Apologies to any of the Montreal Canadiens fans who fell victim to the April Fools' Day jokes on Monday. Ivan Demidov is not re-signing with SKA St. Petersburg (yet), and he also hasn't left the KHL early to come to North America. The Canadiens also haven't made a decision on Jacob Fowler, as fans wait in limbo to see if he will sign his entry-level deal or take an amateur tryout with the Laval Rocket for the remainder of the season. Rumors yesterday even speculated that he could return to Boston College for one more year.
We are here to confirm one rumor that isn't an April Fools' Day joke. Oliver Kapanen, fresh off a breakout season with Timra IK in the Swedish Hockey League, will be joining the Canadiens for the remainder of the season to help with the playoff push. Kapanen is a player who was sort of lost in the shuffle among all the rumors, but an early elimination for Timra paved the way for his return.
Oliver Kapanen returns with some more pro development
Kapanen didn't look out of place when he played for the Canadiens earlier this season. He only had two assists in 12 games, but the potential and comfortability was evident. The Canadiens had no choice but to either keep him in Montreal or return him to Europe, which made their decision easy of who they'd keep between him and Emil Heineman. However, it looks like the front office made the correct move.
Kapanen starred as a first-line center for Timra. He recorded 35 points in 36 games, which showed some elite offensive upside in one of the world's top pro leagues. Montreal doesn't need Kapanen to be an offensive driver if he stays long-term, but a third-liner being able to record points and do the little things right is a requirement for Stanley Cup-contending teams.
It'll be interesting to see where Kapanen falls into the lineup once he returns to Montreal. Michael Pezzetta has been playing in place of Joshua Roy over the last few games, which means its likely that the move is to return Roy to the Laval Rocket for the remainder of the season and make Pezzetta a healthy scratch.
The Canadiens believe they are getting a better version of Kapanen after 42 games in Europe. Montreal can use all the help they can get to hold the second wild card spot, and Kapanen joining for the final eight regular season games and hopefully more playoff games will only be beneficial to the player and the organization.