Internal as opposed to external offseason for the Montreal Canadiens
TSN: Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes when asked about remaining calm and not making many external moves this offseason.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Laura Diakun: “I know you’ve had a successful offseason. You know, most of it with, within right? It’s the contract extensions that you spoke about. It’s the draft. Not really looking at free agency. Not really making trades.
Has it been difficult to kind of keep to that path where you don’t want to sell the farm for the future, you want to kind of have this confidence in the guys that you have in the system already?
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Hughes: “Yeah. I mean, that’s the challenge that we’re going to confront as we move to this next phase of what we’re trying to build in Montreal. Is that we could make moves that would make us a better team tomorrow, but we need to be worried about the day after and the day after as well. And how do we continue to move the ship forward without blocking these young players that we’re drafting and hoping are going to be a big part of what we are when we’re ready to compete for Stanley Cups.”
Uncertainty remains for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Jani Hakanpaa
TSN: Chris Johnston on Jani Hakanpaa and his future with the Toronto Maple Leafs, if there is one.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Mark Masters: “So the core four forwards remain in Toronto going into this next season, but there was a significant personnel shake-up on the blue line for the Leafs.
Chris Tanev comes in, Oliver Ekman-Larsson comes in, and we thought Jani Hakanpaa was coming in. In fact, Treliving mentioned him by name on July 1st, but we haven’t seen a contract registered. What’s going on?”
Johnston: “Well, they’re still working through his health situation. Jani Hakanpaa finished last season with a significant knee injury. Obviously, in this time since, you know, he and the Leafs engage in discussions about a contract.
There’s been a chance to get a look at some medical information. He feels as though he can play. And I think the leafs and their doctors, probably more importantly than a front office, have to be comfortable that that is indeed the case. That health-wise, it makes sense to do this.
And so Brad Treliving was asked about it specifically after this ceremony, and he said, ‘Look, this isn’t the day to talk about it, but he hopes will be some clarity soon.’
- Terry Koshan: Treliving on Hakanpaa: “Working through that. Today we’re dealing with this, but we’ll get to that hopefully sooner rather than later.”
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And so, I think really, that’s where it stands is both sides are trying to get comfortable with the health situation. Can the Leafs move forward, and sign that contract? And we just have to see where that ends up.”