Jani Hakanpää (born 31 March 1992) is a Finnish professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

for the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). Hakanpää was selected by the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

in the fourth round (104th overall) of the

2010 NHL Entry Draft The 2010 NHL Entry Draft was the 48th NHL Entry Draft, held on June 25–26, 2010 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, home arena of the Los Angeles Kings. This was the first time Los Angeles hosted the NHL Entry Draft. An unofficial re ...

Playing career

Hakanpää played in his native Finland for the

Espoo Blues The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They played in Espoo, Finland, at the Espoo Metro Areena. The club went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season. History The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo ...

of the

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

during the 2011–12 and

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

seasons. On 22 May 2012, Hakanpää was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract with draft club, the

, who had drafted him 104th overall in the

. After attending the Blues training camp, Hakanpää was returned to the Espoo Blues on loan to begin the 2012–13 season. He contributed with 5 points through 34 games on the blueline in Finland before returning to North America to play out the

2012–13 AHL season The 2012–13 AHL season was the 77th season of the American Hockey League. The regular season began on October 12, 2012 and ended on April 21, 2013. The 2013 Calder Cup playoffs followed the conclusion of the regular season. The Calder Cup was ...

with the St. Louis Blues' AHL affiliate, the

Peoria Rivermen Peoria Rivermen is the name of four minor league hockey clubs: *Peoria Rivermen (IHL), named as such 1984–1996, formerly the Peoria Prancers 1982–1984 *Peoria Rivermen (ECHL), 1996–2005 *Peoria Rivermen (AHL), 2005–2013 *Peoria Rivermen (SP ...

. He registered one goal and three assists in fourteen games. At the completion of his entry-level deal with the Blues, Hakanpää opted to return to Finland signing a two-year contract with the Liiga club

Oulun Kärpät Oulun Kärpät (Finnish for "Oulu Ermines", sometimes referred to as Kärpät Oulu) is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Oulu and playing in the top-tier Finnish Liiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish championship title eight times ...

on 2 July 2015. In the 2017–18 season, Hakanpää helped Oulun Kärpät claim the

Kanada-malja The Kanada-malja is an ice hockey club championship trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the Finnish Liiga playoffs. Kanada-malja is Finnish for "Canada Bowl"; the trophy is so named because it was donated by Canada's Finnish community in 195 ...

as Finnish champions, enjoying a career season where he posted 6 goals and 24 points in 58 games. He continued to show a developing two-way game with 7 points in 16 playoff appearances. Hakanpää led Liiga defensemen in Plus/minus in back-to-back seasons and tied for second among league defensemen with a career best 11 goals while compiling 23 points in 52 games for league leading Kärpät in the

2018–19 Liiga season The 2018–19 Liiga season was the 44th season of the Liiga (formerly SM-liiga), the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. Teams Regular season Top six advanced straight to the quarter-finals, while teams be ...

. He featured in 17 playoff contests, registering 4 points as Oulun Kärpät failed to defend the Championship in the finals against

HPK Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK) is a professional ice hockey team in the Liiga, the top men's ice hockey league in Finland. Their home ice is the Ritari-areena in Hämeenlinna. HPK was established in 1929. The parent club of the team is HPK Edu ...

. On 3 July 2019, Hakanpää returned to North America, signing as a free agent to a one-year, $850,000 contract with the

Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division, and play their home games at Honda Center. ...

. In his first full season in the NHL, during the pandemic-delayed 2020–21 season, Hakanpää recorded one assist in 42 regular season games, while leading the Ducks and placing third in the league in hits. On 12 April 2021, Hakanpää, and a sixth-round pick in the

2022 NHL Entry Draft The 2022 NHL Entry Draft was the 60th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on July 7–8, 2022, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Montreal were originally scheduled to host the 2020 draft but were unable to do so due to the COVID-19 pandem ...

, was traded to the

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, ...

in exchange for

Haydn Fleury Haydn Fleury (born July 8, 1996) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL). Fleury was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round (seventh overall) of the 2014 NHL ...

. On 29 July 2021, Hakanpää signed a three-year, $4.5 million contract with the

. In the 2021–22 season, Hakanpää had his first multi-point game, and recorded four goals and eight assists for a 12-point season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards & honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hakanpaa, Jani 1992 births Living people Anaheim Ducks players Carolina Hurricanes players Chicago Wolves players Dallas Stars players Espoo Blues players Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Finnish ice hockey defencemen Oulun Kärpät players Peoria Rivermen (AHL) players Quad City Mallards (ECHL) players St. Louis Blues draft picks San Diego Gulls (AHL) players 21st-century Finnish people