Sami Kapanen

Sami Hannu Antero Kapanen (born 14 June 1973) is a Finnish professional ice hockey coach and former player. He played 12 NHL seasons for the Hartford Whalers, Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers. He is the majority owner of KalPa in the Finnish league. Kapanen's son, Kasperi Kapanen, is a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Sami Kapanen
Born (1973-06-14) 14 June 1973
Vantaa, Finland
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 181 lb (82 kg; 12 st 13 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shot Left
Played for KalPa
HIFK
Hartford Whalers
Carolina Hurricanes
Philadelphia Flyers
National team  Finland
NHL Draft 87th overall, 1995
Hartford Whalers
Playing career 1990–2010
2011–2014

Playing career

Kapanen was drafted 87th overall in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Hartford Whalers. His first NHL season was in 1995–96, when he played 35 games with Hartford. The Whalers relocated to become the Carolina Hurricanes following the 1996–97 season and Kapanen averaged 24 goals and 35 assists in his next five seasons with Carolina. His best season was in 2001–02 when he scored 27 goals and 42 assists for 69 points. He was selected twice for the NHL All Star Game (2000, 2002), winning the Individual event for "the Fastest skater" on both occasions.

On 7 February 2003, Kapanen was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers along with Ryan Bast for Pavel Brendl and Bruno St. Jacques. In his first two seasons with Philadelphia, Kapanen played 31 playoff games, scoring 17 points.

Kapanen has played three times for Finland at the Winter Olympics. In 18 Olympic games he scored 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points. In the NHL, Kapanen has played 831 regular season games, scoring 189 goals and 269 assists for 458 points. He has also played in 87 playoff games, scoring 13 goals and 22 assists for 35 points. Kapanen also won a gold medal at the 1995 Ice Hockey World Championships.

Since 2003, Kapanen has also been the majority owner of the Finnish hockey team KalPa Kuopio, the same club that gave him his start as a professional. One of the minority owners is Kimmo Timonen who in 2007 became Kapanen's teammate on the Flyers. Following the 2007–08 season, Kapanen announced that he was retiring from the NHL and he would be returning to Finland to play for KalPa.[1] He retired as a player after the 2009–10 season.

On 7 April 2011, Kapanen announced that he would be doing a comeback as a player in KalPa, playing on a two-year contract. He, however, stepped down as the club's chief executive officer (CEO) and instead handed that role over to his brother Kimmo Kapanen.[2][3]

Coaching career

Kapanen started his coaching career in the Finnish Liiga with KalPa (2017-2019). On April 2, 2019, Kapanen was named head coach of HC Lugano in the National League for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 season, but was dismissed on December 18 2019.

Awards
  • Bronze Medal at the Winter Olympics in 1994.
  • Named to the SM-liiga First All-Star Team in 1994.
  • Gold Medal at the World Championships 1995.
  • Bronze Medal at the Winter Olympics in 1998.
  • Played in the NHL All-Star Game in 2000.
  • Played in the NHL All-Star Game in 2002.
  • Awarded the Yanick Dupre Memorial in 2004.
  • Awarded the Gene Hart Memorial Award in 2007.

Records
  • Tied a record for scoring two consecutive overtime goals in two consecutive games. (Subsequently broken by Andrew Cogliano)
  • Two-time NHL All Star game individual event Fastest Skater winner (2000, 2002) completing a lap around an NHL rink in 13.649 resp. 14.039 seconds.
  • Fastest Man on ice awarded when he completed a lap around an NHL rink in 12.7 seconds.

Career statistics
Kapanen (bottom left) playing for the Flyers against the New York Rangers in 2007.

Regular season and playoffs
    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1989–90 KalPa FIN U20 30 14 13 27 4 — — — — —
1990–91 KalPa FIN U20 31 9 27 36 10 — — — — —
1990–91 KalPa SM-l 14 1 2 3 2 8 2 1 3 2
1991–92 KalPa FIN U20 8 1 3 4 12 — — — — —
1991–92 KalPa SM-l 42 15 10 25 8 — — — — —
1992–93 KalPa FIN.2 U20 1 0 2 2 0 7 11 14 25 2
1992–93 KalPa SM-l 37 4 17 21 12 — — — — —
1993–94 KalPa SM-l 48 23 32 55 16 — — — — —
1993–94 HC Královopolská Brno CZE.2 — — — — — 1 0 0 0 0
1994–95 HIFK SM-l 49 14 28 42 42 3 0 0 0 0
1995–96 Hartford Whalers NHL 35 5 4 9 6 — — — — —
1995–96 Springfield Falcons AHL 28 14 17 31 4 3 1 2 3 0
1996–97 Hartford Whalers NHL 45 13 12 25 2 — — — — —
1997–98 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 81 26 37 63 16 — — — — —
1998–99 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 81 24 35 59 10 5 1 1 2 0
1999–2000 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 76 24 24 48 12 — — — — —
2000–01 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 82 20 37 57 24 6 2 3 5 0
2001–02 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 77 27 42 69 23 23 1 8 9 6
2002–03 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 43 6 12 18 12 — — — — —
2002–03 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 28 4 9 13 6 13 4 3 7 6
2003–04 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 74 12 18 30 14 18 3 7 10 6
2004–05 KalPa Mestis 10 6 3 9 2 9 5 3 8 4
2005–06 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 58 12 22 34 12 6 0 0 0 2
2006–07 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 77 11 14 25 22 — — — — —
2007–08 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 74 5 3 8 16 16 2 0 2 2
2008–09 KalPa SM-l 55 20 24 44 18 12 4 5 9 4
2009–10 KalPa SM-l 49 15 31 46 58 13 6 7 13 0
2011–12 KalPa SM-l 35 13 12 25 33 2 1 0 1 0
2012–13 KalPa SM-l 38 7 11 18 14 5 0 1 1 2
2013–14 KalPa Liiga 34 7 6 13 26 — — — — —
NHL totals 831 189 269 458 175 87 13 22 35 22
SM-l/Liiga totals 401 120 173 293 229 43 13 14 27 8

International
Medal record
Men's ice hockey
Representing  Finland
Olympic Games
1994 Lillehammer Team
1998 Nagano Team
World Championships
2001 Nuremberg, Köln, Hanover Team
1998 Zürich and Basel Team
1995 Stockholm and Gävle Team
1994 Bolzano, Canazei, Milan Team
Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1991 Finland EJC 6 6 4 10 0
1992 Finland WJC 7 1 5 6 8
1993 Finland WJC 7 1 2 3 2
1994 Finland OLY 8 1 0 1 2
1994 Finland WC 8 4 2 6 0
1995 Finland WC 8 2 2 4 6
1996 Finland WC 6 2 3 5 2
1996 Finland WCH 3 0 0 0 4
1998 Finland OLY 6 0 1 1 0
1998 Finland WC 10 4 3 7 2
2001 Finland WC 8 7 4 11 8
2002 Finland OLY 4 1 2 3 4
2009 Finland WC 7 2 3 5 2
2010 Finland WC 7 1 1 2 0
Junior totals 20 8 11 19 10
Senior totals 77 24 21 45 34

References
  1. "Sami Kapanen Announces His Retirement". Philadelphia Flyers. 3 June 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  2. "Nyt se on totta, KalPa-ikoni Sami Kapanen palaa kaukaloon!" (in Finnish). KalPa. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  3. Robert Pettersson (7 April 2011). "Sami Kapanen gör comeback" (in Swedish). Hockeysverige. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
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