{"id":433702,"date":"2026-01-29T04:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T04:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/433702\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T04:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T04:10:14","slug":"canadiens-goaltender-seriously-considering-a-move-to-europe-according-to-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/433702\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens goaltender seriously considering a move to Europe, according to reports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/637952.webp.webp\" style=\"width:100%;\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Sep 27, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (34) goes to make a blocker save against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the second period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images\" title=\"Sep 27, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (34) goes to make a blocker save against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the second period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>According to information reported by Expressen, goaltender Kaapo K\u00e4hk\u00f6nen is seriously considering the possibility of continuing his career in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Since the start of the season, the Finnish veteran has been sharing duties with young prospect Jacob Fowler with the Laval Rocket.<\/p>\n<p>Having failed to get any playing time with the Canadiens despite a recall, the option of heading overseas is becoming increasingly likely.<\/p>\n<p>The Swiss leagues (National League) and Sweden (SHL) are being mentioned as potential destinations going forward.<\/p>\n<p>A fourth-round pick of the Wild in 2014, K\u00e4hk\u00f6nen was a regular in the NHL between 2020 and 2024.<\/p>\n<p>However, his trip through waivers earlier this season without being claimed confirmed how fragile his status in North America has become.<\/p>\n<p>He still holds a respectable record in the American Hockey League with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.<\/p>\n<p>Those numbers remain attractive for a European team looking for an experienced goaltender.<\/p>\n<p>A departure that would benefit Jacob Fowler\u2019s development<\/p>\n<p>This scenario strangely mirrors that of Connor Hughes, who left the Rocket for Lausanne HC in 2024\u20132025.<\/p>\n<p>Hughes also posted nearly identical statistics to K\u00e4hk\u00f6nen\u2019s before heading to Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p>For the Montreal organization, this potential departure would greatly simplify goaltending management at the farm team level.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, it would create a hole in net in Laval.<\/p>\n<p>The current rotation system limits the number of games for Jacob Fowler, who is considered the goaltender of the future.<\/p>\n<p>If K\u00e4hk\u00f6nen leaves for Europe, the American prospect would become the undisputed starter in Laval, though he would obviously still need a backup.<\/p>\n<p>This is a situation to monitor closely in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images According to information reported by Expressen, goaltender Kaapo K\u00e4hk\u00f6nen&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4686,5,3567,11156,1527,21,4,8105],"class_list":["post-433702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-connor-hughes","tag-hockey","tag-jacob-fowler","tag-kaapo-kahkonen","tag-laval-rocket","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nhl","tag-rumor"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115976432900533887","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}