The Toronto Maple Leafs signed defenseman Jani Hakanpaa to a reported two-year deal worth $1.5 million per season.
Although several insiders confirmed the signing was taking place, the Maple Leafs have still yet to officially announce it. According to NHL insider and reporter Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, that is because Hakanapaa is dealing with a serious injury.
“I was told his knee was bone on bone. I asked the Leafs about this. They said their doctors cleared him to be signed. We’ll find out in the fall – or later – whether he can play again,” Simmons reported on X.
Hakanpaa dealt with a knee injury last season and his last game was on March 16. Despite that, Toronto moved quickly to sign Hakanpaa to a two-year deal on July 1 once free agency opened.
Some NHL Teams Thought Hakanpaa Would Never Play Again
After Hakanpaa had agreed to a two-year deal with the Maple Leafs, Simmons wrote in his column for the Toronto Sun that he was surprised by that news.
Simmons said sources in NHL teams told him that they thought Hakanpaa would never play another game in the NHL.
“It wasn’t that way with Hakanpaa, who signed with Toronto on Canada Day, as well. A year ago, maybe two years ago, Hakanpaa would have factored rather nicely on the Leafs defense. He’s a giant of a man at 6-foot-7, popular in the room, that great hockey vernacular, and a penalty-killer beyond compare. But one with a knee so bad that some think — although the Leafs disagree — that he may never play again,” Simmons wrote on July 1.
“The Leafs signed him to play but many doubt he will… If he plays again, plays at all for the Leafs, it will shock those who were around in recent seasons,” Simmons added.
Hakanpaa skated in 64 games with the Stars last season recording 2 goals and 10 assists for 12 points.
Maple Leafs GM Spoke About Signing Hakanpaa
Despite the signing with Hakanpaa still not being made official, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving spoke about the signing on July 1.
Treliving felt like Hakanpaa would help out the team’s penalty kill.
“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.
Along with Hakanpaa, Toronto signed Chris Tanev to a six-year deal and Oliver Ekman-Larsson to bolster their defense.
“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.
But, for now, Hakanpaa’s deal with the Maple Leafs is not official and whether or not it will come to fruition is uncertain.
Like Heavy.com’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy.com
The post Insider Reveals Injury Newly Signed Maple Leafs Defensemen is Dealing With appeared first on Heavy.com.