The Pittsburgh Penguins made some of those “changes” Jim Rutherford promised 2 weeks ago. The team reacquired forward Kasperi Kapanen from the Toronto Maple Leafs along with minor league forward Pontus Aberg and defenseman Jesper Lindgren. In exchange, they sent their first-round pick in this year’s draft, forward Evan Rodrigues, forward prospect Filip Hallander and minor league defenseman David Warsofsky to the Maple Leafs.
Kapanen was the Penguins’ first-round pick in 2014, Rutherford’s first draft with the Penguins. In 69 games during the 2019-20 regular season, Kapanen had 36 points while averaging 15:47 of ice time per game.
His best NHL season came in 2018-19 when he had a career highs of 78 games, 20 goals, 24 assists and 44 points and averaged 16:97 ice time.