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Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: Full of Surprises

By Mike Stephens|
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 20: Frederik Gauthier #33 of the Toronto Maple Leafs warms up before facing the St. Louis Blues at the Scotiabank Arena on October 20, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 20: Frederik Gauthier #33 of the Toronto Maple Leafs warms up before facing the St. Louis Blues at the Scotiabank Arena on October 20, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
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COLUMBUS, OH – NOVEMBER 23: Par Lindholm #26 of the Toronto Maple Leafs controls the puck during the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 23, 2018 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH – NOVEMBER 23: Par Lindholm #26 of the Toronto Maple Leafs controls the puck during the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 23, 2018 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

Josh Tessler

Oddly enough, my biggest surprise isn’t Kasperi Kapanen. You’d have to figure that if Kapanen was going to be given top 6 minutes that he would excel. My biggest surprise is how some of the bottom six grinders have been doing.

Par Lindholm and Frederik Gauthier have been doing extremely well. Gauthier’s Corsi-for percentage is up around 12 percent in comparison to last year. Lindholm has been doing well too. At this point in the season, he owns a 47.3 CF%, 1 goal and 6 assists. Those are not terrible numbers when looked at from a bottom 6 forward.

In addition, Gauthier and Lindholm have been fighting for the puck. They’re puck hounds and continually push the play, rubbing opponents out along the boards and turning over possession whenever they can. They’ve been putting up a solid fight and pushing the puck up the ice.

All-in-all, I’ve been extremely happy with their performances.

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