After 12 years in the league, Flyers winger Sami Kapanen has decided to end his NHL career. According to Bill Meltzer of Hockeybuzz.com, Kapanen will play for KalPa in Finland, the team he started his career with, for one season before hanging up his skates for good. Kapanen spent the last 4 1/2 seasons with the Flyers and was a total team player, doing whatever it took to help the team win, including playing defense from time to time. He still had one year left on his contract where he would have earned just over a million dollars, so now the Flyers will have a little bit of extra cap space.
Kapanen spent his career with two franchises: Hartford/Carolina and Philadelphia. He was a true warrior who constantly battled. He represents everything the hard-working Flyers are, and for that he will be missed. Kapanen retires having never won a Stanley Cup.
Here are Kapanen's career stats:
| YEAR | TEAM | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM |
| 1995-1996 | HFD | 35 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 6 |
| 1996-1997 | HFD | 45 | 13 | 12 | 25 | 6 | 2 |
| 1997-1998 | CAR | 81 | 26 | 37 | 63 | 9 | 16 |
| 1998-1999 | CAR | 81 | 24 | 35 | 59 | -1 | 10 |
| 1999-2000 | CAR | 76 | 24 | 24 | 48 | 10 | 12 |
| 2000-2001 | CAR | 82 | 20 | 37 | 57 | -12 | 24 |
| 2001-2002 | CAR | 77 | 27 | 42 | 69 | 9 | 23 |
| 2002-2003 | CAR | 43 | 6 | 12 | 18 | -17 | 12 |
| … | PHI | 28 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -1 | 6 |
| 2003-2004 | PHI | 74 | 12 | 18 | 30 | 9 | 14 |
| 2005-2006 | PHI | 58 | 12 | 22 | 34 | -9 | 12 |
| 2006-2007 | PHI | 77 | 11 | 14 | 25 | -21 | 22 |
| 2007-2008 | PHI | 74 | 5 | 3 | 8 | -12 | 16 |
| Career | -- | 831 | 189 | 269 | 458 | -30 | 175 |
He may be remembered most for showing a ton of heart in getting back to the bench after being laid out by Darcy Tucker of the Maple Leafs in the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs:
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