Toronto Maple Leafs Forward Grades 2019-20 Regular Season

Kasperi Kapanen

It figures that one of the only forwards on the Toronto Maple Leafs to avoid injury this year was the player who disappointed the most.

Marner, Hyman, Johnsson, Kerfoot, Mikheyev and Tavares all missed at least five games due to injury, and Kapanen only missed one.

Unfortunately, Kapanen could not translate a healthy season into a good one.  Perhaps the most disappointing player on the roster this year, Kapanen managed only 13 goals and 36 points in 69 games.

His offense was average, his defense atrocious, and he failed to contribute on special teams.

After being worth a solid 1.5 wins last year which is better than 65% of players, Kapanen actually had negative value this season, overall hurting the team with his play.

That is right: Kapanen was so ineffective, that a random replacement player would have likely provided the team with more value.

The Leafs got an unfortunate 46% of the goals when Kapanen played, and his expected goals rating wasn’t much better.

Considering that just under half his ice time featured either Matthews or Tavares as his centre, and considering that he was 3rd on the Toronto Maple Leafs in offensive zone starts, Kapanen’s numbers look even worse.

It was a bad season for Kapanen and he most likely will be playing next year on a different team.  I am a fan, but the Leafs will need his cap space and he has clearly made himself the most expendable out of himself, Johnsson and Kerfoot.