Headlines

  • Calgary Flames Extend Mikael Backlund; Name Him Captain
  • Buffalo Sabres Showing Interest In Patrick Kane
  • Brad Marchand Named 27th Captain In Boston History
  • Ducks Remain Far Apart In Negotiations With Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale
  • Montreal Canadiens Acquire Tanner Pearson
  • Minnesota Wild Re-Sign Calen Addison
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Arizona Coyotes
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Dallas Stars Sign Jani Hakanpaa, Michael Raffl

July 29, 2021 at 10:26 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 4 Comments

The Dallas Stars are bringing in some size on defense, signing Jani Hakanpaa to a three-year contract. The deal will carry an average annual value of $1.5MM. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff tweets that there was something of a bidding war for Hakanpaa, but he chose Dallas to play with the strong core of Finnish players already in place. GM Jim Nill released a short statement on his newest defenseman:

Jani is a big, physical defenseman that sees the ice well and skates at a high level for a man of his size. He is a reliable penalty killer and will help balance out our backend.

If you missed Hakanpaa’s rookie season and didn’t even realize he was on the market, you probably wouldn’t be alone. That’s never-noticed attribute is the calling card of the 29-year-old defenseman, who quietly had a pretty successful season. He played 42 games with the Anaheim Ducks, registering just a single point but racking up 168 hits, before being acquired by the Carolina Hurricanes at the deadline. While his offensive production exploded in Carolina—three points in 15 games!—he won’t be asked to do any of that in Dallas.

Instead, Hakanpaa offers a huge, intimidating frame that punishes forecheckers and net-front players. He can skate well enough to keep up with today’s game even at a hulking 6’5″, and will replace some of the size that Dallas lost when Jamie Oleksiak left in the expansion process.

That won’t be the only physical presence the Stars will add today though, as they have also signed Michael Raffl to a one-year deal. Raffl’s new contract will carry an NHL salary of $1.1MM. Nill released a short statement:

Michael is a solid two-way forward with good hockey sense, allowing him to play in a variety of situations. He has a strong, physical presence on the ice and will add veteran savvy and depth to our lineup.

Not only did the Stars lose Oleksiak on the back end, but with Andrew Cogliano signing in San Jose, they also lost a big part of their bottom-six. Raffl will help fill that gap as a two-way winger who can chip in offensively when needed. He spent the first eight years of his career with the Philadelphia Flyers before a trade took him to the Washington Capitals for last year’s playoff push. In 44 total games, he scored 11 points.

Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News broke the news on Twitter

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

Dallas Stars

Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Michael Chaput
Main
Buffalo Sabres Expected To Sign John Hayden
View Comments (4)

Comments

  1. MacJablonski--NotVegasLegend

    2 years ago

    Shrewd move by Jim Nill, now to move out more $ to get down to the cap…

    2
    Reply
  2. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    2 years ago

    “If you missed Hakanpaa’s rookie season and didn’t even realize he was on the market, you probably”…

    …don’t play in a fantasy league with hits.

    1
    Reply
    • Get pucked

      2 years ago

      Jani is king. Bow down to a true Viking

      1
      Reply
  3. Modified_6

    2 years ago

    I absolutely love this pick up. I still don’t understand Dickinson for a 3rd, but this one I love.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Calgary Flames Extend Mikael Backlund; Name Him Captain

    Buffalo Sabres Showing Interest In Patrick Kane

    Brad Marchand Named 27th Captain In Boston History

    Ducks Remain Far Apart In Negotiations With Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale

    Montreal Canadiens Acquire Tanner Pearson

    Minnesota Wild Re-Sign Calen Addison

    Brayden Schenn Named St. Louis Blues Captain

    Mike Babcock Resigns As Columbus Blue Jackets Head Coach

    Noah Hanifin Reverses Course, Open To Extension In Calgary

    Carey Price Confirms He Won’t Return To Play

    Recent

    West Notes: Mukhamadullin, Jets Injury Updates, Blackhawks Camp Battle

    Training Camp Cuts: 09/28/23

    Andrei Vasilevskiy Out Two Months After Back Surgery

    Waivers: 09/28/23

    Injury Notes: Norris, Perfetti, Matheson

    Devils Offered Tomáš Tatar A One Year Contract

    Vancouver Canucks Expected To Waive Spencer Martin

    Chris Snow Will Not Wake Up After Brain Injury

    Pro Hockey Rumors Commenting Policy

    East Notes: Palmieri, Laine, Matheson

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Coyotes Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version