Toronto Maple Leafs: Partner Kapanen with Auston Matthews regularly
By James Reeve
The Toronto Maple Leafs are still without Swedish winger William Nylander, but they could have the perfect placeholder in Kasperi Kapanen.
William Nylander has been a regular partner alongside star centre Auston Matthews, but that role has been held by Tyler Ennis while the Swede has yet to agree a new contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
While Matthews has unsurprisingly been stellar, Ennis hasn’t been showing the same chemistry he displayed during the pre-season with the 21-year-old.
One player who has the ideal attributes, however, and showed instant chemistry in the team’s most recent game, is Kasperi Kapanen.
The Finnish winger has been played predominantly on the fourth line since entering the NHL, but he has the speed and stick-handling to partner a player of Matthews’ goalscoring quality.
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Kapanen partnered Matthews at times in the 7-6 overtime thriller against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night and registered his first points of the season.
He used his speed to score on a breakaway chance, having received a fantastic flip pass from Matthews, and then turned provider for his teammate’s fourth goal of the season less than a minute later.
The pair showed an immediate connection, with Kapanen able to utilise his speed and skill in a role that needs him to, rather than playing low minutes and usually not having the best line-mates to help him succeed.
Kapanen is a player who will ‘play-up’ depending on his line-mates. He has plenty to offer on offence, but he needs to be given the right kind of players to contribute consistently.
Nylander is unlikely to sign within the next few days, it seems, so a short-to-mid-term placeholder could help the team continue to produce in his absence.
After showing what he is capable of when given more minutes and a bigger role, Kapanen should at the very least find himself bumped up to the third line, alongside Nazem Kadri, in the future.
The former first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who joined the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Phil Kessel trade, has plenty of talent, but he needs to be used in a way that will give him the best opportunities to succeed.
After Sunday’s game, it’s clear what that way looks like.
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What do you think Leafs Nation? Would you like to see Kapanen partnered with Matthews again? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!