After scoring just 32 goals in his first six seasons in the KHL, 25-year-old Maxim Tsyplakov burst onto the scene this year already having reached the 30-goal mark. His sudden uptick in offense, combined with his size and skill has caught the eye of a handful of NHL teams. Josh Kloke of The Athletic confirmed the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of those teams and noted that the Leafs met with Tsyplakov and his agent Alexander Chernykh for about an hour last week.
Tsyplakov is a right-winger that brings size at 6'3 and 190 pounds as well as a very well-rounded skillset and would help the Leafs build their depth on the wing. After Mitch Marner and William Nylander on the right side, the Leafs don't really have anyone that has been a staple on the right side of the third line. The Athletic's Scott Wheeler described Tsyplakov as a "big, strong, athletic kid" that is physically engaged and doesn't shy away from the dirty areas of the ice. Given the style of play, his size and his ability to put the puck in the net, as well as the consistent lack of secondary scoring for the Leafs, he would appear to be a very good fit in the forward group.
While Tsyplakov is in the final year of his contract with Spartak Moscow, he would be able to transition over to North America once the KHL season ends, like we have seen with other KHL players. This would be Leafs GM Brad Treliving's first forray into signing a KHL player with the Leafs, but the team has had varying levels of success in the past with the likes of Nikita Zaitsev, Ilya Mikheyev and Alexander Barabanov, while others have not materialized to much, such as Kirill Semyonov and Igor Ozhiganov.
