Jani Hakanpaa shares update on health situation with Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed defenseman Jani Hakanpaa early in the offseason, but the deal still has not been made official due to lingering health concerns that Hakanpaa himself is now speaking about.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman shared the news about Hakanpaa on July 1st, the first day of free agency. Understandably, this is when the vast majority of free agents sign their deals, including the former Stars defender. He reportedly agreed to a two-year deal that carried a 1.5 million dollar cap hit.
However, we never got any official updates on that deal. It was never made official, and Hakanpaa technically remains a UFA. Why the hold up? The Leafs team doctors are concerned that his knee is in too bad of a shape to play NHL games anymore. Reportedly, he has lost cartilage and there are parts of his joint that are directly bone on bone contact, which is often a career-ending injury. This is very similar to what happened to Carey Price for example. That being said, Hakanpaa himself claims that he can play through the ailment.
"He believes he can play on his knee. But I don't know that there's unanimity in that opinion from those that are looking at his medical file and just concerns that, essentially, he's got bone-on-bone. It's not a situation that could be terribly comfortable. What's interesting about medical-related issues is some players do manage to play through certain things that others can't. I mean, everyone's bodies are different, pain tolerance, what have you. I guess the X-rays themselves are black and white, but sometimes the information isn't black and white."
Hakanpaa has never been more than a depth defenseman throughout his career. Last season, he averaged less than 19 minutes of ice time per game. However, he averaged more than 3 minutes per night shorthanded, and was part of the Star's very good penalty kill. Notably, the penalty kill started to struggle in the playoffs when he was out with injury as well. As such, he could bring some stability to the Leafs backend, should he be healthy, which admittedly seems unlikely at this point.
Will Hakanpaa play for the Leafs next season? Will someone else sign him instead? Is his NHL career over? These are all questions that could be answered very shortly, so keep an eye out for more news about Hakanpaa in the coming days.
Source: HockeyPatrol
Jani Hakanpaa makes surprising statement on possible career-ending injury
Jani Hakanpaa makes surprising statement on possible career-ending injury
| POLL | ||
17 AOUT | 110 ANSWERS Jani Hakanpaa shares update on health situation with Toronto Maple Leafs Do you think Jani Hakanpaa will play games for the Toronto Maple Leafs next season? | ||
| Yes | 27 | 24.5 % |
| No | 83 | 75.5 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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