Oliver Kapanen

And I guess in terms of growth for the Montreal Canadiens or whether they can improve over last year, the buzzword has been organic, talking about organic growth, growing from within, growing because their players got good experience last year in both the regular season and the playoffs.

And so is it going to be, you know, Lane Hudson getting better and Ivan Demidov getting better and Oliver Kapanen and all other young players and the goaltending? You know, where do you see the growth coming from in terms of the Montreal Canadiens so they can stay in that mix?

Definitely internally.

Definitely internally.

Yeah.

But I think Oliver Ka- is it impossible to think that Oliver Kapanen could be a 55-point player?

It is not impossible to think it.

I think it's unlikely.

Merzlikins

... right? What about the Oliver Kapanen? What about Jacob Fowler? Oliver Kapanen, 22 goals last season.

Mm-hmm.

You want an NHL body, someone that can come and slot in and play the game at a, at a high level with room to grow, Oliver Kapanen enters the chat.

You need a goaltender, maybe Jacob Fowler's that guy.

And what about someone that's been hyped up in this market and around the NHL as the Canadians have become the envy of the league, how they found a guy like Alexander Zarovsky at 34th overall in the second round who's off to a good season, a good start to his season over in the KHL.

Would, would that wet the whistle for a guy like Don Waddell when you package in Jacob Fowler, Oliver Kapanen, and Alexander Zarovsky? Is that what Ken Hughes and Jeff Gorton have talked about when they say, "Overpay for the right player"? So that's my question.

Is that an overpay, and is Kirill Marchenko the right player for the Montreal Canadiens?

Mm-hmm.

You mentioned, uh, Oliver Kapanen as a possibility, I believe.

Yeah, only because of, again, off what Don Waddell had mentioned in that conversation, right? There are a couple of things that, yeah, I think you can strongly take away from that.

One being, you're damn right Marchenko was asked to be traded out of Columbus.

You know, they, they managed however they did to keep Zach Werenski and get him to walk back his, his end of season comments, and therefore, you gotta, you gotta, you know, show a strong kind of position.

And that's why I have a hard time believing that it would be a combination of a Hage or Zarovsky that are the focal points of a deal.

That's why I think, you know, a guy like maybe Adam Engstrom, a guy like Oliver Kapanen, you know, and the, and that was the point I made in our discussion, um, with you yesterday, was, yeah, at least you have someone that has proven, scored 22 goals in the NHL level.

You, you know, you'll sell him on the ceiling of room to grow and who he could turn into, but you're getting an actual NHL roster player now.

... maybe, maybe not to that level.

That's why-- and maybe this is a fan take or whatever, but, you know, I wonder how appealing, let's say, if the Canadians and the Blue Jackets are seriously talking, uh, someone like Oliver Kapanen who had 22 goals with, with room to grow in his game.

There's a guy who's an NHL player who has shown production, granted small sample size, but nevertheless, that's the guy that can play in the National Hockey League and score goals.

I think it's, it has to be a guy like that.

Yeah.

So I look at a player like Oliver Kapanen, uh, played in all 82 games-

Mm

... last year, had 37 points.

But, uh, I do like Montreal at least already experimenting, because even just something like this in, you know, prior to training camp, to me, does signify that they're having a look at what's going on here and what's working.

We need to really get Oliver Kapanen out of that playoff, uh, doghouse.

Martin St-Louis, get him out of there.

He had a good regular season.

Just s- sound off down below.

Like, I would be absolutely shocked though if Dach is starting the season there.

I think Oliver Kapanen absolutely needs to be on that second line to start the season.

I, I like that take.