Craig Berube reveals crucial update on Jani Hakanpaa's knee injury progress

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Chris Gerics
September 28, 2024 (3:16 PM)

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Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube gave a critical update regarding the status of defenseman Jani Hakanpaa as he recovers from a knee injury.

The Maple Leafs signed Jani Hakanpaa this summer after months of questions surrounding if he actually will sign or if the Maple Leafs are too cautious with his linger knee issues to risk spending any money on him. Well, they took a chance anyways, signing Hakanpaa to a one-year, $1.47M deal this offseason and giving him a shot to be the elite shutdown defender he has been for the past few seasons. He still hasn't been a part of the main practice team and he was seen in the third grouping along with Connor Dewar as both men rehab and condition until they are ready to be back (Dewar is out with a shoulder injury).

Head coach Craig Berube has given the Maple Leafs fans an update regarding the status of Hakanpaa and if we will see the Finnish defender playing with the main roster soon and it's a massively positive one:

Berube seems confident that Hakanpaa will catch up with the team once he's back and he's also clearly confident in the Maple Leafs doctors and training staff in their ability to put Hakanpaa back on track. GM Brad Treliving had a plan when they signed Hakanpaa and it seems that plan is starting to pay off in spades and with Hakanpaa being linked to the Maple Leafs since 2021; him finally being in blue and white seems like destiny.

Hakanpaa, a towering 6'7, 222 pound defenseman was drafted in the 4th Round by the St. Louis Blues in 2010 and cut his chops in their AHL affiliate Chicago before heading over back to Finland to play with Oulun Karpat of the SM-Liiga; the highest level of professional Finnish hockey. He won the championship patrolling the blue line for Karpat before signing with the Anaheim Ducks in 2019; placing third in hits for the entire league in the pandemic-shortened 2020-2021 season. Then he was traded to Carolina for Haydn Fleury and became a free agent that season before latching on to the Dallas Stars where he became one of their elite shutdown defenders alongside fellow former Stars player and current Maple Leaf Chris Tanev.

Not known for being an offensive defenseman, Hakanpaa instead uses his size, vision and elite stick checking ability in order to shut the opponents down. His metrics speak for themselves as he's consistently been one of the best defensemen in the league:

Some Maple Leafs fans even think that Hakanpaa's signing could be a signal of the curse of 1967 being over soon:

Jokes aside, Hakanpaa when healthy is one of the scariest defenseman on the ice. He is a reminder of Zdeno Chara, who absolutely dominated for two decades in the NHL; a massive man made even bigger on skates and while he doesn't have the offensive prowess of Chara, he's still able to throw the body, throw fists and rip bombs:

If Hakanpaa can get healthy and get back to his defensive wizardry, it could be one of the key factors in the Maple Leafs playing for the Stanley Cup. So far, all signs are looking good.