The Florida Panthers have another new prospect, agreeing to terms with Santtu Kinnunen on a two-year, entry-level contract. Kinnunen would have become an unrestricted free agent if not signed by June of this year. Instead, he’ll join the Panthers on a deal that will likely start in 2022-23. General manager Bill Zito released a statement:
Santtu is a talented defenseman who has proven himself playing professionally in Finland with Tappara Tampere. We look forward to watching him further his growth and development as he transitions to hockey in North America.
Kinnunen, 23, has been a regular for Tampere the last two seasons, and reached a career-high of 23 points in 54 regular season games this year. The young defenseman has come a long way since being the 207th overall pick in 2018, and was a big part of the club winning the Liiga championship. Whether that’s his last taste of action in Europe isn’t clear, as the Panthers could loan him back for next season given he still has a contract for 2022-23.
Still, there’s also at least some chance that he could show he’s ready to help at the NHL level, given the amount of polish he showed this season and his professional experience to this point. While he’s not a game-changing acquisition for the Panthers, Kinnunen represents a strong depth piece that is much more valuable than the average seventh-rounder.
That’s exactly why he’s been given a contract, and it’s not like the Florida organization has a surplus of defenders for next season. With Ben Chiarot, Robert Hagg, Petteri Lindbohm, Lucas Carlsson, Markus Nutivaara, and Chase Priskie all scheduled for unrestricted free agency, there were only five defensemen signed to one-way contracts for 2022-23, and eight total, including entry-level deals. Kinnunen makes it nine, a number that will certainly have to be increased through the offseason.