Although he cleared waivers back on Tuesday, Maple Leafs center Eric Fehr wasn’t immediately sent to the minors. That has now changed as the team announced that they’ve assigned the veteran to Toronto of the AHL while recalling winger Kasperi Kapanen.
Fehr has played in four NHL games this season, averaging 10:56 per night while being held off the scoresheet. He had been in a rotation with fellow center Dominic Moore as they alternated games early on. Even by sending him down, the Leafs won’t be able to clear his contract off the books entirely, however. As he has a $2MM cap hit, the team will still carry a prorated $975K charge while he is at the minor league level.
This will be Kapanen’s first stint with the big club this season. He has played in 17 NHL regular season games over the past two seasons where he has just a lone goal but he made his mark in the 2017 postseason against Washington with a pair of tallies – including a game-winner – in six contests. In six games with the Marlies, he has three goals to tie for the team lead. He carries a cap hit of just over $863K so Toronto will save a little bit of money on the cap with this move.