Life Follows Art?

Remember the classic Paul Newman movie Slap Shot where Newman played a hockey coach for a professional minor league team?

If you saw it, you'll also remember the scene-stealing, wacked-out Hanson brothers, members of the raucous team.

Well, in an instance where reality arguably follows art, the son of one of the Hanson brothers, Christian Hanson, is expected to sign a contract to play hockey for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

There are advantages to being one of the NHL's also-rans.

One of them is that traditionally it positions teams perfectly for the annual crop of U.S. college free agents and the Maple Leafs are expected to capitalize on that today by signing 23-year-old centre Christian Hanson of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Details were murky last night and the Leafs weren't talking, but tongues were certainly wagging across the industry suggesting that if Hanson hasn't officially signed a three-year, entry-level contract already, he will today.

Dave Hanson, Christian's father, has been friends with the Leaf's General Manager Brian Burke for 30 years.