Add Brandon Kozun to the list of talented players the Toronto Maple Leafs let get away.

Less than six months after going unsigned by the new regime in Toronto, the 25-year-old forward sits sixth in KHL scoring, attracting plenty of attention from NHL teams contemplating bringing him back to North America.

Kozun has one of the game’s greatest snipers — Jari Kurri — to thank for helping him land in a situation in which he could find the scoring touch he had as a star with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen.

“He’s a big reason why I was interested in coming here,” said Kozun from his apartment in Helsinki, Finland, where he stars for Jokerit Helsinki, a team Kurri runs nearly four decades after starring on it as a junior.

“He’s obviously a legend in his own way. He’s a smart guy and any chance to pick his brain is interesting. He told me, ‘I know a a lot of people, and I can help you in the future.’ I really felt he wasn’t going to handcuff me and was really interested in helping me.”

After years of being mired in the minors while employed by his hometown Los Angeles Kings and the Leafs, the 2009 sixth-round NHL pick opted to try a one-year deal with Kurri’s squad, which needed to replace its top line from a year earlier. Playing alongside former NHLer Peter Regin, Kozun has scored 13 goals and has 37 points in 40 outings for the Finnish club. Sitting just behind Linus Omark and Alex Radulov in the KHL scoring race but ahead of Ilya Kovalchuk, the 5-foot-8, 165-lb. Kozun is once again on the NHL’s radar, prompting several calls to his agent of late.

After all, he’s the same weight and just one year older than Calder Trophy-favourite Artemi Panarin of the Chicago Blackhakws, who posted numbers similar to Kozun’s last year in the KHL.

“It was more about playing than anything else,” said Kozun about his decision to try the KHL after what seemed like a bit of a breakthrough last season when he started well with the Leafs before going down with a high-ankle sprain that limited him to 20 games.

“I feel like the last couple years I’ve been groomed for a role I felt I could give more to. For my development, this was the best-case scenario for me. If I were to play in the NHL, I’d play third and fourth line and limited minutes and little special teams. I thought I could come here and put up some numbers and show people I can play more than that. At the end of the year, I will go from there.”

Posting numbers reminiscent of his junior days when he notched consecutive 100-plus point seasons to win the CHL scoring crown and finish second at the world juniors in 2010 with Canada (his mother is Canadian, and he moved to Calgary from L.A. at age 10), Kozun insists his real happiness revolves around pacing a successful team that sits second in the 14-team West Conference.

“I’m more happy with the team situation and how I’m treated — it’s kind of a cool situation so far,” said Kozun, a product of the Blackfoot and Midnapore minor hockey programs in Calgary and a former star of the famed Minnesota prep school Shattuck St. Marys.

“Finland is really good, Helsinki is really easy to live in, as the city is nice and people are friendly, and they speak English. In winter, we don’t get a whole lot of daylight, and it’s right on the ocean, so it gets cold but not Calgary cold.

“Russia is different, but it’s actually nicer than I thought. Of all the places in the KHL, I’d say this has to be one of the best places to play — from coaching staff to management to the city.”

Kozun said his home rink is typically sold out with 12,000 people chanting and singing like soccer fans, “making more noise than the Air Canada Centre.”

That’s not to say he wouldn’t love the chance to return to the ACC as early as next year as an NHLer again.

“You always want to play in the best league in the world, so if an opportunity would arise, it’s something I’d look in to,” Kozun said. “But at the moment, I’m just trying to play well for the team and take it day by day.”

And he’s doing that with a comfort level he hasn’t had since junior.

“I think in the AHL, I battled confidence issues,” said the former AJHL Calgary Royals winger who spent parts of five seasons posting decent numbers in the minors.

“Every time I started doing good, my coach would make me earn it. I was never comfortable playing a role that would help me succeed. The coach here is helping me feel comfortable and confident. Going back to junior, I’ve always had those offensive instincts. It’s always been there — it’s a just a matter of getting that spark back.”

It’s back alright, and with it may soon come a return engagement to the league that didn’t want him a year ago.

Email: eric.francis@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @EricFrancis