Kaapo Kakko doesn’t believe Rangers’ criticism has led to a deal

Kaapo Kakko doesn’t believe his criticism of the New York Rangers led to him being traded to Seattle on Wednesday night, although Kraken general manager Ron Francis believes the player’s outspokenness may have expedited a deal.

Kakko, 23, openly disagreed with coach Peter Laviolette’s decision to make him a substitute for the Rangers’ loss in St. Louis on Sunday. “I know we’re losing games, but I think it’s easy to take the young man out,” he said.

Kakko also noted that while his team hadn’t generated much offense – the striker had four goals and 10 assists in 30 games for the Rangers – opponents hadn’t shot much when he did at 5-on-5 stood on the ice. 5. “I wasn’t the worst guy, but that was me out of the lineup,” he said Tuesday

The next day, the Rangers traded Kakko to the Kraken for defenseman Will Borgen, a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

An NHL source indicated that the Rangers did not respond to Kakko’s comments in making this trade – that the move was made to further reshape the struggling team and because Kakko is a restricted free agent next summer that the Rangers are not ready for were committed to the long term.

Kakko also believed that his comments were not the catalyst for the trade.

“I don’t think it’s that. The team didn’t play well enough. I was kind of waiting for something to happen and I also knew it could be me,” Kakko said of the Rangers’ 3-3. 11-0 in their last 14 games. “I mean, those comments kind of frustrated me, and I was honest, and that’s what I thought at the time.”

But Francis believes Kakko’s criticism may have accelerated the deal.

Francis said he and Rangers GM Chris Drury had been talking about a Kakko trade for at least a week before it happened, but that interest has increased in recent days.

“When he was a healthy guy, I thought Chris got a lot of calls, not just from me. This is the nature of our business. We had already started talking when the comments came out,” he said. “So it’s a pretty uncomfortable situation. You have an angry guy in your locker room. Did that speed things up? It probably did, but in the end I think Chris wouldn’t just get it done. Something to do something, but could have also been a factor.

Kakko had been vocal during his time with the Rangers about his role and the ice time he received. He acknowledged Thursday that there were discussions with management last season about a trade to give him a fresh start with another team, but he stopped short of calling those talks a “necessary” trade.

“Last year was a pretty bad year for me. To be honest, I wasn’t good enough,” he said of a season in which he scored 13 goals and six assists in 61 games.

Instead of making this new start, Kakko re-joined the Rangers in June on a one-year contract worth $2.4 million.

“After last season I no longer had a contract. We thought about what was best for me and the team. We talked about it a bit, but then I signed with the Rangers and wanted to play for them,” he said.

But after 31 games this season, the Rangers are a disappointment in the Eastern Conference and sit in sixth place in the Metro Division. They have already transferred captain Jacob Trouba to Anaheim to shake up the squad. Then it was Kakko’s turn.

He said he realized something was up when he came out of a Dallas hotel sauna and realized he had missed three calls from Drury.

Kakko said he is excited to join the Kraken and views the move to Seattle as the second chapter of his NHL career. In 330 NHL games, he scored 61 goals and 70 assists (131 points). His career high in goals was 18 in 2020/21.

“I enjoyed my time in New York, but it never worked out the way we wanted. I think this is a new opportunity for me here, and then we’ll see how it goes,” said Kakko, who will once again be a restricted free agent after the season.

Francis said the Kraken intend to give Kakko a chance to make an immediate impact by using him in their top-six forwards and giving him power play time.

“We will see what the coaches want to do there, but he has played 300 games but is still only 23 years old. So we believe there is potential for upside and that is why we did the deal,” Francis said.