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Oliver Kapanen will not face Juraj Slafkovsky today

Originally posted on Dose.ca | Last updated Feb 11, 2026 12:54 PM ET

The Canadiens player, who is representing Finland at the Olympics, will not be in uniform for today’s game against Slovakia. So he won’t be making his Olympic debut.

And he won’t be facing Juraj Slafkovsky.

Korpisalo, Matinpalo & Oliver Kapanen are not playing today for Finland

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 11, 2026

We agree that the Finn was there mainly because Aleksander Barkov is injured. Otherwise, we can believe that he would not have had his chance.

But still, not playing must be disappointing.

In recent days, we’ve seen Kapanen drop down the ranks in his country. He had a big role in the projections before the first practice, but…

That quickly changed. We saw him practicing as an extra recently, which suggested that he was likely to be left out of the first game.

And here we are.

Details to follow…

Overtime

– Olympians at the hotel: no controversy here, according to the Canadian GM.

Sounds like Team CanadaGM Doug Armstrong believes the narrative surrounding Canada not staying at the Olympic Village has been blown out of proportion.

“The players have always had a hotel room in all of the Olympics prior to this, in Vancouver and Sochi. They’ve stayed with…

— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) February 11, 2026

– Who will be the goalie tomorrow?

He did confirm there would be two different guys in net for the first two games. Not a shock but he did say it. https://t.co/Lbo5Oz9QEp

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) February 11, 2026

– The arena is ready, obviously.

Asked Armstrong about the main arena and facilities now that he’s been here five days.
His response: “Everything is excellent.”

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 11, 2026

– Nice message.

National Hockey League statement regarding the tragedy in the community of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. pic.twitter.com/CvEUOW07aO

— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) February 11, 2026

– Wow.