It was a positive surprise when Jani Hakanpaa was named to Finland’s 4 Nations Face-Off team on December 4. Hakanpaa has battled through several injuries, including a recurring knee issue which threatened to hold him out of the 2024-25 campaign entirely. The towering defenceman played in just two games for the Toronto Maple Leafs, before being placed on injured reserve again.

“It’s probably something we’ve got to keep managing throughout the year,” Hakanpaa said of his knee on November 5. “We found a good routine in how to deal with it. We learned a lot even the time, but obviously through the whole rehab process, even just being here, we’ve been loading it more and more each week, each day. It’s something we’re just gonna keep managing, doing the right things, and stay on top of it.”

So what informed Hakanpaa’s selection to the Finland roster? It very well may have been his previous defence partnership with Esa Lindell, during their shared tenure with the Dallas Stars.

Hakanpaa was primarily paired with Lindell for each of the past three seasons, and there’s a massive sample to draw from. Continuity will matter in a short tournament, and this type of familiarity should lend some further stability to a Finland team that can threaten to win it all.

Through the 2021-22 to 2023-24 seasons, Hakanpaa-Lindell were the 17th-most used combination in the NHL at 5-on-5, registering 1857:23 minutes together over 221 games — the equivalent of three full seasons with a 73-game average. During this span, Hakanpaa-Lindell registered a plus-three goal differential, while controlling just under 49 percent of the expected goals. Hakanpaa-Lindell could effectively form a NHL-calibre third pair during the tournament, with the continuity and familiarity with each other to suppress some opponent checking lines.

It’s also worth examining the year-over-year splits at 5-on-5 via Natural Stat Trick.

What we’ve learned is that the Hakanpaa-Lindell pairing improved as time went on, after a rocky first impression during the 2021-22 season. It’s clear that both players benefited from building chemistry with each other, and it’s a proven unit that can register third-pairing minutes against NHL competition. The calibre of opponent will obviously be much better in a best-on-best international competition and it’s something Finland’s staff will have to account for, but they ultimately chose stability and continuity.

Hakanpaa effectively beat Buffalo’s Henri Jokiharju for a spot on the team. Jokiharju has produced decent underlying numbers throughout the season while being primarily paired with ascending talent Owen Power, but he’s prone to being overpowered by teams with elite speed and physicality. It’s more than possible Jokiharju ends up as an injury replacement, as Hakanpaa’s injury status casts a shadow over his season overall, but Finland elected to go with a large sample size of third-pair quality NHL defence, over the unknown.