Confirmed with Link: Leafs sign defenceman Jani Hakanpää (1 year, $1.47M) (official)

[Enniskillen]

He was alright for the first game. Dude is a fighter, let him adjust to Berube’s system.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Elite things come to those who wait...

 

[Puckstuff]

I thought he had an ok game but I only watched the first half.

Not really a fan of Timmins.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Elite things come to those who wait...

LOL.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

He skated quite well for a guy 6'7" on a wonky knee. Let's give him time to adapt and then judge but I think he can help us as much if not more than Benoit or Timmins.

 

[Puckstuff]

He has the potential to be the missing piece of the puzzle the keystone is what they say

I think we still need one more piece.

Rielly - Tanev
OEL - ????
McCabe-Hakanpaa

Timmins and Benoit are ok as a 6/7 D but I wouldn't complain about an upgrade in the top 6.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

He looks like crap so far, slow, immobile and bad with the puck. Only played 12:34 last night and Rielly also struggled with him 5v5. Benoit wasn't doing great but Hakanpaa is clearly not 100%, why are they rushing him in?

 

[arso40]

He looks like crap so far, slow, immobile and bad with the puck. Only played 12:34 last night and Rielly also struggled with him 5v5. Benoit wasn't doing great but Hakanpaa is clearly not 100%, why are they rushing him in?

Who knows

 

[Maple Leaf]

He looks like crap so far, slow, immobile and bad with the puck. Only played 12:34 last night and Rielly also struggled with him 5v5. Benoit wasn't doing great but Hakanpaa is clearly not 100%, why are they rushing him in?

Are they rushing or he just bad

 

[1specter]

His possession numbers were bad but from an xGF standpoint he actually rated out pretty well, which kinda makes sense. He's not super mobile right now and is struggling with the puck however he's still effective at taking away the dangerous scoring areas and boxing out guys with his size and reach.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

This guy really needs to pick it up soon.

He was the worst player on the ice again last night. For both teams. If he's still not ready to be playing they need to give him more time.

Because right now he stinks.

Hakanpaa doesn't bring anything to the table Benoit already does. It was a redundant signing of a number seven defenseman. That money would have been better allocated to someone healthy who could actually make a difference.

Hakanpaa makes a difference but not in a positive way.

I love my big bruising heavy hitting defensemen. But this signing could ever only have turned out questionable at best. At worst it's another anchor added to the ones like Domi, Reaves, and Kampf already on the team.

Another game like these last two and Hakanpaa should be switching spots with Benoit.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

This guy really needs to pick it up soon.

He was the worst player on the ice again last night. For both teams. If he's still not ready to be playing they need to give him more time.

Because right now he stinks.

Hakanpaa doesn't bring anything to the table Benoit already does. It was a redundant signing of a number seven defenseman. That money would have been better allocated to someone healthy who could actually make a difference.

Hakanpaa makes a difference but not in a positive way.

I love my big bruising heavy hitting defensemen. But this signing could ever only have turned out questionable at best. At worst it's another anchor added to the ones like Domi, Reaves, and Kampf already on the team.

Another game like these last two and Hakanpaa should be switching spots with Benoit.

It's his 2nd game give it some time.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

It's his 2nd game give it some time.

The Leafs should have given Hakanpaa more time in the AHL for conditioning.

They have up to ten games. There was no need to rush him. Let him get his confidence up beating on some chumps in the minors.

Right now if he's ever gonna be the difference between winning or losing it will probably only be the latter.

 

[The Shadow]

I don’t see the reason for overreaction here. Give him 8-10 games and then start to panic

I’m happy that they are trying things and looking to get better.

 

[Macallan18]

He looks like crap so far, slow, immobile and bad with the puck. Only played 12:34 last night and Rielly also struggled with him 5v5. Benoit wasn't doing great but Hakanpaa is clearly not 100%, why are they rushing him in?

because this is as good as it gets.
Don't expect him to play another season.

His possession numbers were bad but from an xGF standpoint he actually rated out pretty well, which kinda makes sense. He's not super mobile right now and is struggling with the puck however he's still effective at taking away the dangerous scoring areas and boxing out guys with his size and reach.

he will never be mobile again. He has no knee left

 

[Ianturnedbull]

"Mobile" is not every player's game. Big defensemen like Hedman are rare. Bogosian was not exactly mobile. Hal Gill was not mobile when he won a cup with PIT.

The question is can he play to his ability well enough. Does he have the ability to play 12 min. on the bottom pairing, limit his mistakes, stop the cycle, block shots, check, kill penalties, etc.

If he cannot, then so be it. We have some depth this year. We are not counting on this reclamation.

 

[Stephen]

This guy really needs to pick it up soon.

He was the worst player on the ice again last night. For both teams. If he's still not ready to be playing they need to give him more time.

Because right now he stinks.

Hakanpaa doesn't bring anything to the table Benoit already does. It was a redundant signing of a number seven defenseman. That money would have been better allocated to someone healthy who could actually make a difference.

Hakanpaa makes a difference but not in a positive way.

I love my big bruising heavy hitting defensemen. But this signing could ever only have turned out questionable at best. At worst it's another anchor added to the ones like Domi, Reaves, and Kampf already on the team.

Another game like these last two and Hakanpaa should be switching spots with Benoit.

I don't get the urgency and negativity. If he's not up to snuff he goes back in the pressbox and rebuilds his game in practice. If he doesn't get better they don't use him.

 

[Maple Leaf]

I don't get the urgency and negativity. If he's not up to snuff he goes back in the pressbox and rebuilds his game in practice. If he doesn't get better they don't use him.

Leafs need some truculence on the D

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

He looks like crap so far, slow, immobile and bad with the puck. Only played 12:34 last night and Rielly also struggled with him 5v5. Benoit wasn't doing great but Hakanpaa is clearly not 100%, why are they rushing him in?

I don't understand this obsession with speed. Hakanpaa is 6'7. He doesn't need to be McDavid. He needs to put himself in good spots and his reach will take care of the rest. Give it a couple weeks and revisit.

 

[Zacman]

He was pretty cruddy last night.

I want to give him the benefit of doubt though. It can't be easy coming back from an injury like that. But it's looking more and more like another Klingberg type situation.

What's with Treliving signing all Dallas' injury prone rejects on defense anyway.

This is an unhinged take.

Give it some time man.

I think we still need one more piece.

Rielly - Tanev
OEL - ????
McCabe-Hakanpaa

Timmins and Benoit are ok as a 6/7 D but I wouldn't complain about an upgrade in the top 6.

Timmins has been excellent.

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

I haven't noticed him.... That is a good thing.

 

[Zonk]

The Leafs should have given Hakanpaa more time in the AHL for conditioning.

They have up to ten games. There was no need to rush him. Let him get his confidence up beating on some chumps in the minors.

Right now if he's ever gonna be the difference between winning or losing it will probably only be the latter.

I am not saying that you are wrong, but I am wondering where you got the ten game limit from. Hockey News says it is only three games.

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/i-think-they-need-more-games-down-there-maple-leafs-jani-hakanpaa-and-connor-dewar-expected-to-spend-more-time-with-marlies-in-long-term-injury-conditioning-stint#:~:text=The%20NHL%20CBA%20clause%20allows,use%20the%20maximum%20time%20allotted.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

I am not saying that you are wrong, but I am wondering where you got the ten game limit from. Hockey News says it is only three games.

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/i-think-they-need-more-games-down-there-maple-leafs-jani-hakanpaa-and-connor-dewar-expected-to-spend-more-time-with-marlies-in-long-term-injury-conditioning-stint#:~:text=The%20NHL%20CBA%20clause%20allows,use%20the%20maximum%20time%20allotted.

I must have just made that up I guess.

Could have sworn it was ten games. Either way the guy clearly isn't ready and there was no rush to bring him back. They already had the worst player on the ice every night in Reaves.

They don't need to have the two worst players every game.

 

[Dekes For Days]

I don't get the urgency and negativity. If he's not up to snuff he goes back in the pressbox and rebuilds his game in practice. If he doesn't get better they don't use him.

It's still really early, but if he doesn't improve enough to use him, that's a waste of 1.5m.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

I must have just made that up I guess.

Could have sworn it was ten games. Either way the guy clearly isn't ready and there was no rush to bring him back. They already had the worst player on the ice every night in Reaves.

They don't need to have the two worst players every game.

I disagree. If anything now is the perfect time to see if Hakanpaa can be a contributor for this team this season and in the playoffs. If it turns out he can’t or he gets injured again the Leafs can pivot and address the need at the TDL.