The Winnipeg Jets have signed goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen to a one-year contract worth $1 million total. Kaapo Kahkonen will likely serve as the backup goaltender to Connor Hellebuyck and create some more cushion on the teams’ depth charts.
The 27-year-old was drafted 109th overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild. Kahkonen spent two seasons in the AHL with the Iowa Wild before getting called up to the Minnesota Wild and he never looked back.
In the 2021-22 season, Minnesota traded him and a fifth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft to the San Joe Sharks for Jacob Middleton. San Jose would later trade him close to the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline to New Jersey for Vitek Vanacek and a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.
The Winnipeg Jets now have a nice group on the depth charts with reigning Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck leading the charge. Newly signed Kahkonen and returning Eric Comrie follow suit. Thomas Milic and Dominic DiVincentiis fall fourth and fifth respectively on the Jets goalie depth charts.
Now, it has to be said, that if the Jets or the Moose choose to not run three goalies, the Jets’ ECHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, will have a good goalie coming their way. It is to be speculated however that DiVincentiis will get a start in the ECHL similar to how Milic started in 2023-24.
By signing Kahkonen, the Jets will get an experienced NHL backup for cheap who can play above a .900 save percentage while there’s a good defence in front of him.
This is the second Winnipeg Jets unrestricted free agent signing of the 2024 NHL Off-Season. The Jets must look for another right-handed defenseman and a centre to temporarily plug the gap at the second-line centre position.
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