St. Louis Blues shockingly place veteran winger on waivers

The St. Louis Blues are off to a solid but not spectacular start this season, and with plenty of injuries up front, they need all the help they can get to stay alive in the Stanley Cup Playoffs race.

That makes Monday's news even more surprising, as the team placed 28-year-old winger Kasperi Kapanen on waivers in a move that has shocked everyone in the NHL.

After starting his career in Toronto, the former first-round draft pick has been with the Blues for the past two seasons, tallying 36 points in 96 games played, with the once-talented prospect passing 15 goals just one time in his career way back in 2018/19.

With Jordan Kyrou, Dylan Holloway, and Nathan Walker occupying the top-nine right winger spots, there was seemingly no spot for Kapanen to find his way into this lineup consistently.

In 10 games this season, the talented veteran has tallied just 1 goal, and with other players being more productive, it was simply the right move to make, albeit a risky one as he is expected to draw plenty of attention.

Throughout his career with Toronto, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis, Kapanen has played in 470 games, tallying 85 goals and 209 points in that time, but now he may be looking at a new NHL home very soon.

In other waiver news, goaltender Jack Campbell cleared waivers after being waived on Sunday, with the Detroit Red Wings goaltender set to head to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL.

It will be very interesting to see the result of Kapanen's waiver process, as he is likely to draw interest, but with little production this season, teams may not be confident he can bounce back anytime soon.