Jani Hakanpää’s free agency journey ended with a new contract from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Initially, there were talks of a two-year deal, but concerns over his knee injury delayed things. The team finally settled on a one-year contract worth $1.47M.
During the offseason, Darren Dreger mentioned that both sides had agreed on a two-year deal. Elliotte Friedman noted it would have a $1.5M cap hit each year. However, Toronto didn’t register this contract due to worries about Hakanpää’s knee injury after surgery in March.
After much thought about his health, the Maple Leafs chose a safer one-year deal instead of risking more years. This decision puts pressure on their tight salary cap, which was around $400K before signing him; now they are in negative territory. Despite this risk, fans might think it’s worth it because Hakanpää’s performance with the Dallas Stars was solid—12 goals and 40 points over 226 games—but more importantly, he delivered 668 hits and blocked 363 shots.
Impact on Team Defense:
Hakanpää isn’t expected to play many minutes at 5-on-5 but will be crucial for penalty kills. He moves from an eighth-ranked penalty kill team to one ranked 23rd last season. His presence should help lower Toronto’s goals against average (GA/G) from last season’s rank of 21st at 3.18 GA/G.
Fans might feel hopeful that if Hakanpää stays healthy, he can make Toronto’s defense tougher alongside Chris Tanev, who joined earlier in the summer.
What do you think about this move?
