Oliver Kapanen stirred quite a bit of talk early in the season. At the Montreal Canadiens training camp, he opened many eyes due to his strong performances.

But as he was not dominating during the season with the Canadiens, Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton decided to send him back to Europe to finish the season so he could get good playing time.

And since he is performing well there (he is close to a point per game), the decision has clearly proven to be the right one.

However, in the last few hours, Oliver Kapanen injured his head. While things were getting heated in front of his net, he fell, and his helmet came off.

Result? The impact was intense. At least, in my eyes, it was.

The good news is that he was able to leave the ice on his own. He may not have finished the game, but he did not remain sprawled on the ice for long minutes either.

According to Patrik Bexell, the Habs prospect should “probably” be able to play in his team’s next game next Thursday.

I don’t know if he is basing this on his information or if he’s just speculating by seeing the hit on the ice and how Kapanen reacted, but I would wait a bit before making a statement. A concussion (which is a possibility here) can be very serious.

The situation is thus worth monitoring.

extension

At the next Habs training camp, I expect to see Kapanen and Owen Beck battling for a spot. I don’t know who the Habs will bring in this summer as a center, but we can at least expect to see Christian Dvorak leave.

We will see in due time.