Kaapo Kakko burst onto the world scene with powerful performances to lead Team Finland to the gold medal in both the 2018-19 World Junior Championships and 2019 World Championships that preceded his second-overall selection by the Rangers that June.
Five years later, five years into an NHL career that has been as study of starts and stops and frustration, there is no guarantee at all that Kakko will be selected for Team Finland for next February’s Four Nations tournament that also will include Team USA, Team Canada and Team Sweden. At best, he is on the bubble.
“I feel that everyone who is playing in the NHL is on their list,” Kakko told The Post following Friday’s practice ahead of Saturday’s off day. “We had one meeting over the summer, but I’m not thinking about that at all.
“That’s not [motivation] for me. The season here, all the games I play, I have to be a s good as I can be. That’s what is important.”
What is most important for No. 24, as he repeatedly said, is to stay healthy this season. Kakko missed 21 games last year with a leg injury two years after missing 39 games with, first, a wrist injury then a lower-body matter. Just when the Finn seems to be gaining traction, he is going through rehab.
“To be honest, I just want to play as good as I can and try to stay healthy,” Kakko said. “I missed a lot of games last year. But then we’ll see how it goes. I try to do my best, it doesn’t matter how much I get the ice time.
“I mean, that’s all I can do.”
It feels like a time warp, doesn’t it? Kakko on the third line with Fil Chytil in the middle, though instead of Alexis Lafreniere on the left, it’s Will Cuylle, except that neither the center nor the right winger are kids anymore.
“I know what Fil can do out there, he’s a good player,” said Kakko, who has been on the ice with Chytil for just about a third of his career five-on-five ice-time. “But I feel I had very good games last year with Brodzy [Jonny Brodzinski] and Bergy [Alex Wennberg] when he came at the deadline.”
We know the history of how Kakko has been given top-six opportunities at intermittent portions of his career to ride shotgun with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad — the first 11 games last season, as an example — but just has not quite been able to stick the landing. He is more than reliable without the puck and strong on the wall. But there is a disconnect getting the puck to the net.
At breakup day following the conference final defeat to Florida — for which Kakko was a healthy scratch for Game 2 — head coach Laviolette took shared responsibility for the winger’s plight, suggesting it was on him to find the way to get the winger more involved in the game.
That’s going to be mighty difficult, though. It appears as if there are at least seven forwards ahead of Kakko relating to power-play work and at least six in front of him on line when it comes to penalty killing. When you’re a third-liner without specialty team work, minutes are limited.
“I mentioned target[ing] some players to try and elevate their games and [Kakko] was one of them, and it didn’t hit probably the way he wanted or I wanted or we wanted,” Laviolette said Friday. “I’m sure he’d like to be a piece of the power play units, I’m sure he’d like to have more minutes, more impact and I’d like to facilitate that if I can.
“But it’s got to be warranted as well, right, on the ice? I thought his line [Thursday against Boston] was really good, I thought the puck was on his stick quite a bit.
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“It’s been a good start.”
Kakko signed a no-fuss, no-muss, one-year deal for his qualifier at $2.4 million. The Rangers made it clear that he was not an untouchable, but GM Chris Drury refused to sell low on the Finn. So he is back. Kakko has played 300 games for the Rangers, recording 57 goals and 117 points, but it almost always seems as if he is starting from scratch.
Well, at least the third line doesn’t still wear green practice jerseys as they did during the Kid Line’s heyday.
“To be able to be able to have that balance and depth somewhere in your top nine, wherever it pans out, can make you a really dangerous hockey team,” Laviolette said. “So nothing has changed from that with regards to going into this year.”
