{"id":457586,"date":"2026-02-14T05:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T05:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/457586\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T05:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T05:25:13","slug":"the-real-reason-oliver-kapanen-was-benched-vs-sweden-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/457586\/","title":{"rendered":"The real reason Oliver Kapanen was benched vs Sweden revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Photo <\/p>\n

Photo credit: Screenshot<\/p>\n

Montreal Canadiens fans who were watching Finland\u2019s game to see prospect Oliver Kapanen in action were left disappointed.<\/p>\n

Although the young forward took part in warmups and appeared on the official list of dressed players, he never stepped onto the ice.<\/p>\n

We now have confirmation that Oliver Kapanen was dressed by head coach Antti Pennanen, only to remain on the bench for the entire game.<\/p>\n

This roster management decision may seem puzzling to North American observers, but there appears to be a logical explanation behind it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not necessarily a slight against the Canadiens prospect\u2019s talent, nor any kind of punishment.<\/p>\n

Is this a cultural strategy specific to Finland?<\/p>\n

The pattern seems familiar in Finnish hockey.<\/p>\n

Cloutier points out that during the World Junior Championship, Finland\u2019s 13th forward also systematically remained at the end of the bench.<\/p>\n

“Regarding Kapanen: from what I remember, Finland\u2019s 13th forward also stayed at the end of the bench during the World Junior Championship. That\u2019s just the Finnish way of doing things.”<\/p>\n

– Nicolas Cloutier<\/p>\n

This is apparently how the national program operates: a reserve player is dressed in case of injury, but there is no attempt to insert him into the regular rotation if everything is going smoothly.<\/p>\n

The truth behind the decision to keep Oliver Kapanen glued to the bench for an entire game<\/p>\n

“Oliver Kapanen was dressed by head coach Antti Pennanen but ultimately remained on the bench for the entire game.<\/p>\n

The Finns are used to not using the 13th forward during international tournaments \u2014 even if he is dressed and ready to play on the bench.”<\/p>\n

– Nicolas Cloutier<\/p>\n

It\u2019s frustrating for the player\u2019s development and for fans who want to see him play, but it seems to be part of Pennanen\u2019s philosophy.<\/p>\n

Contrary to what some suggested, the truth is that it had absolutely nothing to do with anything personal, nor was it a punishment for Kapanen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that Kapanen will have to hope for an opening or a shift in strategy to earn meaningful ice time in this tournament.<\/p>\n

Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

3 HOURS AGO|133 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

The real reason Oliver Kapanen was benched vs Sweden revealed<\/p>\n

Do you think the strategy of dressing a player without actually playing him is pointless?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: Screenshot Montreal Canadiens fans who were watching Finland\u2019s game to see prospect Oliver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[55023,4151,5,55544,4,35656,1618,2602],"class_list":{"0":"post-457586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-antti-pennanen","9":"tag-finland","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-montreal-canadens","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-nicolas-cloutier","14":"tag-oliver-kapanen","15":"tag-olympics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}