After losing forward Phil Kessel and dropping the play-in round to the Montreal Canadiens, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford appears to have taken advantage of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He acquired Kasperi Kapanen, Pontus Aberg and Jesper Lindgren from Toronto. Going the other way is a handful of players and a first-round pick.
The Leafs have been in cap strapped situations after hefty signings with John Tavares, William Nylander and Mitchell Marner to name a few. Theses of course outside of Auston Matthews.
As reported by Elliotte Friedman early on, joining Kapanen would be Jesper Lindgren from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. Due to COVID-19, Lindgren was loaned by the Marlies to MODO Hockey Allsvenskan in Sweden. Friedman also made mention of that first-round pick being a key part of Toronto’s return.
So from what I’ve gathered is that in a such a deep draft that’s also weighed in with a very tight cap belt is that Pittsburgh was wise to use cash and a first-round pick in such a deal as leverage. What I was able to get out of Dave McCarthy of NHL.com before the playoffs began was that Kapanen could be expendable in a trade before the NHL bubble cities became official.
Kasperi is a 24-year-old winger who’s under contract for three more seasons. He’s an original prospect from the Pittsburgh Penguins, drafted in 2014, 22nd overall. He was involved in the trade for Phil Kessel. Kasperi’s deal comes at a very friendly $3.2 million, while at the same time, he’s a restricted free agent. As per the Penguins press release, Pittsburgh is the current owner of Kapanen’s rights.
Pittsburgh is getting a 36-44 point scoring winger that could potentially be a 50-75 point winger playing with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. He’s the kind of guy that brings a lot of hockey sense and a high hockey IQ. Kapanen is an amazing skater and is also a very skilled stick handler.
According to Rob Rossi of The Athletic Pittsburgh, the full trade breakdown is as follows:
Penguins getting:
RW Kasperi Kapanen
D-man Jesper Lindgren
LW Pontus Aberg
Maple Leafs getting:
2020 Rd 1 pick (15 overall)
LW Evan Rodrigues
C Filip Hallander
D David Warsofsky
Lindgren played 31 games in the AHL last season, scoring a single goal along with eight assists for a total of nine points. It was his first full season with the Marlies after coming over from HPK in Liiga. Again, because puck drop was pushed back, the Swedish native was loaned to Allsvenskan where he’s likely to play until at least December.
According to the Maple Leafs press release, Rodrigues, 27-years-old, has scored 72 points in 199 NHL games. He’s done so between the Penguins and Sabres. Originally a native of Toronto, he signed in 2015t as a free agent in Buffalo.
As per EliteProspects.com, Filip Hallander played for Lulea in the Swedish Hockey League on loan from the Penguins. He had nine assists and 14 points and is a teammate of prospect Noel Gunler. Hallander is the kind of forward who skates very well and sets up scoring drives in the high danger zones.
Filip times his passes very well and knows when to pass in the slot for teammates cutting in to crash the net for bang bang goals. When he is anticipating a pass, he isolates himself away from opposing defenders and gets close on net to tap the puck in for a goal. Hallander likes to shoot from the point when he sees the mesh for a very likely goal.
David Warsofsky is a third line offensive-defensemen who loves to shoot the puck and saw strength in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. If Toronto is looking for a cheap option on defence, he brings a really good one timer to the hockey club. Last season, in Wilkes-Barre Scranton, he scored 33 points in 51 AHL games.
Seeing his offensive impact, Warsofsky, a native of Marshfield, typically scores 20-47 points a season. If he finds his niche on Toronto’s fifth-seventh defensemen role, he’ll help with the Maple Leafs offensive component. He’ll do so by putting pucks on net for the already deep offence Toronto has under Sheldon Keefe.
I do believe this is a win-win situation for both the Maple Leafs as well as the Penguins. This trade will set the bar for future deals before the NHL Draft starts.