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Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2018 IIHF World Championships

By Nicholas Lucciantonio

HERNING, DENMARK - MAY 07: Curtis McElhinney, goaltender of Canada celebrate with team mate Colton Parayki after the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship group stage game between Canada and Denmark at Jyske Bank Boxen on May 7, 2018 in Herning, Denmark. (Photo by Martin Rose/Getty Images)
HERNING, DENMARK - MAY 07: Curtis McElhinney, goaltender of Canada celebrate with team mate Colton Parayki after the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship group stage game between Canada and Denmark at Jyske Bank Boxen on May 7, 2018 in Herning, Denmark. (Photo by Martin Rose/Getty Images) /
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Leafs hockey hasn’t been around for about three weeks now, which doesn’t mean we don’t get to see any Toronto Maple Leafs play.

The World Championships are a couple days away from being over, and there are four members of the Toronto Maple Leafs participating. Let’s take a look at how they’re doing so far.

Frederik Andersen

Freddy jumped at the chance to be the starting goaltender for Denmark. Being the host of this years World Championships, he is able to play in his home. Andersen played a total of six games for his home country. Compiling a total of four wins against the likes of Germany, Finland, Norway and South Korea. Freddy finished with a 0.943 SV% with a 1.65 GAA. He also managed to record a shutout against Norway. Unfortunately, they finished short with one point behind Canada for fifth in Group B and did not advance to the quarter finals.

Curtis McElhinney

Joining Freddy in Group B is his backup for Toronto, Curtis McElhinney. Like Andersen, Mac was called up when the Leafs were eliminated in the first round of the NHL playoffs.

Playing for Team Canada, his starting job isn’t as guaranteed as Andersen’s is. Mac has had to battle Darcy Kuemper for the starting position and it doesn’t look like one has been chosen yet.

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The time in net has almost been split in half with Kuemper playing a total of two minutes more with 58. McElhinney has a total of three wins and a 0.931 SV% and a 1.30 GAA. Showing great numbers that don’t quite resemble a backup goalie, even if you are backstopping Team Canada. He did face-off against Denmark, but we didn’t get to see the battle of the Leaf goalies. Andersen was not playing that game, which ending up being a 7-1 win for Canada.

Kasperi Kapanen

Kapanen is the final Leaf in Group B, playing for Finland. The Fins starting this tournament off with a bang, scoring 23 goals in their first three games. They have also beaten giants Team USA and Canada each by four goals. Kapanen has three goals in seven games played, with a +2 plus/minus. He could be looking for yet another championship with Finland after winning the World Juniors in 2016, scoring the overtime winner in the Gold Medal game.

Nikita Zaitsev

Zaitsev is the last Leaf playing in the IIHF World Championships and he is playing in Group A for Russia. After winning in The Olympics, the Russians look to continue with more success in the World Championships. Zaitsev has got a nice five assists and a +5 plus/minus in seven games played. He will look for a good game against Canada to move on to the Semi-Finals.

Next: The Leafs and Jonathan Toews

Looks like there is a good chance of seeing one of your Toronto Maple Leafs hoisting the cup at the end of this tournament.

stats from iihf.com, hockeycanada.ca, TSN.ca

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