Kaapo Kahkonen
Colorado Avalanche Goaltender
Seven wins and twenty-four losses in San Jose, signed to back up a goaltender who posted an .8966.
| Season | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | GA | GAA | SO | SA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | MIN | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 2.96 | 0 | 172 | .913 |
| 2020-21 | MIN | 24 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 68 | 2.88 | 2 | 692 | .902 |
| 2021-22 | MIN/SJS | 36 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 93 | 2.87 | 0 | 1056 | .912 |
| 2022-23 | SJS | 37 | 9 | 20 | 7 | 135 | 3.85 | 1 | 1149 | .882 |
| 2023-24 | SJS/NJD | 37 | 7 | 24 | 3 | 116 | 3.64 | 1 | 1139 | .898 |
| 2024-25 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 139 | 49 | 67 | 15 | 427 | 3.33 | 4 | 4208 | .898 |
This Season So Far
The 2024-25 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
Thirty-seven games in San Jose, 7-24-3, an .8982 save percentage, a 3.64 average and 1 shutout on 1,139 shots.
San Jose finished last in the league and a 3.64 average behind that club is not a verdict. An .8982 is: it is almost exactly his career rate of .8985 across 139 games, and it is not a number that fixes a crease ranked 24th in the league.
The Physical Game
He is 6-2 and 217 and heavy for a goaltender, and he plays a square, positional game that depends on being in the right place rather than on getting there quickly. Against clean shots he is reliable.
The rebound control is the weakness and it always has been. Behind a club that gives up second chances he has never had a season that held up, and 139 games at .8985 is a long enough sample to stop calling it circumstance.
The Mental Game
Twenty-four losses in thirty-seven games. He is 28 and has now spent three seasons on clubs that could not protect him, and the numbers have not moved in either direction across them.
There is nothing in the record to suggest the season broke him and nothing to suggest it taught him anything either.
The Intangibles
A fourth-round pick, 109th overall in 2014, out of Helsinki, with 139 games and 49 wins across five seasons and three clubs.
He is 28 and joining his fourth organisation as the second or third goaltender. On a club that scores 304 goals he will win some games he has no business winning.