DONE DEAL: Maple Leafs register another defenseman’s contract deal done

It seems unlikely that the Maple Leafs will be signing defenseman Jani Hakanpaa after all. Despite a reported two-year, $3M deal that has remained unregistered for nearly two months, TSN’s Chris Johnston indicated on “First Up 1050” on Tuesday that the outlook isn’t promising for Toronto finalizing the deal with Hakanpaa.

The 32-year-old Hakanpaa was still recovering from a knee injury that ended his 2023-2024 season with the Stars when the reported agreement with Toronto emerged on July 1. This was his first time as a free agent since signing a three-year, $4.5M contract with Dallas in 2021.

Hakanpaa believes he can continue playing despite the injury, but according to Johnston, his knee is “basically bone on bone.” The Leafs’ medical staff, along with other outside opinions, disagree, which has kept him on the free-agent market.

Even if Toronto doesn’t sign him, Hakanpaa’s opportunities may be limited if he tries to play through the injury. Few, if any, teams are likely to sign him if he can’t pass a physical.

Standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 225 pounds, the right-shot defenseman was a solid contributor on Dallas’ blue line over the past few seasons, averaging over 18 minutes per game with 40 points, a +29 rating, 136 penalty minutes, 363 blocks, and 668 hits across 226 games. He also posted decent possession metrics, controlling 47.7 percent of expected goals at even strength, despite being used primarily in shutdown situations.

This is a setback for the Leafs, who had hoped to use Hakanpaa as a defensive anchor alongside Morgan Rielly or Oliver Ekman-Larsson, or possibly in a stay-at-home pairing with Jake McCabe. However, they would have needed to clear cap space to make room for him, as Toronto currently has just over $1.25M in projected cap space, which isn’t enough to accommodate Hakanpaa’s reported $1.5M cap hit.