A former Leaf could be back on the trade block after an extremely underwhelming season
A former Toronto Maple Leaf was in the news over the weekend, and not for the right reasons. According to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, Pittsburgh Penguins winger Kasperi Kapanen is the source of a lot of frustration in Pittsburgh.
The Pens won back-to-back games this weekend against the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets to snap a 3-game losing skid, and while Kapanen wound up notching an assist on Sunday, it was his first point in 14 games. For a player with his speed and skill, that's simply unacceptable.
Yohe had some pretty harsh criticism for Kapanen on Friday, suggesting that it's very easy for the opposing team to defend him on a nightly basis because he tends to exhibit the same route in the offensive zone.
I've never seen a player refuse to go to the net with such conviction. He just won't do it. I don't know if it's fear or arrogance. Kapanen has blazing speed, but when he flies into the zone, he pulls up 95 percent of the time, probably more. Wayne Gretzky did that a great deal, but he was Wayne Gretzky. And even he went to the net plenty. Kapanen pulls up and looks for a trailer with remarkable consistency. He might be the easiest forward in the league to scout.
There has been a ton of trade speculation around Kapanen leading up to the March 21st trade deadline - and Yohe believes that the writing may be on the wall for the 25-year-old.
In 54 games this season, Kapanen has recorded just 9 goals and 25 points, despite seeing ice time alongside the likes of both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on a lot of occasions.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 28 | 482 ANSWERS A former Leaf could be back on the trade block after an extremely underwhelming season Is Kasperi Kapanen still worth a 1st round pick in a trade? | ||
| Yes | 53 | 11 % |
| No | 358 | 74.3 % |
| Maybe in a package deal with a prospect | 71 | 14.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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