Struggling Penguins place Kapanen on waivers

The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward Kasperi Kapanen on waivers Friday.

The 24-year-old is signed through next season at a cap hit of $3.2 million.

"When a team doesn't live up to expectations, change is inevitable - that's part of it," head coach Mike Sullivan said of the decision. "Kappy is a really talented player. To a certain extent, it's on all of us because we didn't find a way to maximize his potential."

Nashville Predators defenceman Kevin Gravel was also placed on waivers Friday, while Seattle Kraken goaltender Chris Driedger cleared.

Kapanen has seven goals and 20 points in 43 games with the Penguins this season. He was minus-2 in 11:32 of ice time in Thursday's 7-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, dropping the Penguins to 27-21-9 with four straight defeats.

Despite Friday's move, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall said he has no intention of being a seller at the trade deadline.

"Our intent is to continue to make this team better, this year and years beyond this year," Hextall said. "We made that commitment this summer with our core. Those guys have played well."

"I do believe we can make the playoffs, yes," he added. "The prices are high [for trades], they always are this time of the year. Sometimes they come down. We will continue to monitor and try to make our team better."

Pittsburgh re-acquired Kapanen, a first-round pick of the team in 2014, from the Maple Leafs in 2020, sending a first-round pick to Toronto as part of the deal. 

The Kuopio, Finland native has 70 goals and 172 points in 364 career games. He scored a career-high 20 goals and posted 44 points in 78 games with the Maple Leafs during the 2018-19 season.