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The murky story of defenseman Jani Hakanpaa and the Toronto Maple Leafs has not received any clarity after almost three weeks, but a little nugget from our friends at Puckpedia has provided some illumination. The Leafs reportedly signed the 32-year-old Finn on July 1, along with veterans Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but even though it was widely acknowledged from insiders, there was never any confirmation from the Leafs that they had
agreed to the two-year, $3 million deal ($1.5 million AAV).
Hakanpaa missed the last month of the last season and all of the playoffs with a knee injury, and Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun reported soon after the signing that the injury may be bone-on-bone and that it would be surprising if the defenseman would play again. The Leafs indicated to Simmons that Hakanpaa had been medically cleared before being signed.
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.https://t.co/NXXZXAu8VL
On Friday, Puckpedia reported that the Hakanpaa deal still has not been registered with the NHL. The 6’7” blueliner who played the last three seasons in Dallas as a bottom-pairing defenseman and penalty-killer would be very useful as a defensive specialist if he is fully recovered from the injury, but if the knee issue has proved to be chronic, then that could be the reason why there has been no clarification
Until the signing is officially announced, it has to be considered a possibility that the deal agreed to has been voided for medical reasons. If the knee issue is still present and the Leafs go through with the deal, Hakanpaa could end up on LTIR until he is healthy enough to play, but Toronto is already over the $88 million salary cap and could use the $1.5 million to replace him or sign a forward.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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