Kaapo Kakko eager for fresh start with Kraken

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NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 16: New York Rangers Right Wing Kaapo Kakko (24) is pictured during the third period of the National Hockey League game between the Seattle Kraken and the New York Rangers on January 16, 2024/ at Madison Square Garden in New Yo (Joshua Sarner / Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)

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New Seattle Kraken forward Kaapo Kakko is looking forward to a fresh start in the Pacific Northwest after being traded from a turbulent New York Rangers team on Wednesday.

"A fresh start, I feel that's what I need right now," Kakko said on a zoom call with reporters from Chicago on Wednesday. "I liked my time in New York. I think it was a good time. ... It never worked out the way we wanted. It's a new chance for me over here and a pretty good team over here also. We'll see how it goes, but I'm excited."

A former No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, the 23-year-old Kakko hasn't fully blossomed into a top-end scorer during his six seasons with the Rangers. A 40-point season with 18 goals and 22 assists in 2022-23 is the pinnacle of his career resume so far as he joins a Seattle team hurting for offense amid the loss of Jordan Eberle to injury.

"When you lose your captain in Jordan for three months, that leaves a hole in your lineup," general manager Ron Francis said on Wednesday. So we've been kind of kicking tires and looking at things, and this one just came along and made sense for both teams."

The move for Kakko comes days after he expressed frustration with being a healthy scratch for the Rangers. His former team is in a free fall, losing 11 of their last 14 games to plummet out of a playoff spot. But while veterans such as Mika Zibenajad and Chris Kreider are under-performing, it was Kakko that got benched instead.

"I was surprised, yeah," Kakko said of the situation, via Mollie Walker of the New York Post. "I know you got to do something as a coach when you’re losing games, but I think it’s just easy to pick a young guy and boot him out. That’s how I feel, to be honest."

Kakko didn't think that comment led to him being traded. New York had already dealt captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks in a contentious move where they threatened him with being placed on waivers if he didn't accept a trade.

"The team was playing not well enough. A lot of good players over there, need to do something," Kakko said. "I was waiting. Something is going to happen. And I knew it might be me."

Francis said they'd already been in discussion with the Rangers about the possibility of acquiring Kakko before the comments were made. He said he'd spoken with Rangers general manager Chris Drury over the last 5-7 days with talks intensifying over the last 48 hours. The deal ultimately came together upon their arrival in Chicago on Wednesday afternoon.

"I would think that, when he was a healthy scratch, that Chris got a lot of calls, not just from me. That tends to be the nature of the beast in our business, and we had already started having conversations when the comments came out," Francis said. "It’s kind of an awkward situation, right? You got a disgruntled guy in your locker room. So, you know, did that speed things up? It probably did. But at the end of the day, Chris wasn’t just going to do something to do something."

Kakko didn't say whether he'd specifically asked for a trade from the Rangers, but said that talks about the idea had been discussed. However, his comments indicated those conversations related more to last season when he was a pending restricted free agent without a contract for this season.

"I didn’t have a contract after the last season, so kind of thinking like, what should be the best thing for me and for the team also, you know?" Kakko said. "So we talked about it a little bit, but then ended up signing with the Rangers, wanted to play for them."

Kakko eventually signed a one-year deal worth $2.4 million this summer to stay with New York. In 30 games this season, Kakko has four goals and 10 assists while averaging over just 13 minutes of ice time a game.

"I hope I’m going to get a chance over here," Kakko said. "I think that’s what the coach is telling me here, just play your game and they’re going to trust me. That’s all that I need. What I’m going to do out there is on me. I’m excited about that and ready to get out there and get things going."

Kakko immediately becomes one of Seattle's bigger forwards at 6-foot-1, 205 pounds. He'll be given a role in Seattle's top six and will see time on the power play as well, which wasn't something he was getting with the Rangers.

"The size, the ability to hand onto a puck in the offensive zone. He's a presence, a big presence," head coach Dan Bylsma said. "We don't have a ton of that big presence, and we talk about playing in the offensive zone, having the puck in the offensive zone and getting to the net. It's a big body that can do all those things."

Added Francis: "I think you’re always looking for bigger bodies that can get to the front. There’s a reason why the Rangers took him. He was a real good player at that point and for whatever reason, it just hasn’t panned out for him.

"Hopefully we can get a little bit more out of him, get him back to playing the game that hopefully he has fun doing and loves playing and starts having some more success."

While the line of Eeli Tolvanen, Shane Wright and Oliver Bjorkstrand has been producing for Seattle, the Kraken haven't found the right fits for their top six collection with Eberle in the lineup. Yanni Gourde returns to the lineup as the fourth line center with Tye Kartye and Brandon Tanev. Now it will be about finding the right mix of Jared McCann, André Burakovsky, Jaden Schwartz and Kakko to pair with centers Chandler Stephenson and Matty Beniers.

"We've looked for combinations to add more offense to Matty Beniers' game and to Chandler Stephenson's game and to Jared McCann's game. Adding Kakko in there, we think it can be a big push for our offense in the top end, not just for him providing it but for what it does for the other guys around him," Bylsma said.