Maple Leafs GM Speaks on the Jani Hakanpaa Mystery

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a series of moves this offseason to address their blueline, but the status of one of them still remains a mystery six weeks after the signing. The situation was addressed... sort of... by Leafs GM Brad Treliving on Wednesday.

Jani Hakanpaa, the 6'7" behemoth who was signed by the Leafs to a two-year, $1.5 million AAV pact, seems to be in limbo. Many are wondering when or if he'll actually be able to play this season. A debilitating knee injury took him out of the Dallas Stars lineup in March, and he missed the rest of the season and the entire Stars playoff run.

So what is his status at this point?

Brad Treliving says they are “working through” the Hakanpaa situation but didn’t expand any further saying today is not about that.
— David Alter (@dalter) August 14, 2024

Treliving said "“[We’re] working through that...We’ll get to that hopefully sooner rather than later.”

Hmm. Not much clarity, but at least it's an acknowledgement for the first time this summer by the Toronto front office that it's a situation they need to "work through."

Investigations by a Toronto reporter after the July 1st signing found that some around the Dallas club "were shocked any team would sign him" due to the knee being "bone on bone" and that "they didn't think he'd play again."

But further reports suggested that Leafs doctors were aware of whatever the injury was at the time of the signing, and gave the 'OK' to Treliving to sign him.

The Leafs could, if necessary, place Hakanpaa on LTIR, which would give them another $1.5 million to work with under the cap, which is space that they can use, adding to the meager $1.275 million they currently have.

We might finally get more clarity on this, according to the Leafs GM, "sooner rather than later."

Hakanpaa has handed out in the neighborhood of 200 hits in each of his four full seasons in the NHL, while also blocking well over 100 shots each of the last three years. He'd certainly come in handy on the Toronto blueline.