{"id":461965,"date":"2025-02-01T13:48:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T18:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=461965"},"modified":"2025-02-01T13:48:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T18:48:24","slug":"toronto-maple-leafs-defenceman-ruled-out-for-4-nations-face-off-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/01\/toronto-maple-leafs-defenceman-ruled-out-for-4-nations-face-off-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Maple Leafs Defenceman Ruled Out For 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/30\/what-will-the-toronto-maple-leafs-do-with-their-top-defenceman\/\" target=\"_self\">Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> defenceman <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hakanja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jani Hakanpaa<\/a> will not feature for Team Finland in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/06\/28\/maple-leafs-4-nations-faceoff\/\" target=\"_self\">4 Nations Face-Off<\/a> tournament. The team announced on Saturday that he will not participate due to injury.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Maple Leafs D <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hakanja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jani Hakanp\u00e4\u00e4<\/a> will not participate in the upcoming Four Nations Face-Off due to injury.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeafsPR\/status\/1885750018256347525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>No Hakanpaa in 4 Nations Tournament<\/h2>\n<p>The Finnish D-man has been battling a knee injury dating back to his time with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/30\/dallas-stars-defenceman-miro-heiskanen-injured\/\" target=\"_self\">Dallas Stars<\/a> last season. His last game in the 2023-24 campaign was on March 16 <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/gamecenter\/dal-vs-lak\/2024\/03\/16\/2023021068\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in a 4-1 win<\/a> against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/01\/nhl-predictions-february-1st-los-angeles-kings-vs-carolina-hurricanes\/\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Kings<\/a>. He didn&#8217;t feature for the rest of the regular season and missed all of the playoffs. In the offseason, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/01\/nhl-predictions-feb-1-toronto-maple-leafs-vs-edmonton-oilers\/\" target=\"_self\">Maple Leafs<\/a> general manager <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/13\/this-isnt-fantasy-hockey-toronto-maple-leafs-general-manager-provides-job-description-for-potential-newcomers\/\" target=\"_self\">Brad Treliving<\/a> acquired the blueliner in free agency. Originally, the team and player <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/07\/01\/finnish-defenceman-agrees-to-deal-with-leafs\/\" target=\"_self\">verbally agreed to a two-year contract at $1.5 million<\/a>. However, after learning more about the injury, the contract was cut to a one-year deal at the same AAV.<\/p>\n<p>It took some time before head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/berubcr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Craig Berube<\/a> and Hakanpaa were comfortable to set foot on the ice for the first time. The 32-year-old played two games for Toronto back in mid-November, after a two-game conditioning stint with the AHL&#8217;s Toronto Marlies. Hakanpaa played 15:36 in his first game against the Washington Capitals. He then followed up that performance with 12:34 of ice time against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/17\/edmonton-oilers-sign-veteran-defenceman\/\" target=\"_self\">Edmonton Oilers<\/a>. Since then, Hakanpaa hasn&#8217;t played a game.<\/p>\n<h3>Finland Running Out of Defencemen<\/h3>\n<p>Not only will <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/12\/04\/team-finlands-2025-4-nations-face-off-roster-announced\/\" target=\"_self\">Team Finland<\/a> have to compete without Hakanpaa, but earlier in the week they lost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/heiskmi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Miro Heiskanen<\/a>. The Stars&#8217; defenceman was injured in a collision with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/stonema01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mark Stone<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/08\/08\/nhl-sweaters-the-best-of-the-worst-and-vegas-golden-knights\/\" target=\"_self\">Vegas Golden Knights<\/a>, forcing him to be out week-to-week, and ultimately the tournament. Finland doesn&#8217;t have many defencemen who are <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.quanthockey.com\/nhl\/nationality\/active-finnish-nhl-defensemen-career-stats.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">active in the NHL<\/a>. Aside from the names selected for the tournament, they only have four others who have featured in the NHL this season. Those are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokihhe01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Henri Jokiharju<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/v\/vaakaur01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Urho Vaakanainen<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/heinovi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ville Heinola<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/matinni01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikolas Matinpalo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Jokiharu has the most experience of those blueliners, playing 383 career games in the NHL. This season with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/20\/nhl-rumours-buffalo-sabres-forward-hoping-to-re-sign\/\" target=\"_self\">Buffalo Sabres<\/a>, he&#8217;s scored one goal and recorded three assists in 36 games.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Jani Hakanpaa will not feature for Team Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. The team announced on Saturday that he will not participate due to injury. Maple Leafs D Jani Hakanp\u00e4\u00e4 will not participate in the upcoming Four Nations Face-Off due to injury. \u2014 Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) February 1, 2025 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5141,"featured_media":461972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,4547,6671,34,4548],"tags":[8062,1576,4943,5726,5868,5951],"class_list":["post-461965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leafs","category-hockey","category-injuries","category-news","category-nhl","tag-4-nations-face-off","tag-injury","tag-jani-hakanpaa","tag-team-finland","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-analysis","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-news"],"modified_by":"Andre Leal","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461965"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":461973,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461965\/revisions\/461973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}