Sheng Peng
Thank you, Kaapo Kähkönen!
The new San Jose Sharks goalie, recently acquired from the Minnesota Wild, was kind enough to take San Jose Hockey Now subscriber questions recently – so here are your questions and Kaapo’s answers.
He was also kind enough to teach us how to say his name properly!
I also asked him some of my burning questions too – it turns out Kaapo Kähkönen is as much of a foodie as I am!
Sheng Peng: If I’m in Finland, where’s one place I should eat? How about in Des Moines, where you played with the Iowa Wild? And in Minneapolis?
Kaapo Kähkönen: I live in Turku myself. I have two spots in Turku. One’s called Kaskis. And then the other one is called Kakolanruusu.
[Kaskis is] fine dining, really nice place, small place though.
And then the other one’s more portions that you can share with the table. Style is a little more rough. They cook on the fire a lot. Good appetizers. Nice environment.
It sits on the courtyard of a really old prison. It’s a cool spot and on top of a little hill.
[In Des Moines, I liked the] Southern restaurant, Bubba.
Fong’s Pizza is a good pizza spot they have out there. Pizzas are massive. They’re good. They’re a little different. They have little different flavors and combinations.
[In Minneapolis,] Spoon and Stable.
SP: What’s your favorite Finnish dish?
KK: It’s from like the eastern part of Finland. Karelian pie.
Karelia used to be part of Finland, part of Russia now.
It sounds weird. It’s dough and there’s like a kind of rice pudding wrapped inside of the dough. What you do is you boil eggs, you break those boiled eggs with like butter and stuff and then you put that on top. It’s really good.
SP: Let’s talk about the toughest thing about your trade here: Your sister Peppi had just started at Hamline University in St. Paul. She’s on the women’s ice hockey team, and they practice at the Wild’s practice facility. How tough was that?
KK: She would come to our place. We would spend Christmas together, Thanksgiving together, or whatever. That’s kind of sad. It’s such a small chance that wherever I am playing at the moment, she would go to school there and play hockey there as well.
It’s kind of sad, but it is what it is. At least we got to experience that. It was really a great time for both of us. I’m happy that I got to experience that.
SP: My last question, forgot to ask you after your first win in a Sharks uniform. Your last win before that was on Feb. 20, so it had been two months since you’ve won a game. Is that the longest that you’ve gone with a win in your life, any level?
KK: (laughs) It must be. It felt like forever.
Alaskan_ice: How was it coming to America? What were the easiest parts and the hardest parts? Welcome to Team Teal!
KK: The hardest was nothing related to hockey. It was more the things that you go to a new country, new culture. You have to figure out getting an apartment or renting a place, getting a car, maybe a new phone.
Obviously, all those things work a little different in every country.
In hockey, maybe the travel, especially in the American League, but even in the NHL, it’s much more travel than what it was back home.
The easiest thing would probably be…what could be the easiest thing? Now looking back, hockey, the game itself was, I can’t say easy for me, but the adjustment, I liked the game itself better here.
But the game, the style of straight to the net, not as much waiting and east-west [is my preference].
[In Europe,] it’s tough for goalies because you got to wait, you got to be really patient. Sometimes, it’s hard and there’s not as many shots in the game. You got to stay focused even though you have nothing to do in Europe. So maybe the game itself was, again, not easy, but more to my liking, maybe the style of play.
James R.: Did you play pesäpallo growing up?
KK: I didn’t really play that. It’s like a version of baseball. We played that in gym class, in school, but other than that, no.
James R.: Mike McKenna says you need to work on rotation. Do you agree and what do you think he means?
KK: Yeah, I agree. My guess is that he means, let’s say you’re going down on the ice, there’s a shot, the rebound goes the other way, you have to rotate and get to the other post.
They’re little details, but when you get those right, every time you get to the next spot quick, you beat the play there. It gives you a better chance to make a save.
You’re not chasing the puck and the play, you’re on top of it and in control.
James R.: What have you worked on technically with [Evgeni Nabokov] in the short time you’ve been here?
KK: That, for example.
It’s just little details. It’s a pretty simple game at the end of the day. But it’s just about doing those things right every time and being disciplined with doing those things.
James R.: Lots of goalies have a mantra [or something they do] for re-focusing after giving up a goal. [Marc-Andre] Fleury goes for a skate into the corner. [Braden] Holtby squeezes some water in the air and watches the droplets fall. Do you have a post-goal refocusing strategy?
KK: No, not really. I just move to the next play. I might grab a little water and go from there.
Chris Boucher: Describe the day you were traded and your journey to San Jose. Also, how did the Sharks help onboard you to their systems?
KK: It was my first trade.
It was a crazy day. I was on the ice for a morning skate in Minnesota. They pulled me off the ice mid-drill. The GM’s there, he says we traded you and thanks for everything, good luck.
Everyone from the Sharks called me, the GM, the coach, people setting up the travel. I had a flight to Calgary later that night. Then went to Edmonton and came back to San Jose. Except for that one game we played in Minnesota, I still haven’t been back there. I’m just gonna go back there after the season, figure out my apartment and all that. So it was a pretty hectic day, everything happened really, really quick.
For sure, it’s an experience I’ll probably remember for the rest of my life. I still haven’t really sat down to think about it, maybe over the summer.
oldgoalie: You must have a new helmet coming, tell us about it and the artist.
KK: Yeah, it should be coming. It’s from DaveArt.
Right now, shipping anything from to anywhere from Europe, especially here, it’s taking forever. Hopefully, it arrives soon.
I assume [we’ll see it this season] but I’m not the FedEx guy.
oldgoalie: My favorite goalie nerd question, do you have your skate blades profiled and if so do you know what profile?
KK: I believe I have them profiled. It’s how much flat surface is hitting the ice generally…I think so. No idea what the measurement is. I just asked them to do it the same way every time.
I’m not really too picky about it. I don’t think I’ve sharpened my skates one time this year. I switched my steel one time. I don’t know any of that stuff. You gotta ask [equipment manager Mike Aldrich] or someone.
timorous me: Welcome to the Sharks! I’ve heard about your interest in cooking, how did you get into cooking? Are there any chefs or cookbooks you especially like?
KK: My dad would always cook a lot when we were younger. My mom as well.
I learned from watching him. When I was little older, once I figured out different flavors, kind of started to learn from him.
I’ve been really interested in food and cooking ever since. It’s something I do almost daily. I love trying new things, different flavors, combinations, whatever.
Local stuff, fish here, seafood here is obviously amazing because we’re on the coast. That’s great.
I make my own pasta as well. When COVID started, I started making my own pasta. I love that. It’s such a big difference.
There’s good pasta at the grocery store, but it’s really nice, it’s a good feeling when you succeed at something, you can have it, you can taste it, and serve it for other people and they enjoy it as well.
[In terms of watching cooking TV shows,] maybe not TV shows, it’s YouTube videos or Instagram, I pick up a thing. Or say I go to a restaurant, I might try to replicate whatever I had there, try to make something similar.
I did watch “Chef’s Table” – it was a good show. But I never tried to cook anything made there.
Babak Shahrivar: What stands out to you about the Sharks organization so far?
KK: I’ve only been here for a couple of weeks, but I feel everything’s well-organized. My experience with the trade, everyone was really welcoming. Really professional, the way everything was handled. The set-up here is good, the rink and the practice facility, nothing bad to say so far. It’s been a pretty smooth change for me.
Jentry Alexander: What are you looking forward to as a Shark?
KK: Getting back to the playoffs, that has to be the goal.
Traditionally — I haven’t been in the league for that long — but from what I know, it’s an organization that wants to be in the playoffs, has been in the past, and the expectation is that.
Grace Shang: What do you like most about playing goalie? Growing up, did you ever play another position or another sport?
KK: Being a goalie, the way you perform has such a big impact on the end result of the game. That’s the way I feel and that’s what I like about it.
Some could say it’s a lot of pressure, but I think it’s the other way, it’s an opportunity every time to have an impact and help the team win games.
[When I started] hockey, I went to a skating school or a hockey school. I would play a little bit of this and that. I switched to goalie [when] I was 10 years old. I was just goalie after that.
I played soccer during the summer, it was a nice little change to hockey. It wasn’t really competitive, but it was more like a little team with a bunch of kids from the neighborhood. Have a practice or two a week, maybe, and then play a game or two a week.
I think it’s really good for kids, it’s important to play different sports, do different activities. You learn different skills, different techniques, the way to control your body, the movements, and all that.
Gary To: Do you collect your own hockey cards or other memorabilia? If so, what’s your favorite piece?
KK: Wherever I go, I try to keep a jersey, a mask, or whatever it is. You don’t need everything from every single team you played on in your life, because then you’d just have a massive storage unit full of T-shirts and stuff.
More special things like the Winter Classic. We were in Minnesota this year, [so] the jersey from there.
My first NHL game, first win, stuff like that.
Jey: How do you take your coffee?
KK: I mix it up.
Just the regular coffee, I put a little bit of milk in there. 2% preferably. Half & half is fine. I like dark roast.
In the mornings, let’s say I go to brunch or whatever, I like a cappuccino. In the afternoon, I might want an espresso. Or even after a nice dinner, I might do an espresso as well.
(SJHN Note: There were a couple other questions from users BobBummer and Jigglz, but I couldn’t verify that you guys were subscribers – if you are, DM or e-mail me!)