A Maple Leafs decision regarding defenceman Jani Hakanpaa could be coming shortly.
That was the impression given by Leafs general manager Brad Treliving on Wednesday after he introduced Auston Matthews as the new Leafs captain, though he wasn’t willing to expand.
“Working through that,” Treliving said he was asked about the status of Hakanpaa. “Today, we’re dealing with this. We’ll get to that, hopefully sooner rather than later.”
Amidst the July 1 free-agency frenzy, it was reported that the Leafs were going to sign the 32-year-old Hakanpaa to a two-year contract. The Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons, however, reported that a knee injury could derail Hakanpaa’s future in the National Hockey League. Hakanpaa suffered an injury in March during a game with the Dallas Stars and did not play again. Since Simmons’ report, there has been no official announcement regarding Hakanpaa from the Leafs one way or the other.
If it winds up that Hakanpaa can play, he would add a solid penalty-killing role to the Leafs blue line. Nothing is certain at this point.
In 288 NHL games with Dallas, Carolina and Anaheim, Hakanpaa has 45 points (15 goals and 30 assists) and 173 penalty minutes, and he has played in 33 playoff games.
Treliving was able to shore up his defence corps with the signings of Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and later added Dakota Mermis and Philippe Myers as potential depth pieces.
Goalie Anthony Stolarz, the Leafs hope, can become a formidable one-two punch with Joseph Woll.
“Big pieces that can help our team in a large margin,” Leafs winger Mitch Marner said of the additions of Tanev, Ekman-Larsson and Stolarz. “Excited for it, and they seem very excited to be part of our team as well.”
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