The Toronto Marlies earned a split their weekend double-header in St. Johns with a 3-2 win on Sunday and have the AHL’s second-best record at 7-2-1 nearly a month into the regular season. Outstanding starts from wingers Brendan Leipsic and Kasperi Kapanen have been an important part of the Marlies success.
Leipsic, who won AHL Player of the Month honors in October, scored his fourth goal of the season in the victory and is tied with Rochester’s Cole Schneider for the league’s scoring lead , while Kapanen scored three times on the weekend and is second in the AHL with seven goals.
As the organization did last season with William Nylander, Zach Hyman and Nikita Soshnikov, Leipsic and Kapanen are expected to remain with the Marlies for the bulk of the season unless injuries or a trade change the Leafs landscape significantly.
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The biggest hurdle for the Marlies forwards is that the big club is stacked with young forwards. Head coach Mike Babcock suited up six rookies up front (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Nylander, Soshnikov, Hyman and Connor Brown) against Vancouver and there is not space for more, unless management decides to send swap one rookie for another.
GM Lou Lamoriello will not call up youngsters to sit in the press box when they can play and gain experience in the minors. Both Kapanen and Leipsic appear more suited for duty on one of the scoring lines instead a fourth line unit, so they will simply have to wait for their chance.
Babcock indicated after practice on Monday that defenseman Matt Hunwick is skating and could come off injured reserve soon, which may force Toronto to place either Frank Corrado, Peter Holland, Seth Griffith or Josh Leivo on waivers.
The Leafs will have to make a decision on Leivo after he plays his third AHL game against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday.
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