Craig Berube Finally Speaks Out on Jani Hakanpaa's Injury and Playoff Availability

Although it has been a very successful season for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2024-25, they have had some pretty rough breaks when it comes to injuries. Currently dealing with three injured, plus hundreds of games lost through the year; it's amazing how resilient they've been through it all.

One player who has really felt the injury bug is Jani Hakanpaa.

The towering defenseman was signed to bring a lot of intimidation and shutdown defense to the revamped Leafs back end, but has only played in two games before being sidelined again.

It's a bit frustrating to see as fans, as a healthy Hakanpaa is a game changer. He's been on the ice recently, which is a huge step forward toward a potential return not only to Toronto, but to hockey in general. But will he be a factor going forward?

Speaking ahead of Toronto's game against Montreal, the Maple Leafs bench boss gave some new information regarding the status of Jani Hakanpaa, and whether or not he'll see playoff time:

Trending good is about as positive as we're gonna get, and there's no definitive timeline for him to return whatsoever. Seeing him skate and be able to slowly work his way back is a very big relief, but there's a huge difference between practice and a playoff game.

If he can get healthy, then Toronto has a huge insurance policy if Jake McCabe goes down again, and would be an improvement over Philippe Myers at least defensively. We don't need him to skate forever, just park the bus in front of the net and patrol a solid ten foot area.

But we won't have any idea how he can help the team until he plays, and even that is a big if; and it makers Toronto's lack of defensive depth even more apparent, even with the additions the team made this past offseason.

Jani Hakanpaa may not be ready to come back just yet, but if things keep trending how they are, and there's a whole lotta luck involved?

Craig Berube may have a huge advantage going into a deep playoff run.