ST. LOUIS -- Kasperi Kapanen was claimed off waivers by the St. Louis Blues when the waiver period ended at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The Blues now take on the entire prorated portion of Kapanen's $3.2 million cap hit for the remainder of this season, and the entirety of the contract for its final season next year. The contract coming off of the Penguins' books for the rest of the regular season gives them some flexibility as the March 3 trade deadline nears. Per PuckPedia, they have $475,000 in projected cap space, which would allow them to take on just over $1.8 million in cap hits. That number will grow slightly every day now as the Penguins bank cap space now that they aren't utilizing long-term injured reserve. If the Penguins stick with the same roster until the trade deadline, they would be able to take on around $2.1 million in cap hits.
Kapanen did not travel with the Penguins to St. Louis, so he will not be in the lineup for his new team for Saturday's 3 p.m. game here in St. Louis.
The Blues claiming Kapanen also ensures that the Penguins don't need to make another roster move in order to activate Jan Rutta off of long-term injured reserve prior to the matchup with the Blues here in St. Louis. Had Kapanen not been claimed and sent down, only $1.125 million of his cap hit would have come off the books. That would have required either Drew O'Connor (the only waivers-exempt option on the roster) to be sent down or Ryan Poehling (upper-body injury) to be put on long-term injured reserve, which would have required him to be sidelined for another week and a half. Had Poehling not needed another week and a half, then O'Connor would have had to be sent down, which would have forced the Penguins to play with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the time being.
Typically, when a team claims a player off waivers, the team is expected to keep him on their NHL roster for the remainder of the season. Otherwise, the player's original team would be permitted to reclaim him and assign him directly to their AHL affiliate if they were the only team to put in a claim. Even if Kapanen doesn't stick on the Blues roster, it seems unlikely that the Penguins would reclaim him, even to put him in Wilkes-Barre. If Kapanen were assigned to Wilkes-Barre only the first $1.125 million of his $3.2 million cap hit would come off the books, while the remainder would remain as dead cap.
Kapanen, who has one year remaining on his contract after this season, has seven goals and 13 assists in 43 games this season, primarily in a third-line role.
