Final goes through Atlantic

Leafs making solid moves, but so are the Panthers, Lightning and Bruins

- NICK KYPREOS

While Dallas had injury concerns about Jani Hakanpää, Toronto’s medical team gave the green light to sign him after an extensive look.

It’s a start. The latest Maple Leafs retool has officially begun with the signings of Chris Tanev and Oliver EkmanLarsson. With all due respect to Joseph Woll, Max Domi and Timothy Liljegren, who signed extensions this week, this organization needed new faces and they got two important ones on the blue line.

The emphasis for general manager Brad Treliving and president Brendan Shanahan when free agency opened on Monday was on defending and they were able to land two credible names without blowing up their salary cap.

Then again, what choice did they have? The Leafs continue to dig out of a depleted prospect pool and the salary-cap hell left by former GM Kyle Dubas.

Give credit to Treliving who, much like a Canadian Mountie, always gets his man. He finally landed Tanev with a six-year, $27-million (U.S.) contract after failing to acquire him multiple times at the trade deadline. While many other teams were willing to pay Tanev a higher salary with shorter term, he found a way to get the deal done.