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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes from Maple Leafs practices and game-day skates. The Maple Leafs and AHL Marlies practised at the MasterCard Centre on Wednesday. 

Toronto Marlies defenceman Timothy Liljegren has sat out the last four games after suffering an upper-body injury in Hershey on Nov. 4. But the Maple Leafs’ first-round pick in last June’s draft is inching toward a return.

“He seems to be progressing,” Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe said after Liljegren missed Tuesday’s practice. “There’s been a little soreness. It has been more of a nuisance at this point.” 

Liljegren did skate before his teammates on Tuesday and has been active in the gym. 

“We’re just being very cautious, taking our time, making sure he’s 100 per cent,” Keefe explained.

It’s rare for an 18-year-old to play in the AHL and even rarer for a teenager to excel at that level. But Liljegren, who previously played against men in the Swedish league, is not looking out of place.

“I think he’s fit in extremely well,” said Keefe. “He’s made the transition. He’s a very competitive guy. Even in our practice, you see him get paired up in some of the drills with Colin Greening, Ben Smith, Rich Clune, these older, big, strong forwards and he doesn’t back down. He's very competitive, and it has been fun to watch that.”

Liljegren has picked up one goal and four assists in nine games so far as he adapts to life in North America. 

“He’s a confident guy both with and without the puck so I think he feels he belongs and he can play and so far he’s shown that,” Keefe said. “He’s been a very productive player for us, not just giving him minutes or spotting him in here and there, but he’s been a guy who has played in all situations for us and helped our power play greatly and is out late in games and all those kinds of things.” 

Soshnikov raises his level

Had the Leafs not called up Nikita Soshnikov on Tuesday, the 24-year-old could have requested a loan back to the KHL thanks to ​a clause in his contract. So, the promotion wasn’t a big surprise. But even without the pressure point, Soshnikov was getting closer and closer to another NHL look.  

“He’s coming off playing his best hockey here,” said Keefe. “It was probably a slower start for him both dealing with being back down at this level and being healthy again and trying to remain healthy while finding his legs and getting up to game speed."

Soshnikov had six points during a recently completed six-game trip that saw the Marlies rack up five wins. 

“We give him a lot of ice time: power play, penalty kill, plays against other team’s best players so I think he’s in a real good place,” said Keefe. “We’re happy to see him go back up there. He had success with them before he was injured and he’s in a good spot now and ready to get going.”

Last season, Soshnikov played 56 games with the Leafs, picking up nine points. His campaign was cut short in March when he sustained a concussion, with the symptoms lingering late into the summer, putting him behind the eight ball at training camp. But while he recovered from the injury, Soshnikov made progress off the ice learning English, which has allowed him to take another step this season.  

“It’s a different player and a different person, frankly, in dealing with him now. He could barely communicate in his first year here,” said Keefe. “Not only does it help him with the coaches and understanding of the system, but the way he can communicate with his teammates and the way he can communicate with the opposition a little bit too. It really just helps the competitive nature that he has and you get a little truer sense of his personality."

Soshnikov has five goals and seven assists in 14 games to rank second in Marlies scoring this season. The numbers could be even higher as he leads the team with 41 shots on net and hasn’t enjoyed much puck luck.  

"I knew I had to get my offence back," Soshnikov told reporters after Leafs practice on Wednesday. "So being there helped me. I just worked hard, played hard and that's probably why I got called up."

“He has rang three, four, five pucks off the bar, right past the goalie’s ears,” said Marlies netminder Garret Sparks. “You’ll never see that on the scoresheet. He’s been real close and real dangerous every game even when pucks aren’t necessarily going in the net for him. He’s a really serious pro. He’s serious about everything he does and he’s done everything he can down here to be successful. He’s been really good in games for us. He hits hard on the forecheck and he doesn’t let anybody off the hook.”

That hard-hitting nature made Soshnikov a favourite of Leafs head coach Mike Babcock when he broke into the NHL a couple seasons ago and it remains a staple of his game. Do AHL opponents despise him?

“I don’t know if they despise it as much as they shy away from it,” said Sparks. “You don’t want to deal with it, right? You don’t want to deal with a guy who is going to come into the corner and is looking to take you out, is looking to make you feel his physical presence. That’s something that I think he brings uniquely to his game. He’s a big hitter in a small package. He can shoot the puck. He skates hard. He does everything.”

“He really pushes himself hard whether it’s on the ice or the gym," Keefe noted. "There’s not enough you can give him. He’s always wanting more. He works for everything he gets.”

Kapanen stays positive; pokes fun at dad

While Soshnikov is enjoying being back with the big club, Kasperi Kapanen is once again forced to wait in the minors.

“It’s always going to be tough to get into the NHL, but I believe one day there will be a spot for me and I just got to keep working hard,” Kapanen said. “There are a lot of good players who are playing with the Marlies and they called up Sosh now and he’s been playing really well this season. Competition’s tough, but I think it’s good. It brings out the best in all of us.”

Kapanen has played three games this season with the Leafs and earned positive feedback from Babcock. "He had some quality chances,” the coach noted after a game in Los Angeles on Nov. 2. “He looks like an NHL player to me.”

Kapanen, who piled up seven shots in his latest audition, appreciates the praise. 

“They said I played really well so that’s fun to hear and I just got to keep going,” the 21-year-old said. “I felt like I played pretty good. I felt like I got a little more confidence. Getting sent down isn’t something you want to hear, but I’ll use that confidence and that little boost to play better down here with the guys.”

“He got good reviews and showed progress,” Keefe said, “and I think that progress should be able to fuel him to come down and keep working.”

Assuming the Leafs stay healthy and don’t make a trade, it could take some time for Kapanen to get another look. You would think that would be a bitter pill to swallow for a player who scored a double overtime winner in last spring’s NHL playoffs. But Kapanen has embraced his reality. 

“I think he’s handled it well,” said Keefe, “especially early, coming out of training camp and knowing the predicament that he was in there. I know he had high hopes with the way things finished (last season), but he came in and was a big part of our team and settled in and did a lot of things for our team.”

Kapanen leans on his father, former NHL player Sami Kapanen, for advice. His old man will often remind him of how hard his road to the NHL was. The elder Kapanen was passed over several times in the NHL draft before the Hartford Whalers took a gamble on him. 

Father and son caught up on the phone this week and while Kasperi had reason to gripe, it was Sami who was blowing off some steam. You see, he is the owner and coach of KalPa in Finland’s Liiga and the club is struggling this season sitting 14th in the 15-team table. 

“They're not playing too well,” said Kasperi, who has a few buddies on the team. "It’s kind of a tough situation. He owns the team so he may have to fire himself soon.”

That sounds like an awkward situation. Kasperi smiles. 

“Maybe I’ll have to do it for him,” he said. “I might have to give him the call and relieve him of his duties.”

Leaner Sparks fuels Marlies hot start  

Playing for a winner should make things easier for Kapanen. The Marlies top the North Division standings thanks to a scintillating 11-4-0 start. 

A big part of the success has been the fine play of Sparks, who owns the league’s best save percentage (.944) and goals-against average (1.57). The 24-year-old credits a new wrinkle to his off-season diet for helping him hit the ground running. 

“This Summer was just a little bit different,” he said with a chuckle. “I starved myself a little bit more. I cut myself a little bit hungry all summer. I wasn’t exactly treating myself as much as I have in the past and, you know what, it worked.”

Specifically, Sparks cut out breakfasts for about a month and that helped him shed 10 pounds of body fat. 

“I didn’t lose the stuff that I needed, but I lost everything I didn’t need,” he said. “You just feel like a much lighter and more in-control version of yourself.”

Babcock to demoted Brown: 'You're getting screwed again'

With Auston Matthews returning to practice, Babcock was able to go back to his opening-night lineup at practice on Wednesday. Patrick Marleau, who had filled in at centre, shifted back to left wing on the Nazem Kadri line while Connor Brown was demoted to the fourth line. Brown has been among Toronto's more consistent performers this season, producing seven goals and four assists. ​

"I said to him today, 'Did you check out the lineup?' He said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'You're getting screwed again,' and he just laughed," Babcock said. "He knows he ain't going to be there for long. That's for warmup. You got to put him somewhere. The other thing about it is he’s mentally tough enough that it doesn’t bother him. He brings it every single day."

Brown is averaging 15:25 of ice time per game this season, which ranks seventh among Toronto's forwards. He has a role on the power play (1:50 per game) and penalty kill (2:31 per game) and will often get bumped up in the lineup late in a game when the team is protecting a lead.

Leafs lines at Wednesday’s practice

Forwards
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander 
Marleau-Kadri-Komarov 
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner 
Martin-Moore-Brown 
Soshnikov, Leivo

Defencemen
Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev 
Borgman-Carrick 
Polak 

Goalies
Andersen 
McElhinney