Jani Hakanpaa can’t wait to make his Maple Leafs debut.
Several stalls down from Hakanpaa in the Leafs dressing room at the following practice at the Ford Performance Centre on Wednesday, Timothy Liljegren’s waiting game continued.
Hakanpaa is getting close to returning from a knee injury — he can be activated off long-term injured reserve in time for the Leafs’ game in St. Louis on Saturday — and the 32-year-old Finn can see the light.
“You always have the itch you want to play, but when you’re watching from the stands for a lot of the games, it keeps growing and growing,” Hakanpaa said. “(The itch) is close to maxing out, I would say, which is a good thing. That’s the way you want it to be.”
Hakanpaa’s first game with the Leafs will be his first since March 16, when he was hurt while patrolling the blue line for the Dallas Stars. As long as there are no further injuries to Leafs defencemen, the probable scratch would be Conor Timmins.
The top four is set, with Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson forming one pair and Jake McCabe with Chris Tanev another, and that look will continue when the Seattle Kraken visit the Leafs on Thursday.
Simon Benoit has provided the kind of play one would expect out of a third-pairing defenceman — relatively steady and nothing too flashy while providing a physical element.
Waiving defenceman Philippe Myers and his $775,000 US contract likely would be the way to go, as the Leafs will have to create some salary-cap space for Hakanpaa and his $1.47-million hit.
It’s not just Hakanpaa who appears to be on the verge of being cleared to play. Forward Connor Dewar (shoulder) also is eligible to be activated from LTIR before Saturday and has not looked out of place in practice.
No matter what, Liljegren, whose only game was on Oct. 16 against Los Angeles, would be looking at sliding further down the depth chart once the right-shooting Hakanpaa is activated.
Trading Liljegren and his $3-million cap hit, which carries thorough next season, might have happened by now if Leafs general manager Brad Treliving found a deal to his liking.
Liljegren said he hasn’t given much thought to his hockey future once Hakanpaa is cleared to play. Or, if he has, he is not consumed by it.
“No, I’m just taking it day by day,” Liljegren said. “Coming in and trying to be positive. Work hard, whatever happens, will happen. My focus is here and to get back in the lineup.
“It would be more fun playing obviously, but that’s not the situation. I try to be ready if and when the opportunity comes. It’s a battle mentally to stay positive.”
Hakanpaa doesn’t anticipate a big learning curve once he is uniform. A veteran of 288 National Hockey League games with Dallas, Carolina and Anaheim, the 6-foot-7 Finn was signed by the Leafs in free agency for several reasons, including his effectiveness on the penalty kill.
“I’m in all the meetings, I’m on the ice,” Hakanpaa said. “If there’s something that’s unclear to me, I’ll ask and talk to the coaches.
“We’ve been making sure that I’m on top of things. There’s a lot of lot of similarities with stuff that we’ve done in the past (with other teams).
“There’s going to be an adjustment, but I think I’m in a pretty good place that way.”
Liljegren, on the other hand, has been trying to get as many game-like reps in practice as possible. Considering the Leafs’ busy game schedule has left little time for practising recently, that hasn’t been straightforward.
As it is, Liljegren, the Leafs’ first-round pick in 2017, doesn’t think he has maxed out yet. If you’re an NHL team that has been pondering the idea of acquiring Liljegren in a trade, perhaps keep it in mind.
“I haven’t reached my potential yet,” the 25-year-old Liljegren said. “My confidence is good.
“I think I’m not at the top of my game, so I’m trying to work on a lot of different stuff, but right now, it’s just stay fresh, stay ready.”
Hakanpaa has done just about all he can to be ready as well. For him, the potential outcome is a lot more positive than whatever awaits Liljegren.
“It’s getting really close here, real close,” Hakanpaa said with a smile. “The excitement’s been building for a long time now. I hope they’re releasing me (from LTIR) sooner than later so it doesn’t go overboard.”
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