CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Things have been a bit all over the place for Kasperi Kapanen since the Penguins acquired him from the Maple Leafs in advance of the 2020-21 season.
The speedy winger scored 11 goals to go along with 19 assists in 40 games in 2020-21 while displaying an incredible knack for being opportunistic, but outside of his point-production, his game was messy.
Not only did he grade out with replacement-level defensive impacts, but the Penguins were out-chanced at 5-on-5 to the point that they controlled just 47.8% of the expected goals with Kapanen out there.
Last season, by the time things were all said and done, Kapanen's defensive impact improved so drastically that he actually ranked slightly higher than league-average for forwards. To boot, the Penguins controlled the lion's share of quality chances, rocking a solid 53.8% expected goals share during his 5-on-5 ice-time.
The problem? Kapanen's production fell off a cliff. Nearly split in half, really.
Kapanen totaled 11 goals and 21 assists ... in 79 games. The rate at which he found the back of the net dropped from 1.06 goals per hour to 0.57, and the rate at which he got on the scoresheet dropped from 2.9 points per hour to 1.67. He also attempted nearly two fewer shots per hour than in 2020-21.
Defensive improvement considered, Kapanen's offensive impact from last season isn't going to cut it moving forward.
"Obviously last season didn’t go the way the way I wanted to, it was just a bad year," Kapanen told me following Day 2 of training camp at the Lemieux Complex here in Cranberry. "I gotta leave that behind and learn from that and focus on this year. I feel good out there."
Kapanen entered the offseason as a restricted free agent and, somewhat surprisingly, signed a two-year contract to remain with the Penguins with the exact $3.2 million average annual value from his previous contract.
I asked Ron Hextall on Friday if the decision to go multiple years on the contract was a way of giving Kapanen a confidence boost heading into this season.
"No, it just kinda made sense for us," Hextall said. "He had two restricted years, so when you look at your arb case and everything, that’s kinda how your numbers flesh out, quite frankly."
Instead of dealing with a potential arbitration case next offseason with Kapanen as a restricted free agent, they are walking him to unrestricted free agency at the end of his contract.
Hextall went on to say Kapanen's performance last season was a disappointment, no doubt, but he's expecting a bounce-back from the 26-year-old.
During my chat with Kapanen, I asked about the process of his contract negotiations. He told me things were slow at the beginning due to bigger pieces like Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell that Hextall needed to take care of first, but once they were out of the way, talks were smooth.
"It was pretty easy," Kapanen said. "I feel like they wanted me to stay, and I wanted to stay as well, so we got something done real quick. Two years, I feel like, is perfect for me."
Kapanen knew all along that he wanted to return to the Penguins.
"That’s what I wanted to do, get something done and stay here," he said. "Just absolutely love the guys here and the environment and the whole organization. Just lucky to be back here for another two years."
To justify his new contract, though, his offensive output must return to a level that's at least in the vicinity of where it was in 2020-21. Kapanen told me he spent his offseason working on getting "better at everything."
I did make it a point when speaking with Kapanen to acknowledge his improved defensive performance despite lackluster production. Was the added focus and determination in his own end a reason for his offense drying up?
"I felt like I needed to bear down defensively to help the team," Kapanen said. "I think offensively I just didn’t have my confidence and I didn’t have that swagger that I’ve always had since I started playing hockey. That’s something I’ve been trying to focus on this summer."
Our conversation ended with me asking Kapanen if Mike Sullivan and the coaching staff have been working intimately with him to put him on a path toward reaching his potential, or if the focus is geared more toward the team level.
"I think it’s more of a general team focus," Kapanen said after pondering for a moment. "I think they know that I’m a good hockey player. They know what they expect out of me, and that’s why I’m still here. If they didn’t believe in me or think I couldn’t provide for the team, I wouldn’t be here, I’d be somewhere else. I’m just excited that they wanted me back and I’m happy to be here."
This prompted me to ask Sullivan later in the day what Kapanen needs to do this season to get back on track after a disappointing season.
"We know Kappy’s a good player," Sullivan said. "We know he’s capable of more. Kappy and I have talked about that. I gotta do a better job coaching him. And I’m gonna try to do that this year to try to help him. But we believe in him. … He can play the game we’re trying to play here. I’m excited to watch him this year."
Whatever the change in Sullivan's approach to coaching Kapanen may be, it's the mark of a great leader to recognize a change is needed.
"There are some areas of his game that we’re trying to encourage him to engage a little more in. We think he can get better in the offensive zone and just creating offense different ways."
Kapanen can't solely rely on his ability in transition to be the source of his offense, Sullivan noted. He's looking for Kapanen to find ways to be a positive influence after the Penguins have already established their presence in the offensive zone. A big way for him to do so, would be to "embrace the traffic" game and get into the grind areas.
Sullivan knows Kapanen is capable of doing so thanks to his size and strength.
"Kappy’s an interesting player because I think we can move him up and down the lineup depending on what the needs of the team are," Sullivan continued. "He’s capable of playing in a top-six role, he can play with Sid or Geno, he can play with Carts. He’s a versatile player. Brings a ton of speed, can really shoot the puck."
Sullivan likes to have pairs of players who typically stick together regarding forward line combinations. Through the first two days of training camp, it appears Kapanen and Jeff Carter will be given an extended look together after they showed flashes of chemistry with one another toward the end of last season.
"Yeah, it was my impression, and we will explore it," Sullivan responded when asked if he got the impression there might be something there between the two. "It’s one of the reasons we have him with Carts right now and we’ll see where that goes. Nothing’s etched in stone here, as you know. We’ll make decisions as we go on which combinations we think give us the best chance to win."
Sullivan went on to say Kapanen "really looks up to Carts" and that Carter has been a good mentor to him.
The partnership could go a long way toward squeezing the most out of both players. Even though Kapanen struggled offensively, he was, and remains, a very strong player in transition, an aspect of the game that Carter struggled mightily with last season.
