The Colorado Avalanche saw their horrid goaltending performance in Game 1 of the season against Vegas and decided to make a move by claiming goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets.
Kahkonen, 28, signed with the Jets in the offseason after splitting time between the San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils last season. His time with the Sharks was underwhelming behind a terrible team as he posted a 6-20-3 record with a .895 save percentage and 3.81 (!!) goals-against-average before landing with the Devils at the trade deadline.
From there, his play improved as he put up a .925 save percentage and 2.51 GAA, but still finished with a 1-4 record.
While Kahkonen isn’t likely to push Alexandar Georgiev for the starting goaltender spot in Denver, it does look like the Avs brought in more competition for Justus Annunen. Kahkonen has shown well as a backup in the league, most notably with the Minnesota Wild.
It should be noted, as well, that Colorado has previously had a strong interest in Kahkonen, going so far as to be involved in trading for his services at the deadline last season before the Devils ultimately won out.
The addition does muddy the waters a bit and is reminiscent of last year’s claim of Ivan Prosvetov, who played 11 games with the Avs before being sent to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) and being replaced by Annunen, who played well in his 14 appearances for the Avs last season (a .928 sv% and eight wins in just 12 starts).
Both Georgiev and Annunen had disastrous performances on Wednesday night as they combined to give up seven goals on just 20 shots on goals, immediately raising questions as to whether or not the Avs had the goalies necessary to make a serious Stanley Cup run.
The addition of Kahkonen will not answer that question right away, but it does show the Avalanche front office is keeping a close eye on this problematic position and willing to start making changes as they see fit.
From a contract standpoint, Kahkonen is only making $1 million on a one-year deal, so there is no long-term commitment here and the Avs won’t have to make any major changes to accommodate his addition.