Sunrise, Fla. — The president of Florida Panthers Hockey Operations & General Manager Birchit announced today that the club has acquired goaltender Carponen from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for goaltender Chris Dryger.
Kahkonen, 28, appeared in Winnipeg affiliate Manitoba Moose and 22 American Hockey League (AHL) games this season, recording 6-14-1 records, .885 save percentage, average and one shutout, and two AHL games for the Colorado Eagles. He also played in one NHL game in the Colorado Avalanche.
The 6-foot-2, 217-pound native from Helsinki, Finland, appeared in 140 NHL games between Avalanche (2024-25), New Jersey Devils (2023-24), San Jose Shark (2021-22-2023-24), and the Minnesota Wild (2019-20-20220-2021-22), creating a record of 49-68-15, with the exception of 49-68-15. Against average and four shutouts.
Kahkonen owns a record of 48-36-12 with 14 shutouts in 97 career AHL games between Manitoba (2024-25), Colorado (2024-25) and Iowa Wild (2018-19 to 2019-20). He led the AHL with Shutouts both in 2018-19 (6) and 2019-20 (7), leading all AHL goaltenders in 2019-20, being named winner of the Buzz Bastien Memorial Award, with the league’s best goaltender posted a .927 save percentage and 2.07 goals.
On the international stage, Kahkonen won a gold medal in Finland at the 2016 IIHF U20 World Junior Championship, winning all four games in the tournament. He also won a bronze medal at the 2013 IIHF U18 World Junior Championship.
Kahkonen was originally selected by the Minnesota Wild in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL Draft (109th overall).
The Florida Panthers join in the action this season! 2024-25 Single Game Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased from SeatGeek.com or the Amerant Bank Arena Box Office (Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm). Fans interested in season ticket membership for the 2025-26 season are encouraged to join the waitlist by clicking here to visit floridapanthers.com/tickets or calling Puckline (954.835.puck).
