Ex-Leafs 20-goal scorer just got dumped on waivers

There was a time when Kasperi Kapanen was considered a key to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ future.

Now, his future as an NHL player might be up in question.

Today, it was announced that the St. Louis Blues have placed Kapanen on waivers, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Kapanen has just one goal and no assists in ten games for the Blues this season. He’s on a cheap deal, with a cap hit value of just $1 million on a contract that expires at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.

He is no stranger to waivers, however. Back in February 2023, the Pittsburgh Penguins dumped him on waivers, which is how the Blues acquired him in the first place.

Kapanen played parts of five seasons with the Maple Leafs, making his debut in the 2015-16 season before playing his last game with the franchise in 2019-20. He was then traded to Pittsburgh as part of a six-player deal, including a first-round draft pick that Toronto used on the now-deceased Rodion Amirov.

Kapanen’s best season in Toronto came in 2018-19, when he scored 20 goals and 24 assists for 44 points. But his production has never quite lived up to that strong showing, as he’s yet to total 15 goals in an NHL season since.

Kapanen scored a then-iconic Leafs overtime-winning goal in 2017 in Game 2 of the first-round series against the Washington Capitals, the team’s first playoff overtime victory since 2004.

But a return to Toronto seems unlikely, given his inability to fit in a team near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

Given that Kapanen could end up in a fourth NHL organization by age 28 if he is claimed on waivers, one will have to wonder what his hockey-playing future holds beyond this season.

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