Toronto Maple Leafs: Kasperi Kapanen Bad Fit for Matthews Line
By James Tanner
The Toronto Maple Leafs have several weeks to get ready for the Playoffs.
During the next several weeks, one of the Toronto Maple Leafs priorities should be to get Auston Matthews onto a line that actually helps him.
The current line of Patrick Marleau, Auston Matthews and Kasperi Kapanen is terrible. Not only are there better options for Matthews’ linemates, but additionally, neither Kapanen or Marleau are top line players.
Given that the Leafs have two elite right-wingers in Mitch Marner and William Nylander, it doesn’t make any sense for Kapanen to be on the top line. As for Marleau, you could make a pretty good argument that his beset position at this point would be assistant coach, but at the very least he shouldn’t be any higher than the third line.
Matthews Line
Matthews currently has a 51% possession rating, 27 goals and 26 assists for 53 points in 44 games. That’s good, but it could be better.
I’d like to thank the Twitter user @activestick for this stat (he used an F word in his tweet, so I couldn’t use it) but Kapanen has two primary assists in his last 44 games, which is last in the NHL among players who’ve played 600 minutes minimum.
He has done that playing primarily with the best goal scorer in the NHL.
That’s a bit of a problem.
The reason William Nylander should be playing with Auston Matthews is that Nylander might be the best transition player in the NHL. In case you don’t bother clicking that link, Nylander is a 97 out of 100 for zone entries, while Kapanen is rated a 65.
For carrying the puck from the Leafs blue line to entering the zone of the opposition, few players are better than William Nylander.
This is why he and Matthews have been such a great pairing. Nylander is a wizard passer with incredible puck carrying abilities, and Matthews is a finisher.
The other player that should fill out this line is Andreas Johnsson.
You read that right: Since two games after his hattrick vs the Flyers, Andreas Johnsson has been one of the top three scorers in the NHL on a per hour basis.
Mike Babcock continues to skate him on the fourth line.
When Johnsson comes back from his recent injury – not thought to be serious – he should be taking a permanent role on the top line.
Auston Matthews is the Leafs best player – and probably the second best player in the NHL – but the Leafs are hurting him by giving him inferior linemates. They need to give him Johnson on the left and re-unite him with Nylander on the right.
Next. Predicting the Leafs Trade Deadline Moves. dark
Kapanen’s lack of assists while centering the best goal scorer in the NHL are a huge indictment of his play. He’s a great player and is easily a top-six NHL forward. He just isn’t a good for Matthews as should be obvious to anyone with eyes.