San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) General Manager Mike Grier announced today that the club has acquired goaltender Vitek Vanecek and a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft from New Jersey in exchange for goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen.
Vanecek, 28, has appeared in 32 games with the Devils this season and has posted a record of 17-9-3 with a 3.18 goals-against average (GAA) and .890 save percentage (SV%). In 163 NHL games, Vanecek has a career .905 SV%, 2.70 GAA and nine shutouts with a 91-42-17 record.
The six-foot-two, 184-pound netminder went 33-11-4 with the Devils in 2022-23, including career bests with a 2.45 GAA and .911 SV% to go with three shutouts and a career-long, 10-game win streak (Dec. 30, 2022 to Feb. 6, 2023). He played his first two NHL seasons as a member of the Washington Capitals, finishing his stint with the club with a record of 41-22-10, 2.68 GAA and .908 SV%. He has earned numerous league honors, including being named NHL Second Star of the Month in November 2022 and earning NHL Rookie of the Month in January 2021.
Vanecek played in parts of six seasons with the Hershey Bears of the AHL and earned All-Star recognition in the 2018-19 campaign. He posted career numbers of 2.59 GAA and .906 SV% with a record of 71-44-16 with 11 shutouts in the AHL. He also spent one season with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL in 2015-16, was a member of the ECHL All-Rookie Team, earned ECHL Goaltender of the Month in March 2016, was ECHL Rookie of the Month in November 2015 and a two-time league Goaltender of the Week.
The Havlickuv Brod, Czechia native was originally selected by the Capitals in the 2014 NHL Draft (second round, 39th overall).
Kahkonen appeared in 31 games for the Sharks this season, earning a 6-20-3 record with a 3.36 goals-against average (GAA) and .898 save percentage (SV%). Over the course of his NHL career, he is 48-63-15 with a 3.36 GAA and .898 SV%. He was originally selected by the Minnesota Wild in the 2014 NHL Draft (fourth round, 109th overall) and was acquired by San Jose from Minnesota on Mar. 21, 2022 along with a fifth-round selection (140th overall, Jake Furlong) in exchange for Jake Middleton.
