Former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Brandon Kozun is the talk of the KHL early on in the 2015-2016 season – and for all the right reasons.

Kozun, acquired from Los Angeles for Andrew Crescenzi, was free to go after the 2014-2015 season and signed with Jokerit of the KHL. The 25 year old now leads the KHL in scoring through 12 games, with seven goals and 11 assists.

Did the Toronto Maple Leafs give up on him too soon? I don’t think they did.

The KHL doesn’t translate fairly to the NHL – and it often goes both ways, with high scoring players not panning out offensively or lower scoring players seeing more point production in the NHL. It’s a strange dynamic – but in Kozun’s case I don’t think the Toronto Maple Leafs got it wrong.

In the 20 games he played in Toronto for 2014-2015 he was underwhelming. Coming in with less than stellar scoring chances for, corsi and goals for percentage, just to name a few.

His four points in 20 games certainly wasn’t going to lock down a roster spot, nor was the 17 in 32 he posted with the Toronto Marlies the previous season after the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired him.

Kozun simply didn’t play well enough during a transition phase within the Toronto Maple Leafs organization that was about to see an influx of young talent into the system. He probably could have played another year with Toronto, but the front office had apparently seen enough.

After eight games in the KHL, Kozun had 14 points – so, technically, he’s coming back down to earth with four in his last four games.

Watching the Toronto Maple Leafs games last season, it was a rare occurrence that Kozun was noticeable in the 20 games he did play so, KHL scoring lead or not, the Toronto Maple Leafs made the right call based on the body of work that Kozun had done in North America throughout his career.

If he does continue to score at a high rate, though, he may earn himself another chance in the NHL, but it’s highly unlikely it will be with the Toronto Maple Leafs.