Is this Kaapo Kakko's last chance with the Rangers in 2024-2025?
Photo credit: New Jersey Hockey Now
Kaapo Kakko will have to take lessons from the summer and make sure he applies them this season.
He has been given an ultimatum, a message that he will have to perform up to his best abilities. He was given a one-year, $2.4 Million deal by GM Chris Drury and the Rangers.
If not, his days in New York will be numbered.
The pressure is mounting for Kakko, as he will have to find his game again. But watching some preseason play you can see there's been an improvement.
The 22-year-old has been playing with confidence, which we'd have loved to see last season.
He has impressed Coach Laviolette, with his usage of his physicality to create players, and has played a strong defensive game.
There's been an improvement:
«I thought his line (Thursday) was really good,» Laviolette said. «I thought the puck was on his stick quite a bit. To be able to have that balance and that depth somewhere in your top nine, wherever it pans out, can make it a really dangerous hockey team.»
It sounds like Peter Laviolette has found the key to unlocking Kakko's potential, by placing him with Filip Chytil and Will Cuylle.
Kakko has plenty of chemistry with the two and explained how well they play together.
«I played with Will last year, also. I know what he can do out there, and I've been playing a lot with Fil,» Kakko said. «It's a new season, and it's still only a couple of practices together, but I feel we all know what we can do out there, and I think we can be a good line.»
If anything, this is a sign that Kakko might end up being a staple on the Rangers 3rd line for another season.
And while he may not ever live up to his draft ranking, 2nd overall, in 2019 he has found his game and become a great defensive forward.
He may never be a Mark Messier, or Wayne Gretzky, but did anyone remember the Tampa Bay Lightning's 3rd line in their Stanley Cup runs?
Perhaps, Chytil, Cuylle, and Kakko can evolve into the 3rd line which could help deliver a cup, and importantly an Easter Conference Finals win.
Source: The Hockey News
Kaapo Kakko Seizing Potential Last Chance With Rangers
Kaapo Kakko Seizing Potential Last Chance With Rangers
| POLL | ||
28 SEPTEMBRE | 51 ANSWERS Is this Kaapo Kakko's last chance with the Rangers in 2024-2025? Will Kaapo Kakko be a staple on the Rangers 3rd line in the future? | ||
| Yes | 24 | 47.1 % |
| No | 27 | 52.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
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