Toronto Maple Leafs: Kasperi Kapanen Out vs Chicago

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without one of their deadliest forwards tonight as they prepare to take on the Chicago Blackhawks.

As an organization, the Maple Leafs have come a long way in recent years, both on and off the ice. From how they go about conducting business, to their newfound emphasis on fan engagement, to an increased transparency with the media, it is clear that the team, under Brendan Shannahan‘s leadership, has made a concerted effort to alter a number of their key internal aspects, effectively distancing themselves from the mediocrity of the past.

Perhaps the most notable off-ice change, however, pertains to injuries, and more specifically how the team, as a whole, handles them.

This began back in 2015, with the decision to hire and compile a cutting-edge sports science staff led by Dr Jeremy Bettle. In the three years to come, Leafs’ players would experience phenomenal health, recovering at a heightened rate while regularly finishing near the bottom of the league in regards to total man-games missed.

Those minor, nagging ailments that typically befall players over the course of an 82-game season just never seemed to infiltrate the Maple Leafs, and the team benefited immensely from it.

Fast forward to this year, and that luck may have run out.

A swath of injuries has plagued the Leafs thus far this season, and not limited only to minor ailments, either. These are rather significant injuries – those which require weeks to heal. Be it the shoulder ailments to Auston Matthews and Travis Dermott, Jake Gardiner‘s back spasms, or Tyler Ennis‘ broken ankle, the Leafs have seen minimal instances in which they can ice their optimal lineup.

This is where the sports science division is truly put to the test. With so many important players succumbing to their own serious health setbacks, it has become paramount for those who endure minor ones to be handled with the utmost care.

This increased caution goes lengths to explain today’s announcement.

Kasperi Kapanen is the second player within Toronto’s system to have missed time this week for “precautionary reasons”. The first, goaltender Michael Hutchinson, was pulled from the Toronto Marlies’ matchup with the Belleville Senators on Monday after telling trainers between periods that he “just didn’t feel right”.

While both Hutchinson and Kapanen are each crucial components of their respective teams, their precautionary exclusion from games this week speaks volumes to just how diligent the Leafs’ medical staff truly is.

Long gone are the days of Randy Carlyle positing his theory that concussions are caused by helmets swelling the human brain with body heat, therein putting it at greater risk. If a Leafs player is feeling off, even in the slightest way, he will be immediately pulled from the action and evaluated to ensure that any potential ailment is not serious. And, in the event that it is, that ailment will be identified and dealt with right away.

Early in the 2011-12 season, then-Leafs’ prospect, Joe Colborne, suffered a broken wrist. Opting to battle through the ailment instead of focusing on his recovery, Colborne proceeded to score just 6 goals over the remaining 51 games that season, stunting his development and eventually requiring surgery.

The worst part? The Marlies’ medical staff allowed this to happen. They stood by as a player of theirs routinely struggled to perform while he dealt with a significant impairment to a vital part of his body.

Negligence like that will be tolerated no longer.

The Leafs may be without Kapanen as they clash with the surging Chicago Blackhawks tonight but, in the grand scheme of things, the 22-year-old will be missing what only amounts to a mid-week contest against an intra-conference opponent in the middle of March.

If that’s the price Kapanen must pay to be at full strength when the playoffs begin, his night off tonight will soon be seen as a bargain.

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