Leafs Share Important News Regarding Injured Defensemen Jake McCabe and Jani Hakanpaa

The Maple Leafs have been without their regular compliment of defensemen for most of the season, but they received some good news this morning with the appearances of Jani Hakanpaa and Jake McCabe at practice.

Hakanpaa's acquisition has been relatively disappointing to date as the Finnish defenseman has only suited up for two games this year and has been sidelined since the middle of November after a very brief stint.

As for McCabe, he was excelling on the top pair with Chris Tanev for the majority of the season before being forced out of their contest against the Philadelphia Flyers earlier this month with an upper-body injury he suffered after a scrap with Garnet Hathaway. He was placed on the IR shortly thereafter with the Maple Leafs calling up Marshall Rifai from the minors to take up his roster spot.

McCabe is assuredly closer to a return than Hakanpaa, with the latter's status still up in the air. However there was a little bit of concern when McCabe exited practice earlier today but according to Nick Barden of The Hockey News it was expected considering this was his first time on the ice since the injury.

Head coach Craig Berube's comments about McCabe's practice status give us a better understanding of the situation and according to Berube, he is progressing very well:

McCabe's return to the lineup will assuredly be a boon for the Maple Leafs with the veteran tallying 11 points across 36 games, a plus-10 rating, and 20:52 ATOI which is good for 4th on the club and 3rd amongst his defensive peers.

Berube didn't provide a timeline for his return but if he continues to progress in his recovery and doesn't suffer any setbacks, we should see him return to the lineup in short order.