Recalled/Assigned: Kapanen Called Up

[Faltorvo]

i'm not going to get into the hyman debate, so for now, until babs shows other wise, he is with matthews


hyman,matthews,marner

koma,kadri,brown

leivo,sosh,pick a marlie,nylander,kappy

martin,boyle/fehr/goat,sosh,leivo,pick a marlie


looks good to me for a growing year

 

[i1]

Guy could easily get 40+ points next year if Babcock lets him play in the top nine

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Will he be returning to the Marlies lineup?

 

[BertCorbeau]

He already has

 

[HellasLEAF]

Kappy was getting comparisons with Willy coming up which is really high praise.

I think he is a big part of the team going forward and you can't teach clutch. He's got a bit of magic about him.

 

[canadon]

Do we know of any status on Kappy's injury (during the last Marlies playoff game)?

 

[DarylO]

Looks like he is good to play next game.

 

[Narow]

One of the highlights (among many) was seeing kappy use his speed, its incredible to see how much ground he can cover in so little time. And to believe he had a knee injury just a month or two prior was pretty frightening.

Next season he might be considered the fastest skater in the league.

I wouldnt even ve surprised

 

[SteelWind]

My concern over Kapanen is that his speed was almost utterly wasted on the 4th line. Yes, he has shown that he can win a footrace to reach the puck just before it goes into the corner in the offensive zone. But his size made it difficult for him to cut to the net with the puck. Worse, he was easily moved off the puck when the D arrived 2 strides later. Kap's ability to get off a shot on net while heading into the corner in the offensive zone all alone was quite limited.

Instead, what we saw time and again in the playoffs was Kap streaking into the offensive zone in an impressive foot race, reaching the puck a stride ahead and having to hold up while the rest of his line caught up. The advantage was lost and essentially, nothing really came of it. The opportunity for a quality scoring chance was gone. I recall only one quality shot at the net that Kapanen managed on his own while winning such a footrace. There would have been more, but Martin and Boyle were too slow.

Poor juices to come off such an appetizing steak, time and again.

Sure, we can bicker about the usefulness of at least having the puck in the offensive zone for a time. But the consistent results of these races to the puck shows that Kapanen is miscast. 95% of the time, there is a temporary puck retrieval without a scoring chance arising from it. Babs can do better.

Had Kap been on a line with Nylander, Marner, or perhaps even Brown, Matthews or Kadri, there would have been another line mate who was fast enough to reach the offensive zone in time ahead of the pack to receive a pass from Kap in the offensive zone to yield a quality scoring chance.

So while I was impressed with Kapanen's speed, it was almost entirely wasted on the 4th line. This guy needs to be playing with at least one other fast-skating Leaf on his line or his greatest strength is wasted. After Kap's speed is wasted, his shot isn't enough to make up for his reduced size and difficulty in winning puck battles.

In short, I am in favour of Kapenen on the top 9. But as a 4th liner? I'm not convinced he's all that useful a skater for the Leafs. He's too small and he tends to lose puck battles.

But put him up with Hyman and Matthews - he might be productive as hell.

 

[Randy Randerson]

My concern over Kapanen is that his speed was almost utterly wasted on the 4th line. Yes, he has shown that he can win a footrace to reach the puck just before it goes into the corner in the offensive zone. But his size made it difficult for him to cut to the net with the puck. Worse, he was easily moved off the puck when the D arrived 2 strides later. Kap's ability to get off a shot on net while heading into the corner in the offensive zone all alone was quite limited.

Instead, what we saw time and again in the playoffs was Kap streaking into the offensive zone in an impressive foot race, reaching the puck a stride ahead and having to hold up while the rest of his line caught up. The advantage was lost and essentially, nothing really came of it. The opportunity for a quality scoring chance was gone. I recall only one quality shot at the net that Kapanen managed on his own while winning such a footrace. There would have been more, but Martin and Boyle were too slow.

Poor juices to come off such an appetizing steak, time and again.

Sure, we can bicker about the usefulness of at least having the puck in the offensive zone for a time. But the consistent results of these races to the puck shows that Kapanen is miscast. 95% of the time, there is a temporary puck retrieval without a scoring chance arising from it. Babs can do better.

Had Kap been on a line with Nylander, Marner, or perhaps even Brown, Matthews or Kadri, there would have been another line mate who was fast enough to reach the offensive zone in time ahead of the pack to receive a pass from Kap in the offensive zone to yield a quality scoring chance.

So while I was impressed with Kapanen's speed, it was almost entirely wasted on the 4th line. This guy needs to be playing with at least one other fast-skating Leaf on his line or his greatest strength is wasted. After Kap's speed is wasted, his shot isn't enough to make up for his reduced size and difficulty in winning puck battles.

In short, I am in favour of Kapenen on the top 9. But as a 4th liner? I'm not convinced he's all that useful a skater for the Leafs. He's too small and he tends to lose puck battles.

But put him up with Hyman and Matthews - he might be productive as hell.

I think he'll be bound for the top 9 almost without question, he only plays 4th line on an extended basis if he proves he can't be better

I think your concerns need context too - he's 20, average height and still a little under weight, and they were playing against one of the best teams in hockey that's also one of the bigger ones, natural that he would lose some physical battles. He was great in coverage and won lots of races, I wouldn't get too concerned with one little aspect like getting overpowered by bigger players yet.

Also felt bad for him offensively, Boyle and Martin didn't make much happen save for the one really nice OT pass from Boyle

 

[The_Chosen_One]

One of the highlights (among many) was seeing kappy use his speed, its incredible to see how much ground he can cover in so little time. And to believe he had a knee injury just a month or two prior was pretty frightening.

Next season he might be considered the fastest skater in the league.

I wouldnt even ve surprised

I could actually see him on the top line with Matthews. Have him play that speedy, puck retriever role while Nylander - Marner forms the sheltered pair.

 

[Narow]

I could actually see him on the top line with Matthews. Have him play that speedy, puck retriever role while Nylander - Marner forms the sheltered pair.

You could add a new layer of offence with kappy on that line aswell. Namely reliable breakouts.

Transition from dzone to ozone should also become even faster with a guy like kappy there.

But i dont know just my theories.

 

[Barilko14]

My concern over Kapanen is that his speed was almost utterly wasted on the 4th line. Yes, he has shown that he can win a footrace to reach the puck just before it goes into the corner in the offensive zone. But his size made it difficult for him to cut to the net with the puck. Worse, he was easily moved off the puck when the D arrived 2 strides later. Kap's ability to get off a shot on net while heading into the corner in the offensive zone all alone was quite limited.

Instead, what we saw time and again in the playoffs was Kap streaking into the offensive zone in an impressive foot race, reaching the puck a stride ahead and having to hold up while the rest of his line caught up. The advantage was lost and essentially, nothing really came of it. The opportunity for a quality scoring chance was gone. I recall only one quality shot at the net that Kapanen managed on his own while winning such a footrace. There would have been more, but Martin and Boyle were too slow.

Poor juices to come off such an appetizing steak, time and again.

Sure, we can bicker about the usefulness of at least having the puck in the offensive zone for a time. But the consistent results of these races to the puck shows that Kapanen is miscast. 95% of the time, there is a temporary puck retrieval without a scoring chance arising from it. Babs can do better.

Had Kap been on a line with Nylander, Marner, or perhaps even Brown, Matthews or Kadri, there would have been another line mate who was fast enough to reach the offensive zone in time ahead of the pack to receive a pass from Kap in the offensive zone to yield a quality scoring chance.

So while I was impressed with Kapanen's speed, it was almost entirely wasted on the 4th line. This guy needs to be playing with at least one other fast-skating Leaf on his line or his greatest strength is wasted. After Kap's speed is wasted, his shot isn't enough to make up for his reduced size and difficulty in winning puck battles.

In short, I am in favour of Kapenen on the top 9. But as a 4th liner? I'm not convinced he's all that useful a skater for the Leafs. He's too small and he tends to lose puck battles.

But put him up with Hyman and Matthews - he might be productive as hell.

So we are assuming where he cracked the lineup of a playoff team, at the very end of the season, at the age of 20 is where he is going to play his entire career?

Not sure why you are concerned about this, he obviously has Top 9 upside, everyone knows that, it's just a matter of time until he's playing with better linemates.

 

[highslot]

My concern over Kapanen is that his speed was almost utterly wasted on the 4th line. Yes, he has shown that he can win a footrace to reach the puck just before it goes into the corner in the offensive zone. But his size made it difficult for him to cut to the net with the puck. Worse, he was easily moved off the puck when the D arrived 2 strides later. Kap's ability to get off a shot on net while heading into the corner in the offensive zone all alone was quite limited.

Instead, what we saw time and again in the playoffs was Kap streaking into the offensive zone in an impressive foot race, reaching the puck a stride ahead and having to hold up while the rest of his line caught up. The advantage was lost and essentially, nothing really came of it. The opportunity for a quality scoring chance was gone. I recall only one quality shot at the net that Kapanen managed on his own while winning such a footrace. There would have been more, but Martin and Boyle were too slow.

Poor juices to come off such an appetizing steak, time and again.

Sure, we can bicker about the usefulness of at least having the puck in the offensive zone for a time. But the consistent results of these races to the puck shows that Kapanen is miscast. 95% of the time, there is a temporary puck retrieval without a scoring chance arising from it. Babs can do better.

Had Kap been on a line with Nylander, Marner, or perhaps even Brown, Matthews or Kadri, there would have been another line mate who was fast enough to reach the offensive zone in time ahead of the pack to receive a pass from Kap in the offensive zone to yield a quality scoring chance.

So while I was impressed with Kapanen's speed, it was almost entirely wasted on the 4th line. This guy needs to be playing with at least one other fast-skating Leaf on his line or his greatest strength is wasted. After Kap's speed is wasted, his shot isn't enough to make up for his reduced size and difficulty in winning puck battles.

In short, I am in favour of Kapenen on the top 9. But as a 4th liner? I'm not convinced he's all that useful a skater for the Leafs. He's too small and he tends to lose puck battles.

But put him up with Hyman and Matthews - he might be productive as hell.

he gave a great scoring punch to overmatch wash 4th line, as first one in into the boards, he could create a cycle game with latecomers boyle and martin.

that being said, his true talent would be with nylander, who is the best leaf for zone enteries. his speed and boardwork and nylander's speed and vision, they would cause a lot of chaos from the neutral zone to the offensive zone. you could add a grinder/passer like leivo, or a scrappy guy like grundstrom, komorov to pass the puck off the boards.

 

[The_Chosen_One]

You could add a new layer of offence with kappy on that line aswell. Namely reliable breakouts.

Transition from dzone to ozone should also become even faster with a guy like kappy there.

But i dont know just my theories.

That's what I see as well. Matthews next season should be more explosive which ought to enable greater stamina. This means a higher speed game that can complement Kapanen well.

 

[taurine330]

Kappy will fight for a top 9 role next year. But who would come off? Brown? Hyman? I would say Hyman but based on this season that is not likely. Most logical solution would be to trade Bozak and move Nylander to center.

Hyman - Matthews - Kapanen
JvR - Nylander - Marner
Komarov - Kadri - Brown

Or one could swap Marner and Kapanen. I have to to say that top 9 looks pretty decent, aside from Hyman.

 

[HellasLEAF]

Kappy will fight for a top 9 role next year. But who would come off? Brown? Hyman? I would say Hyman but based on this season that is not likely. Most logical solution would be to trade Bozak and move Nylander to center.

Hyman - Matthews - Kapanen
JvR - Nylander - Marner
Komarov - Kadri - Brown

Or one could swap Marner and Kapanen. I have to to say that top 9 looks pretty decent, aside from Hyman.

JVR imo, will be moved.

 

[The_Chosen_One]

JVR imo, will be moved.

If that happens, I wouldn't mind seeing the Bozak - Marner pair remain but a more two-way forward like Leivo or Rychel be used.

The loss a left shooter will hurt, though.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

One of the highlights (among many) was seeing kappy use his speed, its incredible to see how much ground he can cover in so little time. And to believe he had a knee injury just a month or two prior was pretty frightening.

Next season he might be considered the fastest skater in the league.

I wouldnt even ve surprised

Don't remember which shift but there was one in particular where I said "Holy shiznit" when he just obliterated everyone with a quick burst of speed.

 

[KlattNazty]

Kappy will fight for a top 9 role next year. But who would come off? Brown? Hyman? I would say Hyman but based on this season that is not likely. Most logical solution would be to trade Bozak and move Nylander to center.

Hyman - Matthews - Kapanen
JvR - Nylander - Marner
Komarov - Kadri - Brown

Or one could swap Marner and Kapanen. I have to to say that top 9 looks pretty decent, aside from Hyman.

So difficult to project the eventual top 9, but im thinking it is going to be Bozak still here next year. So, ill project for the following year (2018-2019).

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
JVR? (Open likely) - Nylander - Kapanen
Komarov - Kadri - Brown

Having said that, Grundstrom, Johnnson, Leivo (for now), will likely all be in the mix. I think Grundstrom is a very strong candidate to make the leafs sooner than later, especially if they decide to move on from Komarov or move to 4C or something.

 

[pylon17]

So difficult to project the eventual top 9, but im thinking it is going to be Bozak still here next year. So, ill project for the following year (2018-2019).

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
JVR? (Open likely) - Nylander - Kapanen
Komarov - Kadri - Brown

Having said that, Grundstrom, Johnnson, Leivo (for now), will likely all be in the mix. I think Grundstrom is a very strong candidate to make the leafs sooner than later, especially if they decide to move on from Komarov or move to 4C or something.

This is what I said in the other thread and got crucified. That's a damn fine top-9.

 

[pylon17]

i'm not going to get into the hyman debate, so for now, until babs shows other wise, he is with matthews


hyman,matthews,marner

koma,kadri,brown

leivo,sosh,pick a marlie,nylander,kappy

martin,boyle/fehr/goat,sosh,leivo,pick a marlie


looks good to me for a growing year

Agreed.

 

[KlattNazty]

This is what I said in the other thread and got crucified. That's a damn fine top-9.

Aha, I am on board with you.

If it shakes out perfectly for me, it goes something like:

Grundstrom - Matthews - Marner
JVR - Nylander - Kapanen
Hyman - Kadri - Brown
Martin - Komarov - Leivo / Leipsic

JVR being here is a big ?, I think he's a valuable guy and as it stands, not sure he gets us the dman we want, SO, with that in mind.... if he is willing to sign a Kadri/Rielly hometown discount type deal then I would keep him.

We can sit here and pretend that our winger prospects will replace him, and they may very well bring a lot to the table. But he is a 60 pt winger, with size, who is absolutely lethal on the powerplay. Defense be damned, that is always going to be next to impossible to legitimately replace.

 

[Duke Silver]

Aha, I am on board with you.

If it shakes out perfectly for me, it goes something like:

Grundstrom - Matthews - Marner
JVR - Nylander - Kapanen
Hyman - Kadri - Brown
Martin - Komarov - Leivo / Leipsic

JVR being here is a big ?, I think he's a valuable guy and as it stands, not sure he gets us the dman we want, SO, with that in mind.... if he is willing to sign a Kadri/Rielly hometown discount type deal then I would keep him.

We can sit here and pretend that our winger prospects will replace him, and they may very well bring a lot to the table. But he is a 60 pt winger, with size, who is absolutely lethal on the powerplay. Defense be damned, that is always going to be next to impossible to legitimately replace.

Nylander will be a right-winger next year.

 

[Walshy7]

Nylander will be a right-winger next year.

well he will be a winger, he is talented enough to play LW though and we may need him too. But I get your main point in that Babs said he wont be a C