The Toronto Marlies are about to begin a playoff series with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms tomorrow, and the team has all hands on deck. All hands but one at least, as Kasperi Kapanen doesn’t seem to be joining them after being eliminated from the IIHF World Championship yesterday. Though, as Scott Wheeler of The Athletic pointed out yesterday, he is eligible to join the Marlies for their playoff run, Kapanen posted a photo of a plane ticket from Copenhagen to Helsinki on his Instagram account earlier today. As Wheeler had mentioned, there was a possibility that Kapanen would return to Finland after what has been a long year to begin his offseason.
This doesn’t by any means guarantee that Kapanen won’t join the team at some point. The Marlies are a favorite for the Calder Cup after an incredible regular season and two impressive series wins against Utica and Syracuse, the latter of which ended in a four-game sweep. There is always a chance that Kapanen joins them somewhere down the road, but the team already has a glut of talented wingers to choose from.
Kapanen, 21, established himself as an NHL regular in the second half of the season and played in all seven games against Boston in the first round of the playoffs with the Maple Leafs. The speedy winger recorded nine points in 38 games during the regular season, but was limited to fourth-line duties for much of that time. After a solid performance for Finland at the World Championship, he’ll try to nab a role higher up the lineup next season with the Maple Leafs. The team is expected to let James van Riemsdyk and Leo Komarov go in free agency, opening up some more minutes for players like Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson to fill.
would love to see Kapanen playing on A line with Matthews if they decide to keep Kadri, Marleau, Marner together. The focus teams put on Matthews would open up tons of room for Kapanen and with his speed, any room given is too much.
But also at the same time if opposing teams put out their top defensive pair and their strongest defensive line vs Matthews, it leaves more desirable matchups for the rest of the team.
certainly. look at this past playoffs. the leafs found success when chats was matched against marner because of the speed. if you put speed on Matthews line, a slower shut down d can take down Matthews but won’t have the foot speed to catch Kapanen. they likely both open up space for each other.