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

[ACC1224]

Should be an interesting week before camp, somethings got to give.

 

[LeafSteel]

First, before we move anyone, or pencil in lineups, there doesn't appear to be anything noting that he's fully healthy, and ready to play in Game 1... Unless I've missed it. He might be, or he could be on LTIR on day 1.

Second, depending on his health, it's completely feasible that Benoit and Hakanpaa go in and out of the lineup.

If someone is moved, it's Timmins, though his cap can be buried by putting him on waivers, and sending him down.

With a 22 man roster, (13F, 7D, 2G) we are below the cap, according to;

Toronto Maple Leafs | Salary cap and contracts

Why do you insist on posting measured and reasonable responses to events instead of knee jerk responses fueled by hysteria?

It’s pretty inconvenient for the doom criers here and the chicken little syndrome some seem to have…..

Seriously though, good post. What our opening day roster looks like can look significantly different than anything that could currently be in pencil.

Do you see us starting the season with 3 goalies? I have a very strong feeling that Murray wouldn’t pass through Waivers….

 

[Budz]

~1 million over if they carry 23 players, but assuming Benoit or Timmins are done.

Probably Timmins because we hate D that score or can make a pass.

Timmins 1.1 Mill - gotta be that.

 

[conFABulator]

Last year, our G7 D was:

Morgan Rielly – Ilya Lyubushkin
Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe
Joel Edmundson – Timothy Liljegren
TJ Brodie (scratch)

...it looks like this year we are starting with:

Morgan Rielly – Chris Tanev
OEL – Timothy Liljegren
Jani Hakanpaa – Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit (scratch)

...obviously Benoit and Hakanpaa could swap if not fully healthy.

We are improved and this is over the post-TDL roster and not the one we played most of the year when Brodie and Giordano were among our top six on games played.

Also, lots of people seem to think we made a mess of this signing, it seems to have been played perfectly. We got the guy we wanted at good term and dollars and we did it after we got Robertson locked in.

 

[Fogelhund]

Why do you insist on posting measured and reasonable responses to events instead of knee jerk responses fueled by hysteria?

It’s pretty inconvenient for the doom criers here and the chicken little syndrome some seem to have…..

Seriously though, good post. What our opening day roster looks like can look significantly different than anything that could currently be in pencil.

Do you see us starting the season with 3 goalies? I have a very strong feeling that Murray wouldn’t pass through Waivers….

At the current time, there isn't a body on that roster that is waiver eligible. So, someone has to get sent down. I mean, would anyone claim Reaves? Then we could carry three goalies. Plus, there is the challenge of... what if Patches earns a contract?

 

[ULF_55]

Who said anything about giving Liljegren away? You make a hockey deal and get a young center. As of today I’m not sure Liljegren is cracking the playoff roster if all dmen are healthy.

Leafs don't want to be down to 6 NHL defensemen.

Something else has to happen, or someone will be going on LTIR day before season starts.

 

[Fogelhund]

Liljegren isn't getting traded.... we can just put that idea to rest right now. We need 7 NHL d men. There isn't a Cap reason need to make a trade at the current time, unless Patches makes the team.

 

[GoonieFace]

How Benoit is not a consensus to start in the top 6 is confusing to say the least.

 

[ULF_55]

At the current time, there isn't a body on that roster that is waiver eligible. So, someone has to get sent down. I mean, would anyone claim Reaves? Then we could carry three goalies. Plus, there is the challenge of... what if Patches earns a contract?

If Kampf is as brutal as some make him out to be, wouldn't his contract scare all non-Hawks, non-Blue Jackets away?

 

[Aashir Mallik]

~1 million over if they carry 23 players, but assuming Benoit or Timmins are done.

Probably Timmins because we hate D that score or can make a pass.

No what we hate about Timmins is his ability to make stupid ass plays in his own zones.

Costly turnovers, costly penalties, stupid plays he’s done it all. We went through this with a better player in gardiner and it didn’t work, your bottom pairing needs to be able to make simple plays and be physical, Benoit is much better at that and fits the bottom pairing beside OEL much better than Timmins.

 

[Kiwi]

Liljegren has to be gone IMO

Hope not, I like to have at least one guy per pair who doesn't handle the puck like a grenade

 

[Hellcat]

Wowowowowowowow it happened.



Dallas - no longer elite
Toronto - now elite

This is starting to feel like Dallas is to us what we are to Edmonton... we got their Head of Scouting, two d-men and a partridge in a pear tree from them in the last 4 months...

 

[weems]

I was a big fan of Benoit last season but if he's your #7, that's actually a good position to be in.
You need to have depth on D for a full reg season and potentially anywhere from 16 to 28 playoff games.
The balance of L/R pairings of Rielly - Tanev, McCabe - Liljegeren, OEL - Hakanpaa looks very solid, plus Hakanpaa should be a nice boost to our PK.

 

[notbias]

No what we hate about Timmins is his ability to make stupid ass plays in his own zones.

Costly turnovers, costly penalties, stupid plays he’s done it all. We went through this with a better player in gardiner and it didn’t work, your bottom pairing needs to be able to make simple plays and be physical, Benoit is much better at that and fits the bottom pairing beside OEL much better than Timmins.

Benoit's simple plays led to him being one of our worst D's last playoffs.

Timmins seems to constantly score more than the opposition when he is on the ice.

I want to win, if that's not your objective, it's fine.

 

[Hellcat]

Who said anything about giving Liljegren away? You make a hockey deal and get a young center. As of today I’m not sure Liljegren is cracking the playoff roster if all dmen are healthy.

IMHO ... they keep Lilly, trade some cap from the forwards and carry 7 D or they send Hakinpaa to the LTIR and take him off when the playoffs hit. They got some work to do on the forward PK group... Hakinpaa, if healthy, is one of the best PK defenders in the league, then you add in Tanev, who is a shot blocking machine... Benoit and OEL are nasty pieces of gear, OEL really surprised me in the playoffs when he was playing with a bit of grease. I think we need more of that grease and defensive ability in the bottom 3 forward positions... rumors a few weeks back were Martin and Clutterbuck were coming on PTO's , that died off pretty quickly.

 

[Fogelhund]

If Kampf is as brutal as some make him out to be, wouldn't his contract scare all non-Hawks, non-Blue Jackets away?

If those in the league think he is as bad, as many Leafs fans do... you'd think he'd need a healthy addition to move him. However, I'd hazard those in the league value him as an actual asset. The return might not be spectacular as he is overpaid... but the Jackets shouldn't care given their cap situation.

Given our lack of C depth, it seems improbable he is moved, unless Holmberg and Dewar show as ready to take the 3/4 spots. Or Minten/Quillan shock us.

IMHO ... they keep Lilly, trade some cap from the forwards and carry 7 D

Noting... we aren't over the cap, and there is no need to move a forward, unless we sign Patches.

 

[Aashir Mallik]

Last year, our G7 D was:

Morgan Rielly – Ilya Lyubushkin
Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe
Joel Edmundson – Timothy Liljegren
TJ Brodie (scratch)

...it looks like this year we are starting with:

Morgan Rielly – Chris Tanev
OEL – Timothy Liljegren
Jani Hakanpaa – Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit (scratch)

...obviously Benoit and Hakanpaa could swap if not fully healthy.

We are improved and this is over the post-TDL roster and not the one we played most of the year when Brodie and Giordano were among our top six on games played.

Also, lots of people seem to think we made a mess of this signing, it seems to have been played perfectly. We got the guy we wanted at good term and dollars and we did it after we got Robertson locked in.

I guess this is complete semantics but I very much doubt OEL-Liljegren is our second pair. I think berube is gonna lean on McCabe a lot to try and be a rock defensively for him so tbh I could either see McCabe-Liljegren together, or we try the McCabe-Benoit pairing again this season

depending on fits, i think our defence is better, how much idk but it does seem to look more capable of doing a bit of offence and defence.

 

[LeafSteel]

At the current time, there isn't a body on that roster that is waiver eligible. So, someone has to get sent down. I mean, would anyone claim Reaves? Then we could carry three goalies. Plus, there is the challenge of... what if Patches earns a contract?

Reaves turns 38 in January and depending on how Berube puts together the 4th line, the fit for Reaves may be very limited.

I think he would be a very easy contract to put through Waivers if need be, and if he’s lost, I don’t see it as a huge insurmountable loss.

No way do I see Liljegren moved, or even Timmins waived. 8 healthy NHL calibre defenders is a must under the best of circumstances, and we already have Hakanpaa and Tanev who are long shots to play a full healthy season.

If salary room has to be made, I see it happening with the forward lineup.

How Benoit is not a consensus to start in the top 6 is confusing to say the least.

Shiny new toy syndrome.

 

[notbias]

Only fringe players who clear enough cap are Dewar, Reaves, Benoit, and Timmins.

I'm guessing it's Timmins, but I think the obvious answer is Reaves should be sent down.

 

[LeafSteel]

This is starting to feel like Dallas is to us what we are to Edmonton... we got their Head of Scouting, two d-men and a partridge in a pear tree from them in the last 4 months...

……. Now if they could only send that other Robertson fella they’ve got over there so we can have a matching set.

 

[al secord]

I don't believe it. I've been duped before.

 

[francis246]

Liljegren isn't getting traded.... we can just put that idea to rest right now. We need 7 NHL d men. There isn't a Cap reason need to make a trade at the current time, unless Patches makes the team.

Max is getting a contract, it’s been reported by every insider and Walsh his agent said on X he will be signing a contract with the leafs.

Moving Timmins alone won’t be enough, maybe Reaves gets buried or Kampf gets traded

 

[Hellcat]

If those in the league think he is as bad, as many Leafs fans do... you'd think he'd need a healthy addition to move him. However, I'd hazard those in the league value him as an actual asset. The return might not be spectacular as he is overpaid... but the Jackets shouldn't care given their cap situation.

Given our lack of C depth, it seems improbable he is moved, unless Holmberg and Dewar show as ready to take the 3/4 spots. Or Minten/Quillan shock us.



Noting... we aren't over the cap, and there is no need to move a forward, unless we sign Patches.

How can that be possible we are carrying 3 goalies, 8 d not sure how many forwards on the roster, we had 400k after signing Robertson without Hakinpaa on the roster, we must be over?

 

[notbias]

Max is getting a contract, it’s been reported by every insider and Walsh his agent said on X he will be signing a contract with the leafs.

Moving Timmins alone won’t be enough, maybe Reaves gets buried or Kampf gets traded

Least mobile team in the league?

 

[Aashir Mallik]

Benoit's simple plays led to him being one of our worst D's last playoffs.

Timmins seems to constantly score more than the opposition when he is on the ice.

I want to win, if that's not your objective, it's fine.

Don’t really like what you are trying to imply at the end, but that’s typical of you

Timmins can score points in the regular season, the playoffs are a different beast. Players tend to struggle more in the playoffs vs the regular season. Take Liljegren, he looks pretty solid in the regular season, and then the playoffs come around and he’s the other teams spark plug, and a black hole for us. Timmins would be playing against checking lines, and we’ve also seen other offensive defencemen like Sandin in those roles…which didn’t turn out pretty.

My point is Benoit brings what you find in most bottom pairing defencemen, especially if he’s gonna be paired with an offensively oriented player in OEL.