Kapanen craving chance to be full-time Maple Leaf The off-season departures of Leo Komarov and James van Riemsdyk mean opportunity for the talented Finnish winger, Kristen Shilton writes.

Kristen Shilton TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter Follow|Archive

TORONTO – “Is this the year you make the NHL for good?”

Kasperi Kapanen has heard iterations of that question on repeat for the better part of three seasons, practically since the Maple Leafs’ winger was traded to Toronto from Pittsburgh as part of the Phil Kessel deal in 2015.

The former first-round pick has been a victim of circumstance in the Leafs’ organization, wait-listed for a regular job behind role-playing veterans and teammates who, unlike him, required re-entry waivers to reach the American Hockey League.

While Leafs’ coach Mike Babcock and former general manager Lou Lamoriello publicly decreed Kapanen an NHL-ready skater for whom no position was available to fill, the 22-year-old patiently bided his time with the Toronto Marlies.

But a series of call-ups last season served as a 38-game audition for this coming campaign, with the departures of wingers Leo Komarov and James van Riemsdyk leaving spots on the roster for Kapanen to pursue.

“I think I really need to prove to everyone that I belong on the team and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do,” Kapanen said after skating at MasterCard Centre on Friday. “It’s been a long road. Some days have been harder than others but I feel like it’s starting to pay off. But then training camp is going to be hard and you never know what’s going to happen.”

Be that as it may, Kapanen isn’t leaving his chances of making the Leafs out of training camp (which opens Thursday) entirely up to fate. He’s been back in Toronto at summer skates since late last month, maintaining a first-on, last-off approach that’s made him a standout at the informal workouts.

Backchecking isn’t exactly commonplace in summer scrimmages, but Kapanen isn't shy about showing a little defensive savvy. In fact that was one of his primary areas of focus this off-season.

“[I wanted to] just defensively be better,” he said. “I know I’m going to be playing [penalty kill] and I want to be good at that. There are a lot of things I can be better at defensively, and offensively [I’ll] just try to make plays and shoot the puck a little more and try to score some goals.”

In a fourth-line role for the majority of his NHL career, generating offence hasn’t been a priority for Kapanen. He’s been entrusted with regular penalty-kill time, ramping up to an average shorthanded time on ice of 1:05 per game last season, while garnering just eight goals and two assists in 55 career regular-season games.

But Kapanen has also been able to shine in big moments. In the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs, Kapanen scored two goals, including an overtime winner, in Toronto's first-round series against Washington before the Leafs were eliminated in six games.

He upped the ante even further by scoring a shorthanded go-ahead goal for Toronto in Game 7 of their 2017 first-round playoff series against Boston, giving the Leafs a 4-3 lead heading into the third period. Despite losing that game 7-4, the play showed Kapanen's offensive intelligence and playmaking ability.

Acknowledging that the Leafs’ top-two lines, centred by Auston Matthews and John Tavares, are likely set, Kapanen is as curious as anyone about how Babcock will divide assignments and ice time in the bottom six.

After saying goodbye to Komarov and Matt Martin, two of the team’s most aggressive forwards, in the last three months, Toronto projects to lack any real sandpaper-type players in the bottom-half of the lineup. Kapanen doesn't see it that way though, believing other of Toronto's forwards may surprise.

“We have guys who can hit and be physical,” Kapanen said. “And it’s not about making a huge open-ice hit I don’t think, but [playing with] physicality and forechecking and backchecking and speed and we have all that. I don’t think we’re going to have issues.”

Perhaps not in that area, but the continued absence of Kapanen’s good friend William Nylander from summer skates could eventually benefit Kapanen.

The Leafs have so far failed to come to an agreement with the restricted free agent on an extension, and if Nylander is absent from camp it could persuade Babcock to move Kapanen into a more prominent role.

According to Kapanen, he’s more likely to talk to Nylander about Xbox than he is about a new contract. And aside from exchanging a little friendly fire with countryman Komarov over his signing a three-year deal with the New York Islanders (“[Leo]’s already trying to intimidate me over the phone,”) Kapanen has tried to keep his eyes on his own prize this summer.

Next week, he’ll start to see what that preparation is worth.

“I’m just happy to be in Toronto and happy to be at the rink,” Kapanen said. “You can feel the intensity start to pick up now. Everyone is [here] now pretty much except Willy, so next year I just want to be a more complete hockey player and see what happens.”