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Toronto Maple Leafs: Kapanen Recalled; Andersen a No-Go

By James Tanner

Feb 21, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen (31) during a break in the action of their game against the Winnipeg Jets at Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs beat the Jets 5-4 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 21, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen (31) during a break in the action of their game against the Winnipeg Jets at Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs beat the Jets 5-4 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have received both good and bad news this morning.

At first, things looked promising for the Toronto Maple Leafs when this was tweeted out:

Alter then went on to say that Andersen was in his net for “the entire duration of practice.”

This is good news.  If Andersen was seriously injured, then I doubt he’d be in the net at all. The fact that he went out and played for a while during practice means he probably isn’t going to miss the rest of the season, or something crazy like then.

But just when you thought all the news was good:

It’d obviously be more reassuring if Andersen was going to play tomorrow, but even still, I don’t think this is a big deal. Why not be cautious?  By sitting him Tuesday, Andersen will have rested for close to a week by the time Thursday’s game against Nashville rolls around.

To my mind, this isn’t a serious injury.  Babcock seemed to be questioning the Buffalo doctors decision to pull him, Andersen said in an interview they were just being cautious, and he did practice today.

Everything seems fine.

Toronto Maple Leafs Recall Kapanen

In other good news, the Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled their top prospect, Kasperi Kapanen.

Kapanen is a 20-year-old right-winger who was drafted in the first round, 22nd overall in 2014, and was acquired by the Leafs in the Phil Kessel trade.

So far this year he is point-a-game player in the AHL over 43 games.  He has 18 goals.

Kapanen got a nine game audition last season.  He failed to register a point, but he did post a 51.22 Corsi-For percentage.

He will sub in on the right side of the Leafs fourth line, beside Boyle and Martin.  This is great news for the Leafs because it is the first sign of their willingness to play skill over grinding.  Ben Smith was a brutal 29% the other night against Buffalo, effectively ending his Leafs career. At least we hope it does because the Leafs have, seriously, ten to fifteen better options.

In a best case scenario, Kapanen will prove himself so effective he forces the Leafs to move Nylander to centre (giving them one of the best 1-2-3 centre combos in post-Salary Cap NHL History) thus making the Leafs even deeper and more frightening offensively than they already are.

Consider this: if the Toronto Maple Leafs were even .500 in OT/Shootouts, they’d be 8th in the NHL overall.  They would be 8th overall while not even using two players like Kasperi Kapenan and Josh Leivo.

At this point, the Leafs are basically the 2015 Chicago Cubs with a deeper roster.

All stats corsica.hockey.

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