NHL analyst Nick Alberga of LeafsNation believes the Toronto Maple Leafs should walk away from Jani Hakanpaa as the contract has yet to become official.
It was reported by several insiders on July 1 that the Maple Leafs had signed Hakanpaa to a two-year deal with $3 million total. It was an intriguing signing but, Toronto Sun reporter Steve Simmons reported on July 2 that he was told Hakanpaa’s knee injury is very serious and people inside the NHL told him he won’t play another game in the league.
After Simmons’ reports, other insiders confirmed they heard Hakanpaa’s knee injury is very serious, and because of that, Alberga says Toronto should walk away from the contract before it becomes official.
“Any way you slice it, if the Leafs learned anything from the John Klingberg situation last season, it might be in their best interest to walk away outright before anything is officially signed. On paper, Hakanpaa could prove to be a big-time add to a squad looking to bulk up on the blue line. That said, in this scenario, the risk may outweigh the reward,” Alberga wrote.
“If there are any doubts, they should back off immediately —regardless of what the team doctors have to say. There’s no need to dish out a multi-year contract to someone with substantial health concerns. Not for anything, but at least Klingberg came in on a one-year deal. Somehow, some way, they found a way to send him off to Robidas Island,” Alberga added.
Alberga believes Dallas letting Hakanpaa get to the open market and not being interested in re-signing him should have been a red flag for the Maple Leafs front office.
Hakanpaa last played on March 16 due to a knee injury as last season, he skated in 64 games recording 2 goals and 10 assists for 12 points.
Treliving Thought Hakanpaa Would be a Penalty Killer
After it was reported that Toronto signed Hakanpaa to a two-year deal worth $1.5 million per season, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving thought the 6-foot-7 defenseman would be a key penalty killer for the team.
“With Hakanpaa, again a penalty killer. One of the areas looking back at last season that we wanted to address was our penalty kill. That’s an area that Jani really shines in. … You saw that in Dallas over the years, and specifically this past season,” Treliving said.
Hakanpaa was selected 104th overall in the 2010 NHL draft by the St. Louis Blues. He never skated for the Blues and instead has played for the Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, and Stars.
Maple Leafs GM Excited About Moves on Defense
Hakanpaa was not the only signing on defense that Treliving and the Maple Leafs made in free agency.
Before free agency opened on July 1, Toronto signed Chris Tanev to a six-year deal to be on the top pairing with Morgan Reilly. Along with Tanev, the Maple Leafs inked Oliver Ekman-Larsson to a four-year $14 million deal.
“We’ve got a group of defensemen. I’d rather have too many than not enough, and we’ll try to sort this out in the coming days. Today’s a day that you can add players, but you build your team over the course of the summer. There are certainly some areas that we still want to address and still want to augment,” Treliving added.
Toronto currently has just over $955k in salary cap space, according to PuckPedia.
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