New Maple Leaf Jani Hakanpaa trusts career isn't over: 'I'm going to get back'

MILTON, Ont. — Jani Hakanpää's knee should not be subjected to his golf swing, but he's hopeful it will be ready for NHL action.

"My golf game is actually bad. So, I think that's the biggest reason, to be honest," smiled the newest Toronto Maple Leaf, who took the option at Monday's annual Leafs & Legends Charity Golf Classic.

Yes, discourse surrounding the most-discussed knee injury to a depth defenceman (ever?) will trickle into training camp — and beyond.

"Just a little knee issue that we got to manage throughout the year here," Hakanpää downplayed.

"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. It's more learning what's good and what's bad for it, and then sticking with the good stuff."

Although Hakanpää is eager to resume a career that was halted in March and believes he is "getting close" to game readiness, tweaking his recovering joint into a 7-iron doesn't qualify as the good stuff.

So, just as the towering 32-year-old — six feet, seven inches of bushy beard and burly boxouts — has needed to exercise patience over six months of rehabbing a knee that reportedly put his career in jeopardy, the Maple Leafs and their fans should temper expectations for the rugged penalty killer.

"There's certainly always risk with any person coming off an injury, but he's put in a lot of work really since he had surgery," GM Brad Treliving told reporters after signing the free agent to a one-year, $1.47-million gamble.

"He had a scope on his knee I think in March, went through sort of healing and then rehab, but he's doing well. And now we'll get our hands on him on an everyday basis and kind of see where it goes."

One needn't scroll too far in the past to find an example of another former Dallas Star and right-shot Nordic D-man who arrived in Toronto with lingering injury concerns.

But there is hope that Treliving's due diligence on the Hakanpää file yields a third-pairing presence that can eat pucks, make Joseph Woll's crease a miserable place to visit, and help improve the league's 23rd-ranked PK.

Toronto's performance staff flew to Finland two or three times to check in on their July 1 commitment, and Hakanpää went through tests in Toronto before the sides finally put pen to paper 72 days after a contract was formally announced.

"It's been a whole summer project," Treliving said. "We're obviously to a point where he and us feel confident, and we'll see how it goes." 

With a dearth of big, punishing, stay-at-home righties on the market, Treliving wasn't the only club willing to roll the dice on a 222-pounder with 33 games of post-season experience.

"You have some teams (interested), and then you just kind of sit there and you just have that weird feeling inside of you," Hakanpää said. "It's kind of hard to describe. It's just a good feeling about it. You're just like, OK, this is going to be the one. And then you just got to trust your gut."

Treliving's gut craved a replacement for the type of defender lost in Joel Edmundson and Ilya Lyubushkin. A right-side presence who could give a different look and bring more experience than right-side options like Timothy Liljegren and Conor Timmins.

Hakanpää takes pride in his physicality, his penalty killing, and his defending.

"Yeah, Hawk's amazing. Huge. Works really hard. Super nice guy," said fellow Star-turned-Leaf Chris Tanev.

"I only played with him for maybe two weeks before he got hurt. But really good player, really good person. I can't say enough about him."

Hakanpää was equally effusive in his excitement for the city, a chance to join a historic franchise, and the new teammates he's already been training with at Ford Performance Centre during Toronto's pre-camp skates.

"In my mind, it's been clear that I'm going to get back. And the team I had around me back home in Finland had the same thoughts. I think that was the biggest key — to have people around me that that trusted as well," Hakanpää said.

"It's a little bit of a roller-coaster almost. You know, there's good days, bad days, but I think that underlying trust of it's going to happen eventually has always been there.

"We're all on the same page, and it's great. We got it done now. So, now we're just all looking forward to getting to the real work and then get playing."

And when will that be?

"Hopefully as fast as possible," Hakanpää said. "You're itching at this time."