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Maple Leafs GM finally addresses mysterious Jani Hakanpaa signing
Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving finally addressed the mystery surrounding defenseman Jani Hakanpaa's signing. He reportedly signed with the Leafs as a free agent this summer but has yet to officially join the team's roster.
At the press conference for Auston Matthews' unveiling as the new Leafs captain, Treliving said:
“We’re working through that. Today we’re dealing with this but we’ll get to that hopefully sooner rather than later.”
On July 1, multiple reports suggested the Leafs had agreed to a two-year, $3 million contract with Hakanpaa. Treliving even spoke about the addition, saying:
"A penalty killer, one of the areas looking back at last season we wanted to address was our penalty kill and that's an area Jani really shines in his ability to kill penalties. You saw that in Dallas over the years and specifically this past season...
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." Treliving added.
However, a few days later, reports surfaced that Leafs doctors had concerns over a knee injury that forced Jani Hakanpaa to miss time late last season. Postmedia's Steve Simmons reported the injury was “bone-on-bone” but that Toronto doctors had ultimately cleared him.
The plot thickened when Hakanpaa showed up wearing a Dallas Stars jersey at a golf tournament in Finland. He spent the last three seasons with Dallas but never officially re-signed.
Jani Hakanpaa hasn't been added to the Leafs lineup yet, even though there is room in the cap space ($1.275 million) to accommodate him. He participated in 64 games last season until a knee injury put him out of play in mid March.
Fans react to GM Brad Treliving's comments on Jani Hakanpaa’s signing
Fans started to speculate following GM Brad Treliving's comments about the mysterious Jani Hakanpaa signing.
Many supporters are reading between the lines, with one fan concluding,
"So in other words..he is not going to be signed and is done."
Another fan speculated,
"So failed physical or insurance issue."
Here are some other fan reactions:
"Did the Leafs conduct a medical assessment." one fan wrote on X.
"Leafs continue to decline. It will never get any better until they change the core……" another fan wrote.
"If he can play 64 gms as he did last year that would be great. The injury may keep him out more but it's a good risk to make us bigger and tougher. Brad likes taking risks, but at least this one isn't similar to Klingberg, didn't get why we needed another soft offensive Dman." a user commented.
"It doesn’t matter - if he can’t play, he goes on the LTIR and MLSE loses $3M. Who cares" another user commented.
As the situation continues to unfold, fans eagerly await further updates on the Finnish defenseman's future with the Maple Leafs.
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