Juuso Riikola knows his countryman Kasperi Kapanen better than most, as the two of them played together with KalPa of Liiga, Finland's top professional league, as well as internationally.
And when asked what Kapanen is like off the ice, Riikola couldn't help but smile.
"He's a funny guy," Riikola said after Kapanen was cleared to join the team earlier this week. "I've known him maybe 10 years now. He's a really easy guy to get along with. I think he's only been here a couple days and he's friends with everybody. He's an easy guy to get close with."
Get to know more about what the 24-year-old winger is like off the ice and his family background, interests and hobbies in this series presented by HBK CPAS & Consultants.
Getting to Know: Kasperi Kapanen
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Kasperi, whose nickname is Kappy, is the oldest of four children. He has two sisters, Cassandra and Camilla, and a brother, Konsta.
"It's tough (being the oldest) sometimes, for sure," Kasperi said with a laugh. "But I look at it as a privilege, too. They look up to me a lot, and I just try to do my best."
And speaking of looking up to people, of course one of Kasperi's biggest hockey influences is his father, Sami - who was also drafted by Jim Rutherford, in the fourth round of the 1995 NHL Draft with the Hartford Whalers.
Kasperi was born a year later on July 23, 1996, while his parents were spending the offseason back in Finland following Sami's first professional season in North America. Sami went on to play 12 total seasons in the NHL, including one more with Hartford before the franchise moved to Carolina, where Rutherford traded him to Philadelphia midway through the 2002-03 season.
"I actually felt bad when it came time to trade him," Rutherford said of Sami. "At that time, it was more of a money thing, it had nothing to do with his play. Those are always more difficult. But he was a special guy. He was a good team guy, a good player."
The Kapanen family spent the next six years in the tri-state area before Sami retired following a career that featured five 20-goal seasons and an appearance in the 2002 Stanley Cup Final with the Hurricanes.
"It was pretty cool, not going to lie," Kasperi said of growing up the son of an NHL player. "I always wanted to be a hockey player and then having your dad play in the NHL, it's kind of a dream come true right there. So being able to go into the locker rooms and hang out with All-Star players over the years and meet great people, it was something I was very lucky to be able to experience."
When Kasperi looks back at that time, those interactions with players like Peter Forsberg, Mark Recchi, Ron Francis and Jeremy Roenick all stand out. But the memories he cherishes the most stem from the annual family skates that teams hold around the holidays.
"Those are pretty important to me," Kasperi said. "Great memories just having that time. I think most of my siblings were born, maybe all of them, and we'd just go skate at the Christmas skates and hang out with other kids."
Because the family lived in New Jersey, it was about a 45-minute commute to Philadelphia, which meant the kids' mother Petra didn't always take the kids to games. But any time she did, Kasperi loved it. One game in particular that stood out was on March 5, 2005, when the Flyers and Ottawa Senators set an NHL record with 419 combined penalty minutes in the game.
"It was kind of cool to witness that," said Kapanen, whose No. 42 is in honor of Sami's No. 24. "There's some memorable games where my dad played well, too. So it's little things like that stick in your mind."
Kasperi also looks up to his grandfather, Hannu Kapanen, a Finnish hockey legend that played nine seasons in the country's top professional league and represented Finland at the 1976 Olympics and Canada Cup. Kasperi got a necklace made by a jeweler friend in Toronto in Hannu's honor that he wears every day.
"My grandpa and I are pretty close, he's like my best friend," Kasperi said. "His number was 9, and it's kind of my lucky number, so I got that. I think it looks pretty cool."
Both of the Kapanen sisters used to be on the Finnish national team for gymnastics, and are still involved with the sport. Konsta currently plays for the junior team of Kalpa Kuopio of the Finnish Elite League, the organization that both Kasperi and Sami played for.
"Hockey is a family thing, I guess," Kasperi said with a laugh.
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Outside of hockey, one of Kasperi's biggest interests is golf. Like most hockey players, Kapanen played mostly to unwind and get some fresh air. But over the past two or three years, he's gotten much more invested.
'It's something that really gets my mind off of hockey," he said. "I started following it a bit more and I started playing it a bit more. So if I can, I'll go the simulator or try to hit balls or just putt inside the house or whatever. I also started looking at some videos to get some swing tips."
In addition to the golf courses in his native Finland - "the one closest to where I live is a pretty nice one, and then if you go down south to Helsinki, obviously you'll find a lot of pretty courses there" - Kapanen recently bought a home in Florida, where he joined a country club with a golf course.
"It's becoming a big thing for me," he said.
While Kapanen loves Tiger Woods - "you look at his achievements and just shake your head" -his favorite golfer is Jon Rahm.
"I didn't know who he was at first, but I just liked his energy," Kapanen said with a laugh. "He's from Spain, so he's got that fire. He's just one of those guys I like to watch."
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Kapanen also is a big movie enthusiast. While he said he will go on Netflix and watch literally anything, he particularly enjoys the James Bond movies with Daniel Craig.
"I just think they're very classy," he said. "It's more of more of an art than a movie, I think. So they're just amazing to watch. And I've been waiting patiently to see the new movie that was supposed to come out before COVID changed things. They keep pushing it back. And you know, I'm not too happy about it (laughs). That's going to be the last one with Daniel Craig. I think Tom Hardy is going to be the next James Bond, which I'm really excited for too."
A similar theme can be found in some of the music that Kapanen listens to.
"Sometimes if I'm by myself, I'll put on some classy music and listen to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and those guys," he said. "But I like everything, to be honest. I can't tell you just one certain genre. When I was in Toronto, you had your rap and Drake. I like rock, too, because I'm from Finland and that's a big thing there. It goes from one side to the other."
His AirPods, AppleTV and iPhone are his three biggest must-haves.
"Wherever I go, I like to listen to music and have my phone on me," he said. "Especially having my family far away, they message me a ton. So I need that, and my Apple TV."
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Kapanen also has an interest in fashion, saying he's always open to try new trends and looks to his former Maple Leafs teammates like Auston Matthews and William Nylander for inspiration.
"Those guys are really into it, so I'm kind of just following their footsteps," Kapanen said. "I'll wear everything. You've got your brands like Off-White, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, stuff like that. But it doesn't have to be a designer thing, either. I'll go vintage. Whatever I can find. Anything that looks good, I'll put it on."
When Kapanen was living in Toronto, he liked going shopping in the city on off days as something to do. But during the pandemic, he's done mostly online shopping, perusing Instagram for patterns and trends.
"I've realized online shopping is way too easy, so I've got to watch out for that," he said with a laugh. "It's expensive to be on trend and trying to look good, so I gotta know my limits."
One area that Kapanen feels he has taken a big step forward in is his game-day suits.
"I remember going to Toronto when I was 19 and I barely had any suits and I was like, I don't want to wear these," said Kapanen, who personalizes his suits with his number. "But you have to. And then eventually you see guys dressing up and you're like, okay, that looks pretty nice. And then eventually you get your suits tailored, and now I think I've probably got close to 20 suits now my closet. So it's something that I want to kind of be in the spotlight for with our team, especially. Just kind of trying to look good and feel good."
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Kapanen's game-day routine is pretty simple. In the morning, he gets a coffee - lately he has been into espressos - and comes to the rink in a hoodie and sweats.
"I can't be that guy who rolls up to the rink in jeans and nice clothes in the morning," he said with a laugh. "That's just not me."
Later, you'll see him walking to the rink in one of his suits with his headphones in as he mentally prepares to take the ice. And he was thrilled to finally do that as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday against Washington.
