Career
He previously played four seasons in the National Hockey League (National Hockey League) with the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers. Kukkonen was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks as their fifth-round pick, 151st overall, in the 2003 National Hockey League Entry Draft. He played ten National Hockey League games during the 2003-2004 National Hockey League season, after which he returned to his hometown Kärpät in the Master of Science-liiga.
In the 2006-2007 season, Kukkonen returned to the Chicago Blackhawks and played in 54 games before he was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers along with a 3rd round draft pick in a three-way deal with the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings on February 26, 2007.
With the Flyers, Kukkonen was put on a defensive pairing with Joni Pitkänen, also a native of Oulu. The two were also a pairing for 4 years in Finland.
On May 17, 2007 he signed a two-year contract with the Flyers. On June 24, 2009, Kukkonen signed a two-year deal with Russian team, Avangard Omsk of the KHL.
He was named to the Finnish Olympic team at the 2006 Winter Olympics after defenceman Sami Salo was injured, and played in both the semifinal match versus Russia and the gold medal match versus Sweden.
