Kaapo Kakko learning about hockey and life in New York
Rangers right wing Kaapo Kakko is finding his way around New York, even if hampered some by the pandemic. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It was five days before Christmas and Kaapo Kakko had no idea what he would be doing — or whom he’d be doing it with — on the big day.
"I don’t know yet,’’ he said in a telephone interview on Monday. "Maybe I’m going to eat some Finnish Christmas food or something like that, but I’m not sure yet. I need to talk with the teammates.’’
The third-year forward for the Rangers is celebrating his third Christmas in New York. He spent the first two with teammate Brendan Smith and his family, but Smith isn’t a teammate anymore. He signed with the Carolina Hurricanes as a free agent during the summer. So Kakko has to decide where to go and what to do this year.
It’s one more thing the 20-year-old has had to figure out as he navigates life as a professional hockey player in New York, 4,000 miles from his home in Turku, Finland.
Kakko, whom the Rangers selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, spent his first season living with a family the Rangers placed him with in Westchester County. But this season and last, he has lived on his own in Westchester, talking to his parents and friends back home on FaceTime and learning how to cook and otherwise fend for himself.
"I’m learning [things] all the time,’’ Kakko said. "When we have days where we don’t have practice, you need to do something by yourself. So I think that’s a good thing, and you can like learn a little bit more every time you do something.’’
His best dish is one with mashed potatoes and salmon — he couldn’t think of the name — but he said it isn’t hard to make.
"I try to make some easy things,’’ he said.
COVID-19 has made things more difficult for Kakko in his New York adventure. He had COVID-19 last season and was stuck in his apartment, unable to go anywhere or do anything except call his friends and talk on the phone.
"That wasn’t so easy for me,’’ he said.
This season has been better up until now — players were allowed to go out to dinner at home and on the road — but the recent spike in COVID-19 cases has forced the league to postpone games, start its Christmas break two days early and reinstitute daily testing and stricter protocols. And now Kakko has to worry about whether his parents, who weren’t able to visit him last season, will be able to come to New York. They are expected to visit in February, he said.
"Let’s see what’s gonna happen next month,’’ he said, "but hopefully they can come.’’
Kakko’s life in New York revolves around hockey. The hectic pre-Christmas schedule also didn’t allow much time for him to do much else.
But he has discovered one thing he likes to do outside of hockey: Knicks games.
"Last season, I was watching the playoffs, one game. And that was awesome,’’ he said. "So after that, I started watching a little more. And this year, I have been there two times.’’
Kakko arrived at the Christmas break with five goals and five assists in 26 games (he missed four games with an upper-body injury). He had two goals in the 3-2 road win over Arizona last Wednesday, and his numbers project to 15 goals and 15 assists over the full season.
"Of course, I try to score as many goals as I can . . . but I think it’s gonna come,’’ he said. "And I’m not thinking about that.’’
Notes & quotes: The Rangers signed goaltender Dylan Garand, their fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft, to a three-year, entry-level contract Thursday. Garand, 19, is 15-4-0 with a 1.85 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage for Kamloops of the WHL. His GAA and save percentage lead the WHL and he will play for Canada at the World Junior Championships, which begin this week.
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.
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