Kasperi Kapanen
Age: 23
Role: Third best right-winger on the NHL’s deepest team at that position. Penalty killer, defensive forward and speedster.
Last Season: Failed to perform late in the year when gifted top line minutes alongside Auston Matthews.
From February 14th – when he scored two goals – to the end of the seasons, Kapanen played in 29 games (including playoffs) and scored three times.
Overall, he actually had a good season. 20 goals, 44 points, 53% Corsi. He shouldn’t have been playing with Auston Matthews. Strangely, both Matthews and Kapanen put up better stats without each other (although that could easily be because of the common factor of Patrick Marleau).
Expectations: Considering that Kapanen’s most common linemate was the ghost of Patrick Marleau, I think that we should expect him to improve on last year’s strong seasons. He is one of the NHL’s fastest players, and a role alongside Alex Kerfoot could provide the Leafs with an excellent defensive line.
25 goals wouldn’t be a stretch. Kapanen isn’t in the elite stratosphere of Nylander and Marner, but he’s got the good to be a solid above average first-line level contributor.
What He Needs to Meet Expectations: All Kapanen really needed was to be re-signed and to get away from Marleau. Two thing that already happened. He is young enough to improve and he has got excellent potential.