The NHL season from October to April might seem like a long time for a team like San Jose. The team, already predicted to be at the bottom of the series, started the season with no less than eleven consecutive losses. At the end of the year, the team cheered up, but at the turn of the year, the team plunged again.
In the second week of January, the losing streak already increased to twelve matches.
Two Finns play in the team: Mikael Granlund and Kaapo Kähkönen.
– When there are many games in a row, the season feels really long. Going to the hall and being there is by no means nice then. When the losses start to multiply, it depresses everyone, Kähkönen tells Urheilu.
The team broke their losing streak on Thursday in Montreal, but it snowed a couple more days later in Ottawa. The home team scored the winning goal as a result of poor defending just five seconds before the final buzzer.
– I wasn’t in the game, but I know how it feels when the winning goal is scored from in front of the goal a couple of seconds before the end. I don’t immediately remember in my career that I would have been in such a storm in any season. Last year wasn’t easy either, but this year is even tougher.
Kähkönen emphasizes the importance of emotional control in the midst of turbulence.
– If winning is the only thing that makes you happy, it’s going to be pretty dreary. In a certain way, you have to know how to exclude the result and look for feelings of success and good feeling elsewhere. You play well yourself, you play well underpowered or something else. It’s not like I’ve lost my nerves, I try to keep my emotions even.
Finns as bright spots
There are not many good stories in San Jose’s season, but both Finns in the group must be counted as such. Mikael Granlund has been the absolute bright spot of the team’s field players and overall the most important player. Granlund has scored comfortably and has often played well in important moments.
Kähkönen must also be counted among the few successful people.
Although the team in front often defends weakly and the veskar’s statistics are weaker, the whole is positive. Kähkönen’s playing has looked balanced and in many matches he has been able to keep his team in the game.
According to NHL insiders, this has also been noted in other clubs. Insider reporter for Sportsnet Elliotte Friedmann reports in his podcast published on New Year’s Day about the playing of a Finn who was impressed by other clubs.
– Kähkönen is playing a good season. Clubs think he’s good.
The traditional statistics do not flatter Kähkö, but in the advanced statistics, especially in the category of goals conceded more than expected, the Helsinki keeper has a good reading. According to Moneypuck, Kähkönen has blocked 2.6 goals more than expected.
A year ago, the reading in the same category was minus 24.6 hits.
– Whenever it’s difficult, you can stay with it and get depressed or look at why it’s difficult and do things better. You have to find solutions and you have to understand that changes won’t come in an instant. I have improved some features, for example, related to mobility and physics. Through hard work, I have turned things around, Kähkönen says.
– Now my playing has felt good. It’s not worth worrying about the numbers at the moment, even if it’s always nice to get a few wins in between. You have to keep your chin up, even if you’re in a tizzy.
With experience for the transfer border
Kähkönen is a hot name in the transfer market, where there are several clubs looking for goalkeepers. At least Carolina, New Jersey and Edmonton are clubs that are believed to be looking for reinforcements in their goaltending department. Kähkönen is a strong candidate also because his contract worth 2.75 million dollars is expiring in the summer.
– A few teams have thought about him. Of course, it’s always about what price to get him. The only concern they have is that Kähkönen has not previously carried the team in the playoffs, Friedmann continued.
According to Friedmann, goalkeeper prices are high now.
– The prices of even average goalkeepers are skyrocketing. Now, when Kähkönen plays a good season, it also applies to him.
The player himself has a calm attitude towards the March 8 transfer deadline. Kähkönen, who was traded to San Jose from Minnesota a couple of years ago, has been through the player trade manacle once and therefore knows how to deal with it now.
– When you’ve been through it, you understand realism. This is a business where we are moved and often those who have broken contracts. I know that a player trade is possible, but I can’t begin to think about which club it would be transferred to. Someone else makes those decisions. I just strive to play well, Kähkönen concludes.