Skookum Jim wrote on Mon, 19 January 2026 14:48

inverno76 wrote on Mon, 19 January 2026 13:12 Skookum Jim wrote on Mon, 19 January 2026 13:11 With Kapanen down and keeping 3 goalies.. now is the chance to try the "Darnel Experiment".. run him as a winger instead of the team going 11F x 7D .. unlock some of that 9.25 value! Power Forward ! Honestly, he has the potential to look good as a forward. Skates well, physical specimen, and less responsibility on the wing opposed to D, but for some reason I feel like he would be a soft forward to play against. He'd likely play like a finesse forward instead of wrecking ball of physicality. Agree he's no Tom Wilson.. and doesn't have the grade A shot or hands.. but I think he could be a net front.. he can skate forwards ok (better than Fred) .. just not very agile .. like pivots.. which kills him defending rushes.. it'd be a fun experiment.. call it "Project X-25" :)

I think we should level set on expectations around Kasperi Kapanen. He has had one 40+ point season, and that was in his first full season in the league in 2018-19. He's only cracked 15 goals once in the time since (a split year between Pittsburgh and St.Louis in 2022-23.

He has had a great run in limited time this year with 9 points in 14 games, but that's so far outside his norm that I think we should look at that as a pleasant anomaly. He's a spot-filler in the top-6 and he's historically had pretty poor fancy stats, so ideally he's playing down the lineup at best.

I would love to be wrong there, but I think better to be realistic. He's 29 years old, so it's unlikely he's going to suddenly blossom here at this point in his career.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
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