Maple Leafs sign defenceman Jani Hakanpää to 1-year, $1.47M deal

The Toronto Maple Leafs finalized a contract with defenceman Jani Hakanpää months in the making, agreeing to a one-year, $1.47 million deal on Wednesday.

It was originally reported on July 1—the opening of the NHL’s free agency window—that Hakanpää and the Leafs had agreed on a two-year, $3 million contract. However, before Wednesday, he had still not been added to the team’s roster, nor had they announced him as an official signing.

There were questions about the blueliner’s health after he missed the final 13 games of the Dallas Stars’ regular season and the entire playoff run with a knee injury. He underwent arthroscopic knee surgery to treat the injury.

A prior report from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun indicated that some in hockey circles were surprised that Hakanpää had agreed to an NHL deal due to speculation that his knee injury could be career-ending.

In August, when Auston Matthews was announced as the Maple Leafs’ new captain, general manager Brad Treliving was asked about the delay in finalizing Hakanpää’s deal.

“We’re working through that. Today, we’re dealing with this. But we’ll get to that, hopefully, sooner rather than later,” Treliving said.

A late bloomer from Finland, the 32-year-old, drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the 4th round (104th overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut with the Anaheim Ducks in 2019-20 before he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in April 2021.

Hakanpää signed with the Stars as a free agent in July 2021 and played three seasons in Dallas. More of a rugged, big-bodied defenceman (he’s listed as 6-foot-7 and 222 pounds), he has never been one for picking up points during his five-year NHL career but has been heavily used on the penalty kill, primarily as a member of the Stars blueline.

In 288 career NHL games, Hakanpää has never posted a plus-minus in the negative below 0. He was a career-high plus-18 in 82 games with the Stars in 2022-23.

He had two goals and 10 assists in 64 games with the Stars last season before suffering a knee injury. He’s appeared in 33 playoff games throughout his career, including a career-high 15 games with the Stars in 2022-23.

Hakanpää is the latest defenceman to join Toronto’s revamped blue line after Treliving and the front office added Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson in free agency, replacing Mark Giordano, Joel Edmundson and T.J. Brodie, to name a few.

With files from Sportsnet staff