Asked about the Filip Hållander-Oliver Kapanen-Jonathan Dahlén line and how far it can take Timrå in the playoffs, coach Olli Jokinen didn’t temper his hopes. “Why not all the way? That’s why we are here.”
The confidence from the former NHLer was evident. He is here to win in what he knows can be a statement year, and a lot rests on the shoulders of arguably the SHL’s best line, especially now that Kapanen has returned from the Montreal Canadiens.
“We were in kind of a position where we needed to get the answer from Montreal. What is the situation going to be? Is he going to come back or stay there? Do we need to react in the transfer market and bring in somebody else?” While Jokinen had been very supportive of Kapanen’s trip to camp and stint in the NHL, it became a problem for Timrå as a club, especially a club with aspirations this season. “It has been 16 games that we played without our number-one centre. I was expecting that Oliver was going to stay and at least get an opportunity. I wasn’t sure he was going to stay that long over there.”
Jokinen has followed Kapanen closely. He points out the year of 2024 as especially important. “Starting [the 2023-24 season] with KalPa, he had his military service in the summer, and he really elevated his game from January. He has continued to get better.”
Kapanen’s return to Timrå has been a bit rough, but that was expected, according to Jokinen. “It’s a bit tough when you are coming from … it doesn’t matter if it is the best league [in the world], if you play 10 minutes a night and then you need to play 18 to 20 minutes, it is going to take a little bit of time. Tonight [Thursday, after the game against Rögle] was the best game of this year. He’s been getting better and better and kind of getting up to the speed again and getting more comfortable playing with the puck. It’s really tough to play 10 minutes and get the puck dots and all that and it’s a little bit of a different style, but he’s a great young player who was going in the right direction.
“This is a new level for him as well to play in. This is a really tough league and it’s going to make him even more ready, become a regular NHL player, which he’s going to be next year, but he’s a huge help for our team and a good kid who wants to get better. This week for example, we had three team practices: Monday, Tuesday, we got extras in the afternoon, the kind for the players who don’t get the ice time. But he’s there all the time. He’s hungry. He wants to get better and wants to improve himself.”
Jokinen compared this year’s Timrå team with his Jukerit team of 2022 which finished a surprising second in the standings. “The teams are similar. Both had lots of very good young guys that want to prove themselves and that are close to NHL level.”
In the press box there were quite a few scouts praising Kapanen, who had a great solo raid but finished by hitting the bar instead of the net. Most of them praising the centre as having the potential to be, or already being, the best player in the SHL this year.
In the end, Kapanen finished with a point as he won a defensive faceoff in the last minute of the game, which led to an empty-net goal.
The full interview with Jokinen will be released as a podcast on Monday along with the European Prospect Report.
