Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Jani Hakanpaa made his debut with the Blue and White on Wednesday against the Washington Capitals, which was the culmination of many months of hard work during his recovery.
Hakanpaa last played an NHL game on March 16th, when he was a member of the Dallas Stars before a ‘bone-on-bone’ knee injury that threatened to prematurely end his hockey career. Toronto saw something in the towering blueliner and were ultimately able to get him signed in September, before he spent the next two months working his way back into the fold.
Hapanpaa spoke with reporters on Saturday before the morning skate and was elated when describing how it felt to be able to play against the Capitals on Wednesday.
“It was unreal. It was such a great feeling,” Hakanpaa said. “It’s been a long time coming. A lot of hard work, a lot of hours put into that to be there. So it was special.”
The work is not over yet because he will need to keep monitoring his knee throughout the season, which he admitted when speaking with reporters amid his LTIR conditioning stint with the Toronto Marlies.
His recovery was a gradual process where he worked his way up to more rampant reps to slowly get his knee to a place where he could trust that it would respond well to a hockey game. When asked how his knee felt after the contest against the Capitals, Hapanpaa said that it was responding better than even he thought it would.
“I always felt it’s coming. You just gotta keep working, trust the process,” Hakanpaa said. “With any injury, when you’re coming back there’s days when you’re just like ‘I just wish I was there already.’ But it’s just part of the process. It makes you stronger and tougher throughout it. I think with any injury, once you come out of it, you’re better at coming back.”
With recovery now behind him, Hakanpaa can shift his focus to continuing to build his way up to game speed and settle into his role on the Leafs. He got 15:36 of ice time on Wednesday where recorded two shots and was a -1, but the fact he even got into a game was a major success in and of itself.
Head coach Craig Berube expressed his support for Hakanpaa in the hard work he put in to get his knee back to full strength and into the NHL after many months on the sidelines.
“It’s been a tough road for sure with a lot of rehab and getting everything right,” he said. “He’s a good pro, he’s a good hard worker, and he knows what he needs to do to get back. It’s still a process here going on and he’ll keep working at it. He’s been in the league for a while, has been a good player in this league, and he’s trying to get back to that form.”
