The Toronto Maple Leafs signed defenseman Jani Hakanpaa to a two-year deal worth $1.5 million per season, but Toronto Sun reporter Steve Simmons claims he may never play an NHL game due to injury.
Hakanpaa dealt with a knee injury last season and his last game was on March 16. Although he ended the year injured, Toronto still gave Hakanpaa a multi-year deal in free agency, but Simmons reports that people around the NHL believe the 6-foot-7 defensemen’s knee injury is very serious and he won’t play another game in the league.
“It wasn’t that way with Hakanpaa, who signed with Toronto on Canada Day, as well. A year ago, maybe two years ago, Hakanpaa would have factored rather nicely on the Leafs defense. He’s a giant of a man at 6-foot-7, popular in the room, that great hockey vernacular, and a penalty-killer beyond compare. But one with a knee so bad that some think — although the Leafs disagree — that he may never play again,” Simmons wrote on July 1.
“The Leafs signed him to play but many doubt he will. It’s said to be bone-on-bone with not much knee left. It’s said to be trouble. Two years ago, Hakanpaa was playing 18 minutes for the Stars. He might have played his last NHL game in March. If he plays again, plays at all for the Leafs, it will shock those who were around in recent seasons,” Simmons added.
That is a major claim from Simmons. But Toronto believes the 32-year-old is healthy enough and will be able to play this upcoming season.
Hakanpaa was drafted 104th overall in the 2010 NHL draft by the St. Louis Blues. However, he did not make his NHL debut until the 2019-20 season while he was with the Anaheim Ducks. He has skated in 288 regular season games recording 15 goals and 30 assists for 45 points.
Maple Leafs GM Expects Hakanpaa Will Kill Penalities
Following the opening day of free agency, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving opened up on his signings.
Toronto was active in free agency, especially on defense signing Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Hakanpaa. When asked by the media at a press conference on July 1 about Hakanpaa’s fit, Treliving believes he can be a penalty killer and defensive defenseman.
“With Hakanpaa, again a penalty killer. One of the areas looking back at last season that we wanted to address was our penalty kill. That’s an area that Jani really shines in. … You saw that in Dallas over the years, and specifically this past season,” Treliving said.
“We’ve got a group of defensemen. I’d rather have too many than not enough, and we’ll try to sort this out in the coming days. Today’s a day that you can add players, but you build your team over the course of the summer. There are certainly some areas that we still want to address and still want to augment,” Treliving added.
Hakanpaa recorded 2 goals and 10 assists for 12 points in 64 games with the Dallas Stars last season.
Toronto GM Says Signings on Defense Give Them Options
The Maple Leafs are currently over the salary cap by nearly $800,000, according to CapFriendly, meaning a trade is likely.
Toronto currently has nine NHL defensemen under contract, but Treliving says having that many gives the coaching staff options.
“I know everybody wants to look forward and there’s a number of guys now and what does this mean for other guys on the roster. Defensemen are so hard to get. It opens up different options for us as we move forward here in the summer. It certainly gives the coaching staff a lot of options with lots of different guys who can do a lot of different jobs,” Treliving said.
The Maple Leafs do have 23 players under contract, so Toronto is likely done signing players.
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Recently Signed Maple Leafs Defensemen ‘May Never Play Again’: Report