Kasperi Kapanen was in tears.

And this was when things were going well for him.

After the Pittsburgh Penguins’ pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season came to an end, Kapanen spoke about his first campaign in Pittsburgh in which he posted a strong 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 40 games and earned a plum assignment as a winger next to franchise center Evgeni Malkin.

“A great group of guys kind of welcomed me in,” Kapanen said with emotion in May of 2021. “Made me feel at home, in a way, for sure. I’m grateful for that.”

On Saturday, Kapanen found himself in a new home.

St. Louis.

A day after being placed on waivers by the Penguins, Kapanen was claimed by the St. Louis Blues.

This transaction brings badly needed salary cap relief to the Penguins as it removes Kapanen’s entire average annual value of $3.2 million off their books. He is in the first year of a two-year contract he signed this past offseason.

From an immediate perspective, Kapanen’s departure allowed the Penguins to activate defenseman Jan Rutta from long-term injured reserve Saturday afternoon. Rutta, who carries a salary cap hit of $2.75 million, was in the lineup for Saturday’s road game against the St. Louis Blues.

Through a larger scope, the Penguins have a bit more flexibility to address their roster with Friday’s trade deadline approaching.

Entering Saturday, the Penguins had $1.225 million of salary cap space according to Cap Friendly. Following each transaction involving Kapanen and Rutta, that figure has grown to $1,829,188.

This brings Kapanen’s once-promising but ultimately unsuccessful tenure with the franchise that drafted him to a conclusion.

A first-round pick (No. 22 overall) of the Penguins in 2014, Kapanen was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in July of 2015 through a deal that brought popular forward Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh. Following five seasons with the Maple Leafs organization, Kapanen was traded back to the Penguins in August 2020.

After a promising 2020-21 campaign in which he posted 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 40 games while primarily playing on a line with franchise center Evgeni Malkin, Kapanen largely struggled in his two ensuing seasons with the Penguins.

This season, the 26-year-old has appeared in 43 games and scored 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) while averaging 12 minutes, 2 seconds of ice time primarily on the third line. He also has been a healthy scratch for eight games.

Kapanen was not in the lineup for the Blues on Saturday and was officially a healthy scratch. In reality, he was not in St. Louis by the time the Blues formally had claimed him.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan accepted blame, on behalf of the team, for Kapanen’s shortcomings while speaking with media Friday in Cranberry.

“When a team doesn’t live up to expectations, as ours has as of late, I think change is inevitable,” Sullivan said. “That’s part of it. (Kapanen) is a really talented player. To a certain extent, it’s on all of us because we didn’t find a way to maximize his potential. He brings a ton of speed, he has the ability to shoot the puck, he has good offensive instincts. There’s so many attributes to (Kapanen’s) game that are really attractive.

“For whatever reason, we couldn’t find a way to get his potential out of him. And that falls on all of us.”

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