Kasperi Kapanen's scratch is not injury related.

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a very curious move on Saturday night, and that move has just become all the more curious given the updates we have now received. 

First, it was Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Chris Johnston that broke the news that Maple Leafs forward Kasperi Kapanen had been pulled out of the lineup just minutes prior to puck drop on Saturday night, with Johnston reporting that Dmytro Timashov would be the man stepping in to replace him. The news resulted in some rampant speculation regarding a potential trade coming for the Maple Leafs, reasonable speculation given just how often Kapanen has been linked to trade rumors over the course of the past year or more. 

We still do not know the motivating factor behind the decision to scratch Kapanen tonight, but we do have some additional details that at least narrow things down. First, I speculated in our initial report on this story that this could potentially have been related to the elbow injury that Kapnen had been dealing with earlier in the week, but it appears as though that option is off the table. Johnston's colleague at Sportsnet, NHL reporter Luke Fox, is now reporting that the Kapanen scratch is not injury related. Fox also added that Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe will be speaking to the media following tonight's contest against the Ottawa Senators to address the topic of the scratch this evening.

That would appear to leave 3 realistic options here. Either a trade involving the forward is being discussed, Kapanen is being disciplined for some issues off the ice, or he has been forced to miss the game due to personal reasons. Again we may have narrowed that down thanks to a report from Toronto Maple Leafs insider James Mirtle of The Athletic. From Mirle:

Kapanen is sitting up here in the press box with us tonight, so I can't imagine there's been a trade or that he's ill.

Of course that is not a definitive report on the part of Mirtle, but it would appear to indicate that a trade being the cause of tonight's scratch is unlikely. Given that Keefe is expected to speak to reporters after the game it seems like a disciplinary issue may be at the root of tonight's scratch, but we will wait for official confirmation before reporting that as fact.