The Toronto Maple Leafs have bolstered their blue line by signing defenseman Jani Hakanpaa to a two-year contract, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported Monday afternoon.
Hakanpaa, 32, played 64 games with the Dallas Stars during the 2023-24 regular season, tallying two goals and 12 points while averaging 18:38 of ice time per game. However, he missed the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs due to a lower-body injury.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Hakanpaa’s contract with the Maple Leafs has a cap hit of $1.5 million for each of the next two seasons.
Jani Hakanpaa has signed a two-year, $3M contract with the Maple Leafs, per @FriedgeHNIC. 🇫🇮#NHLFreeAgency | @BET99ON pic.twitter.com/cjv0g7Cuel
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 1, 2024
Originally drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the fourth round (No. 104 overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft, Hakanpaa spent three seasons in the Blues’ minor-league system before returning to the Finnish Liiga. In 2019, he signed with the Anaheim Ducks as a free agent from Liiga club Karpat. Hakanpaa played 49 NHL games over parts of two seasons with the Ducks before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes at the 2021 deadline.
As an unrestricted free agent in the 2021 offseason, Hakanpaa signed a three-year contract with the Stars, establishing himself as a reliable NHL defenseman over three full seasons in Dallas. He played at least 80 games in two of those seasons.
In his NHL career spanning 288 games with the Ducks, Hurricanes, and Stars, Hakanpaa has recorded 15 goals and 45 points. He also has one goal and four points in 33 career playoff games.
Hakanpaa is the latest addition to a revamped Maple Leafs defensive unit that includes Chris Tanev, who agreed to a six-year deal with Toronto on Monday, and veteran defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who signed a four-year contract with the team shortly after the UFA period opened.
