After 'rollercoaster' recovery, Hakanpää confident he can help Leafs

The annual Leafs & Legends Charity Golf Classic took place on Monday at the RattleSnake Point Golf Club in Milton, Ont.

Jani Hakanpää did not join his Toronto Maple Leafs teammates on the golf course on Monday. 

"My golf game is actually bad," the newest Maple Leaf said with a laugh. "So that's the biggest thing, to be honest."

There was another reason to take it easy, though. Hakanpää spent the off-season working his way back from a knee injury. 

"It's a little bit of a rollercoaster, almost," Hakanpää said of the recovery process. "There's good days, bad days, but I think that underlying trust of it's going to [get better] eventually has always been there."

During a Zoom call with reporters on July 1, Leafs general manager Brad Treliving indicated the team planned on signing Hakanpää. TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston reported it was set to be a two-year deal. But the contract was not registered and as the days, weeks and months went by, questions about Hakanpää's health grew louder. 

When the deal was finally announced last week, it was only a one-year pact worth $1.47 million. 

"In my mind, it's been clear that I'm going to get back," the 6-foot-7, 222-pound defenceman said in his first media availability since signing. "The team I had around me back home in Finland had the same thoughts. That was the biggest key, just to have people around me that trusted as well."

Hakanpää visited Toronto during the summer and the Leafs performance staff travelled to Finland multiple times to monitor his rehab.

Treliving recently described the Hakanpää situation as "a whole summer project" while noting there is always risk when signing a player coming off an injury. The team's big off-season addition on defence last year, John Klingberg, played only 14 games before a preexisting hip issue required season-ending surgery. 

Treliving expressed confidence in Hakanpää's ability to return to form during a media session last week. 

"He has put in a lot of work," Treliving stressed. "I think he had surgery and had a scope on his knee in March. He went through healing and then rehab, but he is doing well. And now we'll get our hands on him on an every-day basis and kind of see where it goes."

Hakanpää downplayed concerns on Monday. 

"It's just a little knee issue that we're just going to manage throughout the year here," he said. 

Hakanpää last played on March 16 and it's unclear when he'll be ready to get back into action. 

"We're going to talk more about that tomorrow with the training staff and everything, but hopefully as fast as possible," Hakanpää said. "You're itching. You're itching at this time. We put a lot of work into all of that so we're getting close, but now just put the finishing touches on it."

The 32-year-old will need to make some adjustments coming off the injury. Hakanpää let out a sigh when asked what that entails. 

"It's more of just finding ways to do stuff off the ice to support it the best we can, and then just cut out a bunch of stuff that's not really good for it," Hakanpää said. "It's more learning what's good and what's bad for it and sticking with the good stuff."

The good stuff Hakanpää brings on the ice would help fill a need for the Leafs. In particular, Treliving identified Hakanpää as someone who can bolster a penalty-kill unit that finished 23rd overall last season. Hakanpää was a go-to guy on a Dallas Stars penalty kill that came in eighth overall last season. 

Hakanpää also led the Stars in hits per 60 minutes. 

"I bring a lot of physicality and some good, solid defence play and some PK specialty," he said. "That's something that I take a lot of pride in and is for sure going to help the team as well." 

Hakanpää, who played the last three seasons with Dallas, would also give the Leafs another right-shot option on defence alongside Chris Tanev, Timothy Liljegren and Conor Timmins. 

Despite concerns about his knee injury, Hakanpää notes there were other teams interested in his services.  

"For me, it always becomes a gut decision at the end," he said of signing with the Leafs. "You have some teams and then you kind of sit there and you just have that weird feeling inside of you that this is going to be the one."

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As has become custom in recent years, the Leafs made their newest players available to the media as part of the charity golf event. Tanev, defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and goalie Anthony Stolarz also met with reporters on Monday.

Of that group, Tanev is most familiar with the market. The 34-year-old is a Toronto native, who trains with former Leaf Gary Roberts in the summer. When the Leafs acquired his rights from the Stars ahead of the opening of free agency, Tanev sought insight from Roberts. 

"He had nothing but good things to say," Tanev noted. "He's extremely proud to be a Leaf and obviously the teams he were on were quite successful. I mean, they didn't end up winning [the Stanley Cup] but they had some good runs and good playoff series."

Roberts played four seasons with the Leafs and suited up in 50 playoff games. Roberts and the Leafs made a run to the Eastern Conference final in 2002. 

What advice did Roberts offer Tanev? 

"Just be yourself and be good to the fans and enjoy yourself," Tanev revealed. "I mean, you're definitely sort of in the spotlight more than maybe what [you] would be in Dallas or Calgary. I mean, Vancouver's a pretty big hockey market, so I'm sort of used to the Canadian market a bit. But, yeah, just be yourself and enjoy yourself. He said the best times of his career were playing in Toronto."

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It was a short summer for Ekman-Larsson and Stolarz, who helped the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup. They hope to pass along some of that championship pedigree to their new teammates in Toronto. 

"I think that's why they brought us in," said Ekman-Larsson. "Let the guys see how hard you work every single day or how hard it is to win a Cup and just have that experience and kind of share it with your teammates. That's what I'm going to try to do."

Stolarz has already fielded questions about Florida's run from his new teammates. 

"I keep telling them, 'Let's do it again!" the 30-year-old said. "'Run it back this year.'"

What will Stolarz remember most about his day with the Stanley Cup? 

"Just being able to raise it, and our names are all engraved on it already," the New Jersey native said. "So just being able to kind of just look at it, see your name on it, and just finally have that reality set in."

Ekman-Larsson brought the Cup to the arena of his hometown team in Karlskrona, Sweden. 

"It's a good day to enjoy it and see how happy everybody is for you and your family and get the chance to thank everybody that helped me to get to that point," the 33-year-old said. "So I think that was very special. At the same time, I think it was a good day to have to end that year and focus on what's next."

There could be another former Panther on the Leafs this season as forward Steven Lorentz will attend training camp on a pro tryout.

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Stolarz has found a fun way to generate chemistry with his new teammates. 

"I joined the fantasy football league," he said with a smile. "So that kind of helps to ease the transition. It just gives you something to talk about. You're just going around trying to get to know everyone on an individual basis and it's a lot of people, a lot of staff."

Stolarz already has a couple wins under his belt. 

"I'm 2-0," he said. "So, it's a good start."

"I'm gonna be 1-1, hopefully, if my team doesn't fall apart tonight," Tanev noted. 

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The Leafs will formally open training camp with medicals on Wednesday at the Ford Performance Centre. Treliving, head coach Craig Berube and the team's leadership group will address the media starting at 9:30 am.