TLN Monday Mailbag: November 7th

The Leafs go on a winning streak, and suddenly there’s only one game in five days? Well, at least we’ve got September weather outside… and this assortment of mailbag questions!

I think at this rate, we can assume that whoever it is will play on the right side, seeing as the prospect pool isn’t as stacked there and that Frank Corrado is apparently in purgatory. Who will that player be, though? That remains to be seen. Maybe Winnipeg lightens their ask for Jacob Trouba in the next few weeks. Maybe it’s some stats darling. Maybe it’s some big bruiser that Babcock insists is good at penalty kill clearances.

Or maybe it’s nobody, and the Leafs like their odds of winning the high-event games. They do have gas to burn, after all. Basically, this is anybody’s guess for now.

Honestly, if I had to guess, they’ll throw him straight to waivers. I had a theory in September that they were going to sneak him in on the last day, especially seeing that he only played sheltered (read: didn’t have tracked stats)  games in the preseason. He hasn’t been particularly brilliant in his AHL conditioning stint, and teams rosters are well set at this point, so I’d be shocked if he didn’t clear. We’ll likely know by the weekend what’s happening there.

For the sake of clarification, Mikyoto asked this question because the header image for my question request was the Leafs mural at College subway station. Now, the Habs mural is on the same station, on the Northbound side. “Hockey Knights in Canada”, was designed to pay tribute to the greatest rivalry in Canadian sports, at the station next to Maple Leaf Gardens, which was then the Leafs’ home.

Toronto doesn’t have their logos fully filled in because Harold Ballard refused to associate the team with it, because the Habs were on the other side. The artist and the city refused to budge, and it’s for the best, really; the installation is one of the best pieces of the transit route.

That’s an extremely good question, and the short answer is that we just don’t know. Toronto’s forwards have been the most eager in the league offensively (they have the highest CF60 of any team in the past 10 years), so there’s no shortage of talent there as it stands.

At the same time, both are hanging out around the 1.5 points-per-game level right now, which is obscene. Leipsic’s eagerness to jump into the forecheck makes him a great fit for the big club as it stands, but there’s no room. Kapanen could easily slot into a middle-six role, but at the same time, there’s probably a value in letting him mess aorund with the AHL for a bit, so he can develop confidence and get to try out some new stuff at full speed.

Ideally, Leipsic comes in as an injury call-up, while Kapanen is left as a secret weapon as long as possible. Maybe even until next year’s camp. It’ll be a huge tease and a mighty tempting call up, but I really do think he’s better off being a big fish in a small pond for more than a month.

There are a hohl lot of technical details that can be broken down and discussed here, but I don’t have a hohl lot of experience in the field of working out; certainly not enough to break down a now-deleted Instagram video. Perhaps ask a personal trainer for more information here; maybe one that has a girlfriend.