By virtue of winning the Presidents’ Trophy and falling in the Eastern Conference Final, the Rangers will be waiting a while to make their first selection in the opening round of the draft on Friday as they hold the 30th overall selection. However, it appears they’re looking to make a selection earlier than that, as Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that GM Chris Drury wants to package that pick along with winger Kaapo Kakko to move up in the draft order.
Earlier this month, Kakko accepted what would have been his qualifying offer this weekend, inking a one-year, $2.4M agreement. But if anything, instead of the contract quashing any trade speculation, it has had the opposite effect as many have suggested that the new deal actually helps his trade value as now teams have certainty as to what the 23-year-old will cost.
Kakko was the second overall pick back in 2019 after a very strong season in Finland’s top league, and it looked like the Rangers had a future core winger on their hands with the potential for more. However, while there have been signs of that potential over his first five NHL seasons, he hasn’t been able to show it consistently.
In 2022-23, Kakko had what looked like a possible breakout campaign, notching 18 goals and 22 assists. Those numbers don’t jump off the page for a fourth-year player, but they were career bests and both sides were hoping he’d be able to build off that. But it didn’t happen. Instead, Kakko struggled this year, notching 13 goals and six assists in 61 games while seeing his playing time dip to a career-low 13:17 per night. It went even lower in the playoffs as he was just over a dozen minutes per game while recording just one goal and one assist in 15 appearances.
On the one hand, you have Kakko’s recent performance, which wasn’t the greatest. On the other hand, here’s a still-young player who other teams might feel that a new team and system could help get him back on track. The Rangers will clearly be hoping that particular perception will help them move up the draft board on Friday.
