St. Louis Blues forward Kasperi Kapanen has been suspected of aggravated drunk driving, according to a report from Finland’s national broadcasting company Yle.
Kapanen’s case is scheduled to be heard in the district court of Pohjois-Savo early next year in February 2024, while the case was brought to the district court on August 23 (North Savo) Yle reported via Google Translate.
Neither Kapanen nor his agent, Markus Lehto, have commented on the alleged incident.
The 27-year-old was claimed off waivers by the Blues in February and is entering the final year of his existing contract, holding a $3.2 million cap hit for the upcoming season.
The forward has had a tumultuous past number of seasons on the ice, including being dealt by the Maple Leafs to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2020. Kapanen’s struggles in recent years to produce offensively, however, ultimately soured the Penguins, leading to the club cutting bait with the fleet-footed skater.
The national broadcast outlet stated that it published Kapanen’s name given his prominence as a role model to children in Finland, though he spent much of his childhood in the United States while his father Sami played in the NHL for over a decade. Kapanen also scored the overtime winner against Russia in the gold medal game of the 2016 World Junior Championship.
Yle reported that drunk driving is considered aggravated in Finland “if the driver’s blood alcohol concentration is at least 1.2 per thousand or he has at least 0.53 milligrams of alcohol per liter of exhaled air during or after driving.”
Kapanen was selected in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins, then subsequently traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a multi-player deal involving Phil Kessel in July 2015. He has played 387 NHL games, recording 78 goals and 108 assists, totaling 186 points in stints with the Maple Leafs, Penguins and Blues.
