The Toronto Maple Leafs kept Kasperi Kapanen out of the lineup on Monday with what they deemed as an illness, but gave a more serious diagnosis today. Kapanen will be held out again tonight because of a concussion, sustained at some point during the game in Edmonton on Saturday night.
Kapanen, 22, has been a welcome addition to the Maple Leafs this season, recording 42 points in 68 games in his first real opportunity as a full-time NHL player. Originally selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins, he came to Toronto in the Phil Kessel deal several years ago and had only really found his way to the Maple Leafs roster late last year. The speedy winger has developed into an excellent counter-attack option that can make teams pay for turning the puck over, and is even used as a penalty killer by head coach Mike Babcock.
Losing him right now as the Maple Leafs attempt to track down the Boston Bruins in the standings isn’t a perfect scenario, but the team does have other options to take over Kapanen’s minutes. William Nylander has been promoted to the wing of Auston Matthews while young forward Trevor Moore will likely see regular time on the fourth line. There is currently no timetable for Kapanen’s return, but his penchant for scoring timely goals will certainly be needed if the Maple Leafs are expecting to do any damage in the playoffs this year.
You have to wonder with these latest injuries if teams are playing the Leafs harder down the stretch or if TML as a team is running out of steam again. It certainly doesn’t help with the TBL performance and losing your grip with the fan base. At least it promising to see teams like CBJ giving the bruins a run for their money this late in the year. They’ll likely play TBL in the first round if the can maintain that 2nd WC spot, but highly unlikely they’ll make it past em.
No. This is a combination of a couple reasons:
1) the Maple Leafs are a soft NHL team. They have no true enforcers except for maybe Muzzin and Kadri. Kadri needs to start being more of a pain in the ass, hard hitting player especially against Boston because they’ll knock them all over the ice.
And 2) what makes me angry …It’s the goddamn NHL allowing players to take runs at Leaf players, injure anyone they can and completely get away with it!