Toronto Maple Leafs superstar center Auston Matthews took the ice for the club's optional morning skate on Saturday. But when will he return to game action? Jani Hakanpaa has been activated off of long-term injured reserve ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs' game against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday. The defenseman has been on LTIR since the beginning of the season after recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. Hakanpaa has been with the AHL's Toronto Marlies on a conditioning loan and has played two games, paired up with Marshall Rifai on the team's top pairing. The 32-year-old's activation from LTIR suggests he's been medically cleared to play. Toronto plays the second half of a back-to-back in Washington on Wednesday night and Hakanpaa may be in the lineup. The Finnish-born defenseman practiced with the Maple Leafs on Monday as the extra defenseman. He hasn't played an NHL game since Mar. 16 with the Dallas Stars. "We're really close now. Hopefully soon here we get it going," Hakanpaa said after practice on Monday. The defenseman signed a one-year, $1.47 million contract with the Maple Leafs on Sept. 11, two months after reportedly agreeing to a longer-term deal [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/reports-maple-leafs-sign-defenseman-jani-hakanpaa-to-two-year-3-million-contract] with the club. Toronto's defense has been fairly strong to start the season. Conor Timmins, who's struggled to find a role with the Maple Leafs in the past, seems to have finally grabbed a full-time spot with the squad this season. It'll likely be one of Timmins or Simon Benoit coming out of Toronto's lineup — if Hakanpaa plays on Wednesday — given they're both on the team's bottom pair. "He's a big guy back there, kills a lot of plays, very good on the penalty kill over the years," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said of Hakanpaa on Monday. "Just the size of him, it makes it hard for people to get to our net and he plays a pretty hard, physical game too." Hakanpaa admitted following practice on Monday that eventually, when he does get back into the lineup, even he doesn't know what his playing time will look like. "I guess we're just going to wait and see to be honest," Hakanpaa admitted. "I think nobody really knows how it's going to be, so yeah, we'll see how it goes and then, again, I think it's just a day-to-day process here."
