whatever.

I don't expect anything from Kap, and I agree it was Hextall's worst move of the off-season (maybe as a Pens GM entirely). I just think Kap's only got one schtick and it happens to be kinda effective on the PK.

Certainly. I’d love for the pens to be way more aggressive on the PK. We allowed the rags to do whatever the eff they wanted and it certainly did not work. It’s just a slow painful death. So while I agree we don’t need all bonino type players on the PK, I do still question if Kap can win a board battle or really contribute much to it. Again I’m certainly fine if it’s tried though. Maybe he gains confidence from it. Try anything to get him going.

 

[Jacob]

Toronto fans said Kapanen couldn’t play the off-wing and that’s partially why he was traded but he was a LW earlier in his career and he’s always looked far more dangerous coming down the left where he can use his shot from the middle rather than the right where he just goes wide and then curls up. Maybe we should give him a look on Geno’s left.

 

[jmelm]

Toronto fans said Kapanen couldn’t play the off-wing and that’s partially why he was traded but he was a LW earlier in his career and he’s always looked far more dangerous coming down the left where he can use his shot from the middle rather than the right where he just goes wide and then curls up. Maybe we should give him a look on Geno’s left.

Interesting…..

Maybe another team could give him a look on LW as well.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Certainly. I’d love for the pens to be way more aggressive on the PK. We allowed the rags to do whatever the eff they wanted and it certainly did not work. It’s just a slow painful death. So while I agree we don’t need all bonino type players on the PK, I do still question if Kap can win a board battle or really contribute much to it. Again I’m certainly fine if it’s tried though. Maybe he gains confidence from it. Try anything to get him going.

Everybody defaults to Domingue being the sole reason we lost, but the PK being abysmal for those final four games of the series was just as much of an impact, imo. Maybe more so.

 

[jmelm]

Everybody defaults to Domingue being the sole reason we lost, but the PK being abysmal for those final four games of the series was just as much of an impact, imo. Maybe more so.

I blame ERod.

And I don’t want anyone to take that resentment away from me.

 

[jmelm]

I agree that Zuck or McGinn are out. Those were the two guys I mentioned when it happened.

And how much do you think it’s going to cost to move those 2 guys?

AT LEAST a 1st + 3rd.

All so we can accommodate that piece-of-crap-Kap?