Max Pacioretty Is A Leaf? + How Does The Hakanpää Signing Impact The Cap!?

No really! It's for real this time! Jani Hakanpaa  is a Leaf! And apparently so is Max Pacioretty. Oh   let's talk about it! You know what? Hakanpaa  just signed that's official. Let's talk about   Max Pacioretty, because here is the sequence of  events. First the Toronto Maple Leafs announced   “Max Pacioretty will attend Maple Leafs training  camp on a professional tryout or PTO” and I said   oooh. Then Chris Johnston, one of the most  reputable insiders in all of hockey said “Max   Pacioretty will attend Leaf's training camp on  a PTO” yes yes we know that. “They expect him   to sign a contract before the season” oh! Then  his agent Allan Walsh of sdpn, Agent Provocateur   Podcast says “We expect Max Pacioretty will sign  a contract with the Leafs before the start of the   season.” It's one thing when an Insider says  it but when a player's agent straight up says   ‘yes we expect to sign it’ - oh! So for all  intents and purposes Max Pacioretty’s a Leaf?   Until a contract is actually signed and  announced it does have to be said with a   question mark on it. And the Leaf's cap situation,  especially now with the Jani Hakanpaa signing,   makes things that much more fascinating. So just  yesterday we were talking about Nick Robertson   signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs and he signed  at one year $875,000. If $875,000 sounds like a   very specific amount of dollars there's a reason  for that. The Toronto Maple Leafs, who had not   yet signed Jani Hakanpaa but sound committed to  signing Jani Hakanpaa, to $1.5 million that is the   number that was reported on July 1st and I'm going  to talk all about Jani Hakanpaa in a second. It   was rumoured he was getting $1.5 million on July  1st. Robertson signs, uh oh the Leafs are over the   cap. Now you're allowed to go over the cap before  the season begins. You need to be cap compliant on   day one. Right now the Leafs can go above the cap  by 10% and they're nowhere near that. But, Conor   Timmins I'm pretty positive he's not going to be  on this team. Whether he's sent down to the minors   or waved and claimed or traded or whatever it is -  they're not going to have him on the team anymore. Unless there's like some disastrous injury during  the pre-season or something he's not going to be   on the team and you can be pretty confident  of that because after signing Nick Robertson   if you subtract the $1.1 million contract that  Conor Timmins has that would leave the Leafs   with exactly $333 in cap space. not $3333, $333.  And these numbers are according to Puckpedia.com.   Basically it seems like they're setting the tables  for yeah they're going to sign Hakanpaa. But then   the deal gets announced today and it's a little  different than initially reported. It's not quite   1.5 million and it's definitely not two years.  It is a one-year contract at 1.47 million. So   again this leaves the Leafs over the salary cap  by about a million and $69,000, nice. But again   you subtract the 1.1 million that Conor Timmons is  making and that leaves the Leafs now with $3,333   in cap space. Now that doesn't sound like much  but it's an amount that will accrue cap space   over the season a luxury that the leaves haven't  had in recent years because you can't accrue cap   space with ltir it's all very complicated and  if it's going over your head don't worry it's   kind of over mine! So if the Leafs are already  over the cap and they have to get rid of guys   to make the cap then why do they have two guys  at training camp on PTO plus the consideration   of Fraser Minten who started the season with the  Leafs last year plus the consideration of Easton   Cowan who might just make this team out of Camp.  How are the Leafs going to sign Steven Lorentz and   or Max Pacioretty? Especially Max Pacioretty  on account of his agent appears to be under   the impression that there's a contract coming.  Someone either has to get traded and or waived and   or sent to the minors and or there's some sort  of injury that could happen in training camp?   Now last year the Leafs had Sam Lafferty. He was  kind of a luxury for them, they didn't have the   cap space for him and they ended up trading him to  the Vancouver Canucks for a fifth round pick, boo.  Lafferty was better for the Vancouver Canucks  than a fifth round pick's worth of value but   the Leafs got a fifth round pick for a player  they didn't want and weren't going to use and   the Vancouver Canucks got a very useful  player. Both teams sort of win there. Mmm.   Canucks won more than the Leafs, let's be honest.  All throughout the year all the time when it comes   to your favourite hockey team you're always  like “oh they might do this or they might do   that or they might do that” - with the Leafs  you can almost be guaranteed that they are,   that they are up to something. Even if everyone  walks out of the situation Minten and Cowan both   go back to junior and Lorentz and Pacioretty  are both released from their pto's. Even if   that were to happen then the Leafs are accuring  cap space throughout the season and they can use   that for future nonsense! All that to say  the Leafs are up to something. Now Jani   Hakanpaa - he's the guy who's actually signed to a  contract. Why do you care? Well, Jani Hakanpaa has   played for three teams in his young NHL career  and all three of those teams are incredible at   identifying defensive talent. Now I shouldn't say  his young career, he's actually somewhat of a late   bloomer at 32 but his first NHL season wasn't  until the 19-20 season. He was a fourth round   pick of the St Louis Blues in 2010, but it didn't  show up in the NHL until 2019, and that was with   the Anaheim Ducks now you might roll your eyes and  go “the Anaheim Ducks are not good at identifying   defensive talent” - that is not true at all, they  are not good at uh assembling a a good hockey team   or at least not in recent memory but this is an  organization that has turned out Shea Theodore and   Brandon Montour and those are guys oh geez Hampus  Lindholm basically iced the Leafs in the spring. I'm not saying Hakanpaa is any of those guys, I'm  just saying if you were drafted and or developed   by the Anaheim Ducks as a defenseman, there's  a decent chance you're decent- Simon Benoit   anybody? I don't care what you think of the  guy, he's definitely better than you thought he   was going to be. During the 2020 2021 season he  was sent to the Carolina Hurricanes in a trade,   another organization other than their weird  obsession with Tony Deangelo that produces almost   exclusively really good NHL defenseman. And over  the last three seasons he has been a defenseman   with the Dallas Stars and a huge part of that  Dallas Stars team. He's here to kill penalties.   I will give you some Jani Hakanpaa numbers and  that'll become more and more obvious as we go. So   I looked up some stats on nhl.com I isolated it to  players over the course of the last three seasons   who have played a minimum of 75 NHL games. It's  basically at least one full season of hockey over   the last three seasons combined. Over those past  three seasons Jani Hakanpaa is tied for the second   tallest at 6 foot7 and he shoots right! The Leafs  need those, they always need those nhl.com has   Hakanpaa listed at 222b the Leaf's media release  for the signing has him listed at 225 pounds,   put it this way over the course of the last three  seasons only 94 players have registered at 220 or   heavier, according to nhl.com. That is a select  group of the league! Time on Ice per game over   the last three seasons, keeping in mind that all  three of these seasons were spent with the Dallas   Stars who have been very good - 18 minutes and 2  seconds per game. Over those three seasons he is   a plus 29 combined and important to mention over  his NHL career, Hakanpaa has never been a minus   player once. He has a penalty differential of  minus 26, that means he's taken 26 more penalties   than he has drawn and that sounds terrible, and  actually it's ranked 644 in the NHL over that   span and it sounds disastrous. Until you realize  he's actually tied in that category with Kris   LeTang Victor Hedman and Brandon Montour so maybe  defensemen just tend to take more penalties. Hits   over the last three seasons 668, which ranks 11th  in the entire NHL and fourth among defenseman. Hits per 60 minutes he ranks 76th in the entire  NHL over the past three seasons,10th amongst   defensemen. The guy hits. Blocks over the last  three seasons 351 that's 51st. Blocks per 60   Minutes 5.34 that ranks 60th keep it in mind this  is over the last three seasons combined. That's a   lot of players. This is where you're like oh  that's why they signed him penalty kill time   on ice over the last three seasons combined  659 minutes and 40 seconds that is 10th in   the entire NHL. Penalty kill time on ice per  game 2 minutes and 55 seconds, which is tied   for 10th in the entire NHL with Devon Toews of  the Colorado Avalanche. Players percentage of   teams short-handed ice time I - that's on nhl.com  I can't believe that 61.4% of Dallas's penalty   kill ice time over the last three seasons, Jani  Hakanpaa has been there that ranks third in the   entire NHL behind teammate Esa Lindell and Andrew  Peak. Worth mentioning - okay he's been on the ice   a lot - worth mentioning Dallas has the fifth best  penalty kill over the last three seasons combined.   So, Jani Hakanpaa has played the third highest  percent of his team's penalty kill time on ice   over the last three seasons for the fifth best  penalty kill in the NHL. The guy is Big, the guy   is mean, he'll hit you, he'll put himself in front  of pucks, he'll kill penalties, and he'll probably   do it well, and he'll be right-handed when he does  it. Listen if you're out there free agent hunting   and you want someone to kill penalties for you  and the Leafs do that's a good guy. That's a good   name, really good name wow this sounds incredible  why haven't I heard of this guy and where is the   catch and why is he only making $1.47 million  against the cap and why did his contract go   from two years down to one? Well - well - okay so  when uh the Leafs um didn't announce they didn't   announce that they had signed Jani Hakanpaa, it  was merely reported that Hakanpaa was signing with   the Leafs but at the July first press conference  for the Toronto Maple Leafs and you can go back   and watch this Brad Treliving was asked about  Hakanpaa and he talked about Jani Hakanpaa. So, since July 1st it sure sounded like the GM of  the Toronto Maple Leafs was under the impression   that Jani Hakanpaa was going to be a Toronto Maple  Leafs. But it was either that day or the next day   Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun reported that a  lot of people in NHL circles were surprised to see   Hakanpaa sign because due to a knee injury, this  guy might not play again. Dallas really missed him   in their playoff run this year that went pretty  well, but it was cut short by the Edmonton Oilers.   They did not have Hakanpaa after March due to  injury. Now over the past few years the Leafs have   taken a bunch of players where we've looked and  gone “geez that guy's been pretty banged up, geez   that guy's probably passed his best, geez I didn't  think that guy was ever going to play again” and   sure enough that guy goes on to play again. One  example could be Tyler Ennis a player who I mean   he looked like he was cooked and then he played in  Toronto and he was pretty decent in Toronto scored   a hat-trick in Toronto and he parlayed that into  another NHL contract. Some of the older guys that   have been with the Leafs over the years, part of  the reason they've been with the Leafs over the   years is the Leafs are pretty good at managing  the health of older guys. And dude take a look   at training camp right now there's Hakanpaa who  the Leafs have monitored his knee situation over   the entire summer and what better organization to  be in if you have this issue? And Max Pacioretty   has had two Achilles injuries in recent memory.  By the way that's why he's on PTO you “hey how   come how come” - that's why he's had two Achilles  injuries in recent memory but he's come to Toronto   he's chosen Toronto. Now there's an opening in  Toronto potentially on the wing but it seemed   like yesterday we solved that problem with the  Nick Robertson signing. So what's going on? The Leafs have a strong belief in their  medical staff and in their development staff,   sports Science staff they have a strong  belief that they can take guys who are hurt,   guys who were maybe once great and are no  longer because their bodies are failing them,   they can take those players and they can make  good reclamation projects out of them. And   these players obviously think that the Leafs are  correct in their assumption that they can do that,   because they keep coming here and signing here  and playing here and getting better here. Honestly   with regard to the Hakanpaa signing um, the thing  that worried me the most over the course of the   summer was the 2-year part. You can go into  LTIR if you need to but you don't want to and   it's obvious that the Leafs don't want to either.  That's why they're actually trying to uh have cap   space when the season begins it looks like even if  it's a little. So let's say Hakanpaa starts this   season and you got to throw him on LTIR and he's  not going to play again well then you got another   full year and ugh. Now this is basically the  situation that the Leafs had with John Klingberg   except at like a quarter of the price,  maybe a third of the price? Listen,   Klingberg has been a great defenseman in the NHL  over his career. The Leafs are like hey what if   we could rebuild him and they tried and they  couldn't do it ah. What do you do? Throw him   on LTIR and you move on. Was it the best idea? Eh.  Did you have to give him four and a half? Eh. This   isn't that it's a guy signing for a hair under  1.5 mil and the player thinks he can play the   team thinks he can play - and if he can play  he's kind of exactly what you need. He's big,   he's mean, he shoots right-handed, and he kills  penalties hooray. I don't question the signing,   I don't question whether or not this guy is  going to be able to play, what I do question   or rather what I'm confused by is how are the  Leafs going to get Pacioretty under contract,   what is that contract going to look like, and how  does someone like Steven Lorentz who's on a PTO,   Easton Cowan who is a junior eligible player,  Fraser Minten who's a junior eligible player, Nick   Robertson who has a contract but wants to be in  the bloody lineup - how do these guys all get what   they want which is a spot on the Toronto Maple  Leafs? Could be an interesting camp. One last   thing before we go I'm raising money for Easter  Seals Ontario it's a charity that helps out kids   with physical disabilities, my sister is one of  those kids my family is an Easter Seals family and   Easter Seals has helped us. Every year I play in a  hockey tournament terribly, I'm a terrible hockey   player, uh I play in this hockey tournament not  because I'm like hey I'm good at hockey and I'm   going to get a few tucks no I I I stink I stink  a lot I do it because I believe in Easter Seals   Ontario and I try to raise money for them. Link in  the description down below if you want to donate   to my team and here is a little incentive for you.  Ron Fox, who's a listener of the show, has donated   a pair of Leafs tickets to the game the Leafs  game on Saturday November 16th. Leafs Oilers woo,   and I'm going to be giving those tickets away  to one donor. One donor picked at random. If you   donate any dollar amount - to myself or anybody on  my team - you are automatically entered into the   what is it raffle, I guess it's a raffle, to win  this pair of Leafs tickets Leafs Oilers November   16th. If you want to donate to a good cause and  have a chance at seeing Auston play Connor, there   you go. Easter Seals Ontario. Rachel's Raiders  is my team! For now that is it for this one,   thank you very much for watching, click like  if you like this video, click subscribe if you   really liked it, tell all your friends - of  course this happened on the same day that we   recorded a podcast Steve dangle podcast and the  Chris Johnston show there is a new CJ show but   guess what? Both the SDP and the CJ show are going  to be back with new shows Friday check it out!