Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
When free agency opened last July, Kaapo Kähkönen had a plan.
He secured a one-year contract with the Winnipeg Jets, and was ready to head to training camp to compete with Eric Comrie for the back-job job to Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck. One would stick with a Stanley Cup contender, and the other would join the Manitoba Moose.
But plans change. When Kähkönen was waived at the end of training camp for the purpose of being assigned to the Moose, the Colorado Avalanche came calling. A title contender in their own right, the Avalanche had just taken an 8-4 opening-night thumping from Vegas, with both Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen struggling. Kähkönen was claimed by Colorado on Oct. 11.
He stayed with the big club for two weeks without seeing any action, then was sent to the AHL Eagles on a conditioning assignment. Kähkönen made back-to-back starts in a weekend trip to Calgary before returning to the Avalanche, where he allowed four goals on 20 shots in a loss to Tampa Bay on Oct. 30. Another two weeks later, he was back on waivers.
Kähkönen was reclaimed by Winnipeg and assigned to Manitoba, where he would go 6-14-1 with a 3.29 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage in 22 appearances with a struggling team trying to find itself.
Finally, on Mar. 6, the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers shook up their depth chart, acquiring Kähkönen from the Jets for Chris Driedger. For Kähkönen, who played for San Jose and New Jersey in 2023-24, it was his fifth organization in 12 months.
“It’s been a long season, for sure,” Kähkönen acknowledged. “It’s been kind of a roller coaster, but you know what? That’s what it is sometimes, and you’ve just got to try to take advantage. It’s not ideal (moving around), but I’m really happy the way it has turned out.”
The way it’s turned out is that Kähkönen is the number-one goaltender on a team vying for the Calder Cup. He has brought stability and success to the Charlotte Checkers and quickly earned the trust of head coach Geordie Kinnear, who started him heavily down the stretch in the regular season and in every game so far during the playoffs.
Kähkönen got the Checkers’ postseason off to a hot start with two road wins against Providence, including a 32-save shutout in Game 2. After dispatching the Bruins in five games, Charlotte took care of the back-to-back Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears in a sweep of the Atlantic Division Finals.
Both parties have made strong early impressions on each other. For Kinnear and the Florida organization, it’s Kähkönen’s commitment to elite-level fitness. He has always been capable of taking on a heavy schedule. As a 21-year-old in 2017-18, he played 56 of 60 regular-season games for Finland’s Lukko Rauma, his final Liiga season before he came to North America. And with the Charlotte blue line a bit banged up this postseason, Kähkönen’s presence has softened that challenge.
“He’s a very fit person, so he can handle the minutes,” Kinnear outlined. “He’s got an extreme amount of composure. He brings that composure to those guys to settle things down when it gets a little intense.”
From Kähkönen’s perspective, Florida’s organizational culture has stood out for him. With his all-business personality, he found his fit with the Checkers.
“It’s a great team, great coaching staff,” Kähkönen said. “I think overall there’s this culture of winning and intent in anything we do. There’s a reason for everything we do. It’s very professional. You know exactly where other guys are going to be. There’s this trust to each other, to the system, and then to the individuals as well to take over when the game gives you that opportunity.”
Now comes the next challenge. The Checkers are through to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they will face the regular-season champion Laval Rocket. Lest anyone underrate the Checkers, however, this is a team that held the talented P-Bruins to all of eight shots in the deciding Game 5 of their series. They next stifled the Bears, a thoroughly playoff-tested team, holding Hershey to just six goals in three games. Charlotte is allowing just 23 shots per game, the fewest in the AHL this postseason. And when opponents have broken through, they have run directly into Kähkönen and his .918 playoff save percentage.
Charlotte faces a considerable obstacle in the Rocket. But four wins from the Finals and eight wins from a Calder Cup championship – the closest a Panthers affiliate has ever gotten – the Checkers are rolling.
And so is Kähkönen, whose season has not gone according to plan yet has still brought him a chance to play into June and compete for a Calder Cup. Eligible to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, he also has set himself up well to field offers this summer. For now, though, it’s all about figuring out a way to take the Checkers past Laval.
“Our structure is good,” Kähkönen said. “It’s fun to watch. It’s fun to be part of. It’s a great feeling, but at the same time nobody here is really satisfied yet. We’re really looking forward to this next one and going all the way.
“It’s a great opportunity to do something special with a great group of guys.”
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
