New line combination from Babcock opens big opportunity for several Maple Leafs.

The head coach is doing some tinkering.

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Published 4 years ago
New line combination from Babcock opens big opportunity for several Maple Leafs.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are doing some tinkering fresh off the heels of the Mitch Marner contract and it could mean some unexpected opportunities for some members of the Maple Leafs roster.

According to a report from Toronto Maple Leafs insider Jonas Siegel of The Athletic, it now appears as though head coach Mike Babcock has a desire to test out forward Kasperi Kapanen on the left wing of the Maple Leafs' top line. This means that Babcock is envisioning a line that would feature the aforementioned Mitch Marner on the right side, Toronto Maple Leafs star John Tavares at center, with Kapanen rounding out the top line. When you take into consideration the fact that Kapanen usually plays on the left side of the ice this may come off as a curious move to be sure, but to be fair to the Leafs head coach here this may simply be his way of plugging the hole left by the injured Zach Hyman.

It is unclear how long Babcock intends to leave Kapanen on the wing with Tavares and Marner, presumably that will be impacted both by how long it takes Hyman to recover from his torn ACL, and by how well the 3 manage to come together on the ice. Siegel however is reporting that Babcock does plan to test the right winger on the left side, which would indicate to be that this will be an ongoing process and not one that Babcock will so readily give up on come this season. 

Although this may not be an ideal situation for Kapanen himself, it does open up an opportunity for a number of other Maple Leafs who will not be vying with one another to try and fill the vacancy that will be left when Kapanen gets bumped up to the Leafs top line. Siegel believes that the vacancy left on the right wing will likely result in a roster battle between Pontus Aberg, Jeremy Bracco or Nic Petan moving forward. That being said someone else may eventually fill that spot, but these three, especially a veteran like Aberg, seem like the most likely candidates to get Kapanen's former spot. 

Only time will tell how this will all play out.


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