Kapanen reveals the real reason he was pulled from the lineup on Saturday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs caused a bit of a furor on Saturday when they suddenly and unexpectedly pulled veteran forward Kasperi Kapanen out of the lineup just minutes prior to their matchup against the Ottawa Senators, otherwise known as the Battle of Ontario. It was a strange move not only because these games are historically big games on the calendar for the Maple Leafs, but also due to the fact that the move came so close to the National Hockey League's trade deadline. 

Kapanen has been the subject of trade rumors for well over a year now and the sudden decision to scratch him literally just minutes prior to the game, at least as far as we could tell, had many speculating that a trade would finally be on the way. It is no secret that the Maple Leafs have been looking for an upgrade on the right side of their blue line and the belief was that general manager Kyle Dubas had finally pulled the trigger and traded Kapanen to fill that hole. That being said the talk of a potential trade died down relatively quickly when Kapanen was spotted in the Maple Leafs press box, not the behavior you would expect from a player that had just been informed of a trade. 

Following the game against the Ottawa Senators we got an update on Kapanen's surprise healthy scratch courtesy of Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe, but even then the Leafs head coach remained somewhat cryptic. Keefe informed reporters that Kapanen had been scratched due to "internal accountability" but that inly added to the mystery as fans and pundits alike tried to piece together what could have happened. Well now we finally have our answer.

A report from Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Chris Johnston has seemingly revealed the real reason behind the mysterious scratch, and we think this one is pretty definitive given that the source of the information here is Kapanen himself. According to Johnston's report Kapanen indicated that he was scratched on Saturday because he overslept for Friday's practice and was late as a result. That may seem like a relatively minor incident however there may have been a reason Keefe made the decision to sit him. Kapanen also admitted to reporters on Monday that this was not the first time this had happened, with Kapanen making a similar mistake in the past during his time in the American Hockey League. Keefe of course was the coach of the AHL's Toronto Marlies prior to being named head coach of the Maple Leafs, and likely felt that a message had to be sent given that he had previously dealt with the behavior at the AHL level.