Kapanen would probably be the most talented RW on the oilers, so not really a "depth guy". He is behind Marner and Nylander on the leafs, but those are legit top line RW talents
i mean they are rolling Kassian and Yamomoto in the top 6, neither of which has ever topped 35pts (yeah yeah yamamoto will but Kassian is a 25pt face puncher that should be playing 10 mins a night)
Yamamotto is the Oilers best RW and its not close. Kapanen is not as talented as Yamamotto. Kassian is more talented than he gets credit for. The guy was a top 15 pick. At the top of his game he can play in the top six quite easily and his game actually matches well with McDavid. People think anyone can play with McDavid but that is not the case. Kassian's problem is that he lacks consistency and his brain can sometimes turn off. But he is a very good skater, has a nose for the net, and he can actually think the game well enough to play off of talent. He's 26th in even strength goals amongst RW over the last 2 years. have to finish. course he has benefitted from playing with McDavid and Leon but you still have to finish. That's one more than Kapanen in 14 less games. And like Kassian the majority of Kapanen's ES goals came while playing with the Leaf's top talent.
Ideally Kassian is playing in the bottom six, but my guess is that if the Oilers added Kapanen, Kassian would still get the nod most of the time because his physical attributes open up space for McDavid. So yes Kapanen would be a "depth" acquisition on the Oilers just like AA was even if he is more talented than Kassian.
Most Oiler fans would be happy to have Kapanen, but not at the price of a top 4 RHD. He does not add enough to justify such a move. Moreover, if Puljujarvi comes back, which it looks more likely that he might than it did even a few months ago, the RW is already pretty crowded.
