Ron Wilson Shakes Up Maple Leafs Top Line: Luca Caputi In, Nikolai Kulemin Out

November 2nd, 2010 by Mark Ritter Leave a reply »
With his team being shut out in back-to-back games, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson has decided to shake up his first line by penciling in Luca Caputi to play alongside Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel, while dropping Nikolai Kulemin back to the second unit.

Moving Caputi up to the first line would seem like a desperate move, but with the team currently in a funk and with Kulemin adding little in his short stint on the first line, Wilson has little choice but to shake things up.

That said, is Luca Caputi really the answer?

Through 30 career NHL games, Caputi has amassed a total of three goals, nine points and a minus two rating—not exactly first line numbers, am I right?

At the AHL level, Caputi has shown signs that he could evolve into a solid NHL player, posting 18 goals and 45 points in 66 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2008-09, followed by another good season with the WBSP with 23 goals and 47 points in 54 games in 2009-10.

Known for his tenacity and compete level, Caputi is best suited to play off the wall and should create a few scoring chances by digging the puck out ...

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