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The Toronto Maple Leafs are doing a bit of salary cap housekeeping during the NHL All-Star break. On Friday, the club returned defenseman Rinat Valiev to the Toronto Marlies after being called up earlier in the week to take Morgan Rielly’s spot on the roster after he was placed on injured reserve.
On Saturday, the Leafs returned Kasperi Kapanen to the Marlies and the winger is expected to play in the club’s final game in Syracuse before the AHL takes their All-Star break for the festivities in Utica, NY.
Valiev ($778,333/$70,000) and Kapanen ($863,333/$70,000) are both on two-way deals and for every day on the Leafs roster they earn a pro-rated amount of their NHL salary, but as members of the Marlies the entirety of their AHL salary does not count towards the cap.
While Valiev is expected to remain with the Marlies with Rielly expected to return before the Leafs next game, it is likely that Kapanen will return to the Leafs early next week when the club prepares for their first meeting with the New York Islanders.
The takeaway and tally by Andreas Johnsson got the scoring started tonight.#MarliesLive pic.twitter.com/sQn2K0JCYc
— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) January 21, 2018
Even though he was returned to the AHL, teammate Andreas Johnsson is replacing Kapanen on the All-Star squad, just as defenseman Justin Holl was named to replace Travis Dermott, who was called up by the Leafs.
The 23-year-old winger is second on the Marlies in goals (17) and points (29) to Ben Smith in his second full AHL season.
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Leafs leading scorer Auston Matthews will be one of eight players who will compete in the puck control relay at the NHL All-Star skills competition at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL on Saturday.
The event includes stickhandling through pucks, cones and gates in the fastest time.
The participants include Johnny Gaudreau, Aleksander Barkov, Erik Karlsson, John Tavares, Connor McDavid, Tyler Seguin and Patrick Kane. *******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******