Editor In Leaf
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Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Upgrade Kapanen’s Status to Untouchable

By James Tanner

Apr 15, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Kasperi Kapanen (28) celebrates after scoring a goal on Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby (70) in the second period in game two of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 15, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Kasperi Kapanen (28) celebrates after scoring a goal on Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby (70) in the second period in game two of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs need to start considering Kasperi Kapanen untouchable.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are building a great team.  They’ve got a ton of great young players and a collection of equally great players currently in their primes.  This has led to the team being competitive even faster than their most optimistic fan (me) thought.

But if they want to keep that going, they can’t make any mistakes.  And one huge mistake would be trading Kasperi Kapanen in pursuit of defense.  Most fans can’t even stomach the thought of trading Auston Matthews, William Nylander or Mitch Marner – with good reason.

This tends to make Kapanen the go-to trade bait.  He shouldn’t be.

While the stats are hard to glean information from, due to small sample size, and him playing on the fourth line, Kapanen has been great for the Leafs.

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First, in the AHL, he was a point per game player.  For young players – and Kapanen is only 20 – being a point-per-game AHL player is a huge indication of their ability to be above average in the NHL.

Kapanen was great in the Playoffs.  Sure, he was on the fourth line, and stuck with Matt Martin, but he was fun to watch. He scored an O.T winner – double O.T no less!

Other than that double O.T game, he didn’t score and he only played about 11 minutes per night. However, it was apparent that he is lightning fast – possibly the fastest on the Toronto Maple Leafs, and one of the NHL’s fastest players.   Also, while he’s got some moves, he’s also a capable checker/defender and he’s a pest, and he looks to give a full-out effort at all times.

Toronto Maple Leafs need D, just not this way

You can’t teach speed and willingly giving up one of the NHL’s fastest players seems stupid.

Basically, even if Kapanen is not going to score in the NHL, which he will,  he’s got a future a defensive specialist in the style of Leo Komarov.  But I think he will score in the NHL. I think he can be a star.

So trading him is pointless.  You only get Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall, so you aren’t getting very much for Kapanen.  Even if you package him with a first-rounder, based on the NHL trade market of the last year, fans won’t be happy with the return.

So keep him.

He’s got a ton of potential.  He might allow them to move Nylander to centre.  He brings a skill-set that, other than Connor Brown and Komarov, the Leafs lack.

And he can skate / keep up with Matthews.

The Toronto Maple Leafs need two or three defensemen (depending on how they view Connor Carrick) but they are young enough, have enough cap space and should be patient enough to not overpay for instant help they don’t need.

As far as I’m concerned, Kasperi Kapanen should be  untouchable.

He certainly isn’t ever going to play on the fourth line again.

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