Sami Hannu Antero Kapanen (born 14 June 1973) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

coach and former player. He played 12 NHL seasons for the

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...

and

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

. He is the majority owner of

KalPa Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Olvi Areena. Team history Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in Sortavala, the club relocated to Kuop ...

in the Finnish league. Kapanen's son,

Kasperi Kapanen Samu Kasperi Kapanen (born 23 July 1996) is a Finnish professional ice hockey right wing for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He made his Liiga debut playing with KalPa during the 2012–13 SM-liiga season. Kapanen was ...

, is a member of the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

Playing career

Kapanen was drafted 87th overall in the

1995 NHL Entry Draft The 1995 NHL Entry Draft was the 33rd NHL Entry Draft. It was held at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta. The drafting order was now set partially by a lottery system whereby teams would not be guaranteed first pick if they finished last. ...

by the

. His first NHL season was in 1995–96, when he played 35 games with Hartford. The Whalers relocated to become the

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 The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many ...

(2000, 2002), winning the Individual event for "the Fastest skater" on both occasions. On 7 February 2003, Kapanen was traded to the

along with

Ryan Bast Ryan Bast (born August 27, 1975) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. Undrafted, he played two games in the National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1998–99 season. Bast concluded his 11-year professio ...

for Pavel Brendl and

Bruno St. Jacques Bruno St. Jacques (born August 22, 1980) is a former Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played in 67 games over parts of four NHL seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Carolin ...

. In his first two seasons with Philadelphia, Kapanen played 31 playoff games, scoring 17 points. Kapanen has played three times for

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. 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 The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

. Since 2003, Kapanen has also been the majority owner of the Finnish hockey team

Kuopio, the same club that gave him his start as a professional. One of the minority owners is

Kimmo Timonen Kimmo Samuel Timonen (born 18 March 1975) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Nashville Predators, Philadelphia Flyers, and Chicago Blackhawks. Timonen had ...

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. 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 A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

(CEO) and instead handed that role over to his brother Kimmo Kapanen.

Coaching career

Kapanen started his coaching career in the Finnish

Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding lea ...

with

(2017-2019). On April 2, 2019, Kapanen was named head coach of

HC Lugano Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League (NL) and has won seven Swiss championships. History The founding of HC Lugano took ...

in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

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. * Named Best Forward at World Championships 2001. * 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 Andrew Cogliano (born June 14, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL). He formerly played for the Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars and the San Jose Sharks. On ...

) * 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

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kapanen, Sami 1973 births Living people Carolina Hurricanes players Finnish ice hockey right wingers Finnish ice hockey world championship gold medalists Hartford Whalers draft picks Hartford Whalers players HC Kometa Brno players HIFK (ice hockey) players Ice hockey players at the 1994 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics KalPa players Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics National Hockey League All-Stars Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Sportspeople from Vantaa Philadelphia Flyers players Springfield Falcons players