Kaapo Kakko doesn't think pre-existing health conditions will be an issue as Rangers return
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Kaapo Kakko is a diabetic and also has the rare condition known as celiac disease, which means he has to follow a strict gluten-free diet.
His medical history never got in the way of playing hockey before, but during the COVID-19 pandemic — with pre-existing conditions putting people at greater risk from the virus — the Rangers did wonder if it’s safe to allow the 19-year-old to play when they restart the NHL season Aug. 1.
“The more information that we got, and I got, there was that concern,’’ coach David Quinn said Friday as the Rangers returned to practice after Thursday’s off day.
Quinn said he spoke with Kakko about two months ago about whether he should return when the season restarted.
“I actually said to him, ‘You know, you should look into it from your end of it too, not just from the Rangers’ standpoint, ’ ’’ Quinn recalled. “ ‘Talk to your doctors back in Finland. Ask them if you’re more at risk, or how much more at risk you are than everybody else.’ And you need to be comfortable playing, knowing that you’re not going to be more at risk than everybody else. And if you are going to be more at risk in the slightest way, we don’t want you playing.’’
But for Kakko, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, there was never any hesitation about coming back.
“Of course I want to play hockey again,’’ he said on the Rangers’ post-practice Zoom call. “I talked with our doctors about that a little bit. I think if I keep my sugars down, it’s gonna be OK. I will play hockey again.’’
Kakko, who spent the NHL pause at home in Turku, Finland, spoke to his family about the risks of his coming back to play, but he said the conversations were not extensive.
“I think I want to play, and I’m so young,’’ he said.
In his first NHL season, Kakko had 10 goals and 13 assists in 66 games, along with a team-worst minus-26 plus/minus rating.
Expectations were high — maybe even unrealistic — for Kakko after the monster year he had in 2018-19, when he tore up the Finnish pro league and helped Finland win both the World Junior Championships and the World Championships.
All season, though, Quinn kept reminding people of all the things the 6-3, 199-pound right wing had to adjust to — moving away from his family to live in a foreign country, adjusting to the smaller NHL rinks and playing in the highest-level hockey league in the world.
But in the four days the Rangers have practiced since Phase 3 of the NHL’s return-to-play plan kicked in on Monday, Kakko has looked much quicker and more assertive.
“He was one of the first guys everybody talked about [Friday],’’ Quinn said. “He continues to look good. He continues to play with a [fast] pace; he continues to play with a little bit more swagger and certainty to what he’s doing. It’s been a good start for him so far.”
Kakko said he was able to make good use of the time he spent in Finland, where the country was not locked down as severely as North America was.
“I was on the ice every week at least two or three times,’’ he said. “There was [Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko] Rantonen with me and a couple more guys — [Rangers teammate Alexandar] Georgiev in the net — so that was a good group over there. And [I did] a little bit at the gym, of course. And I think I’m feeling stronger and a little faster on the ice. So that’s good.’’
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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