Sami KAPANEN

Sami Kapanen débuted at the Finnish Championships in 1990 with KalPa Kuopio and played with them until 1994, when he moved to HIFK. After one season with them, Kapanen was drafted by the Hartford Whalers and Kapanen started to play in the NHL. In 1997, the Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes and Kapanen stayed with them until 2003 when he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. Kapanen played with the Flyers until 2008 and then returned to Finland to play with his old club KalPa Kuopio, retiring in 2010. Internationally, Kapanen represented Finland at three Olympic Games (1994, 1998, 2002), seven World Championships (1994-96, 1998, 2001, 2009 and 2010) and at the 1996 World Cup. Kapanen won two Olympic bronzes (1994, 1998), a World title in 1995, and World Championship silvers in 1998, 1998 and 2001. Kapanen has been the majority owner of KalPa since 2003 and after his retirement worked as general manager of the team and as the club’s CEO until he announced his playing comeback in 2011. Since his comeback, he has played with KalPa.