Music: {allcanada} REPORT: MAPLE LEAFS' LUPUL SET TO PLAY IN KHL

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

{allcanada} REPORT: MAPLE LEAFS' LUPUL SET TO PLAY IN KHL

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul is reportedly heading to Russia to play in the KHL.

According to the National Post, Lupul will suit up for last-place Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

"(Lupul) missed the final month of last year and had back issues a couple of years ago and missed a lot of hockey," Lupul's agent, Peter Semonick, told the Post. "He wants to get in and stay in game shape, so for him it's not a matter of money, it's a matter of getting on the ice and trying to get back the time that he's lost."

Lupul played in the All-Star Game last season and tallied 25 goals and 42 assists in 66 games for the Maple Leafs. The 29-year-old from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta missed the last 16 games of the regular season with a separated shoulder.

Semonick told the Post that the Russian league made an exception for Lupul to play because he did not meet the criteria that were originally set for non-Russian players to join.