There was no way to know which Joffrey Lupul the Toronto Maple Leafs were getting when they acquired him from the Anaheim Ducks a year ago. After all, this was a promising talent who had missed three days shy of a year recovering from injury and was underwhelming upon his return.
They aren't wondering any more.
"At the start of the year, if I said I was going to be up in that top (group in scoring), I probably would have not believed myself," Lupul admitted in a recent interview. "I'm not going to go looking and chasing guys like Evgeni Malkin and the Sedin brothers. I'm just going to keep playing the same way I have been, and hopefully the points keep coming."
And they have been.
Heading into last Saturday's tilt against the Canadiens, Lupul sat fifth in NHL scoring with a career-high 58 points. That puts him on pace for 86 points, 33 more than his previous best of 53, set back in 2005-06.
But, even more impressive is the fact that he's put up those points in 55 games - the ex...
