Ex-Leafs Defenceman and Jani Hakanpaa Reveals Plans for Future After Injury-Plagued Season

What began as a 2-year contract on July 1st of 2024 for Jani Hakanpaa never became official as rumours swirled around a career-threatening knee injury.

Ultimately, the Leafs and Hakanpaa agreed on a one-year deal days before training camp after Leafs GM Brad Treliving and team doctors saw enough progress in Hakanpaa's recovery to take the gamble.

Unfortunately for both sides, Hakanpaa was unable to make his Leafs debut until mid-November where he played in two games before landing on LTIR for the remainder of the season.

Despite a season battling injury, Hakanpaa recently revealed in an interview in Finland that he was cleared by doctors in April of this past season.

The 33-year-old also revealed that he plans to continue to play in NHL with a handful of teams having expressed interest in signing him for the upcoming season.

As unfortunate as it was that he was unable to play much of a role for the Leafs last season, it is great to see that Hakanpaa has been cleared to return to action and hopefully he finds a suitable landing spot that will allow him to resume his NHL career.