Rangers trade Kaapo Kakko to Kraken a day after his candid comments on benching

Kaapo Kakko spoke his mind — and told some truths — when discussing his unhappiness at being scratched from the Rangers' lineup for Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Blues in St. Louis.

Did that cost him? He was back in the lineup Tuesday for what would be another disheartening loss, this one 2-0 to Nashville, but Kakko played the least of any Ranger, other than backup goaltender Jonathan Quick.

That cameo turned out to be his final game with the team. 

Kakko, 23, was sent to the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday, the Rangers announced in a news release. The Rangers received defenseman Will Borgen, plus third-round and sixth-round picks in the 2025 draft from Seattle.

The No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 draft, Kakko finished his Rangers career with 61 goals and 70 assists for 131 points in 330 career games.

Borgen, 27, had been with the Kraken since the team's first NHL season in 2021-22 after being selected from the Buffalo Sabres in the expansion draft. He has eight goals and 45 assists for 53 points in 214 career games.

On Tuesday, Kakko was on the ice for 10 minutes and 14 seconds — less than fourth-liner Adam Edstrom (11:02), who doesn’t play on any special teams, and fourth-liner Jimmy Vesey (11:06), who had one penalty-killing shift. Kakko’s ice time was low despite the fact he had a shift on the power play, and despite the fact that Will Cuylle spent five minutes in the penalty box serving a fighting penalty, which meant one or two shifts of his had to go to someone else.

And what did Kakko do in his 10:14? He had three shots on goal, which was tied for the most on the team (with Adam Fox and fourth-line center Sam Carrick). He had six shot attempts — one was blocked, two were wide — which was tied for third-most. And according to Natural Stat Trick, his line, with Reilly Smith and the struggling Mika Zibanejad, gave up a goal but had more scoring chances-for than against (4-2), was even in high-danger chances (1-1) and had the best expected goals total and expected goals percentage of any of the Rangers’ lines.

So, according to the analytics, Kakko was one of the Rangers’ more effective players in the game.

Why didn’t he play more? Maybe because he said this Tuesday morning:

“I’ve not been the worst guy, but that was me who was out of the lineup [Sunday].’’

And this:

“I know you’ve 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 pull him out. That's how I feel, to be honest.’’

And this:

“Everyone’s got to be better. But I think . . . like I said, not too many goals against [while I’ve been on the ice]. So, there still can be more goals [for], but, I mean, I’m also not playing the most. I’ve been on the third line, and playing 10 to 12 minutes.’’

Coach Peter Laviolette responded to Kakko’s assertion that he found it easier to bench a young player than a veteran by saying, “There's been older players that have sat out as well.’’ And, he said, bottom line, the team needs to be better, but after Wednesday's trade, that won't include Kakko.

With Newsday Staff

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.