Photo credit: NHL

Only mere weeks after signing the 300-game NHL defenseman, it appears the Toronto Maple Leafs may have officially lost their rights to Jani Hakanpaa.

Brad Treliving of the Toronto Maple Leafs seems to have developed a habit of acquiring injured defensemen from the Dallas Stars. He started this trend last year with John Klingberg, whose hip injury caused him to be laced on long-term injured reserve.

“The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed defenseman John Klingberg on long-term injured reserve as he deals with an ailing hip injury.

Klingberg had double hip replacement surgery in 2018 and it appears to be a lingering issue #LeafsForever”

This year, the Toronto Maple Leafs picked up two more defensemen from the Dallas Stars. The first was Chris Tanev, followed soon after by injured Jani Hakanpaa who agreed to a 2-year contract worth $3 million in total.

“The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed 6’7» defenseman Jani Hakanpaa to a 2-year, $1.5M AAV contract.”

However, history appears to be repeating itself here for Toronto. Almost three weeks after reaching a deal, PuckPedia has removed Hakanpaa from the Maple Leafs roster, as no registration has been made, likely due to not passing physical and medical clearances.

“The #LeafsForever reported contract for Hakanpaa ($1.5M * 2) has still not been registered.

As a result, we’ve removed him from our projected Leafs roster for now. You’ll still see the contract on his page, but he’s not assigned to our Leafs roster.”

Though this does not guarantee Jani Hakanpaa will never pass clearance, this turn of events certainly does not look good for Toronto. If the player cannot pass soon, hopefully, the Maple Leafs can act quickly to fill in the role he would have served. If not, this could prove to be another failing season for the team.