THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jun 20, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
NY Post
New York Post
28 Nov 2023


NextImg:The shame of Kaapo Kakko’s latest Rangers setback

Read the expert take on the Blueshirts

Sign up for Larry Brooks' Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.

We’ve learned from the Rangers that Kaapo Kakko’s left leg injury will not sideline the Finn for the remainder of the season, though he will miss a significant amount of time.

Does this mean two months? Four? No timetable has been provided, and it is unlikely one will be forthcoming.

So maybe this will not become the 22-year-old winger’s second lost season out of last three. Two years ago, you’ll recall, Kakko played just 43 games and was out for approximately 10 weeks due to a suspected wrist injury. That was the season, of course, in which Kakko was a healthy scratch for the elimination Game 6 of the conference finals in Tampa Bay.

At the very least, though, this represents a major setback for the 2019 second-overall pick.

That is on top of the first 20 games of the season in which Kakko lost his grasp on the first-line right wing slot and had been playing on the third line with Nick Bonino as his center for the past 10 matches. He had only two goals and one assist while averaging 13:33 of ice time per.

That complement of ice time represents the lowest of his five-year career, 1:45 below his average a year ago, 44 seconds below the 14:17 he averaged as a rookie playing for David Quinn.

Kaapo Kakko suffered a leg injury during Monday night’s loss that will sideline the 22-year-old winger for an extended period. NHLI via Getty Images

The expectation, however, was that Kakko would again be teamed with Filip Chytil on the third unit following the center’s return from a suspected concussion. And, the hope went, that projected reunion between the Kid Line mates would benefit the Finn. The third line would become a scoring line rather than a checking line in its current form.

But not now. And least not for a fairly long while. In a career where nothing has been easy for Kakko, the prospect is that it is going to get even harder for him. And that is a shame.

Adam Fox is coming off long-term injured reserve for Wednesday’s game at the Garden against the Red Wings. Chytil was placed on the LTIR list retroactive to Nov. 3 in a cap maneuver.

After recalling both Jonny Brodzinksi and Adam Edstrom from Hartford in the wake of Kakko’s injury, the Blueshirts returned Edstrom following practice.

Adam Fox’s return from injured reserve is good news for the Rangers lineup and bad news for their salary-cap situation. AP

According to CapFriendly, the Rangers will have approximately $5.691 million of cap space available from their LTIR pool after Fox returns to active duty. But when Chytil returns, that number will diminish by $4,437,500. And the club will at some point need enough space to accommodate Kakko’s $2.1 million when he is ready.

Cap space will not accrue as long as the Rangers are in an LTIR circumstance.

It is going to be tight — very tight — all the way. There should be no expectation for a deadline blockbuster.

Perhaps lost in Monday’s 5-1 defeat to the Sabres was Vincent Trocheck’s work at the dots: He went 16-1 to increase his percentage to 63.4, second in the league to San Jose’s Nico Sturm’s 63.9.

Trocheck ranks seventh in the NHL in power-play faceoff efficiency at 60.2 percent among players taking at least 50 draws with the man-advantage. That’s a significant factor in the Blueshirts’ success on the power play, which ranks third in the league at 30.2 percent.

Vincent Trocheck’s sterling faceoff numbers have given the Rangers a tangible advantage this season. NHLI via Getty Images

A faceoff victory on the power play generally saves close to 20 seconds, and that’s assuming a clean entry and setup after going back to pick up the puck behind your own net after a faceoff loss and clear.

When Fox left the lineup late in the first period of the Nov. 2 match at the Garden following a leg-on-leg hit from Sebastien Aho, the Blueshirts had gone 12-for-34 (35.3 percent) on the power play.

Since Erik Gustafsson assumed Fox’s spot on the top unit with Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider, the Blueshirts have gone 7-for-29 (24.1).

There will be no PP1 QB controversy. Fox will take his rightful spot on the unit that has been on for 17 of the club’s 19 power-play goals.

Erik Gustafsson received praise from Peter Laviolette for his work filling in for Adam Fox. NHLI via Getty Images

“Gus has done an excellent job, and to be able to insert somebody in there to pick up for Adam and do the job that he did, it was great to have a player like that to jump in — and he did really well,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “That’s a bonus for us.

“But one of the best in the business is coming back into our lineup, and that unit was really good at the time he made his exit from us. To put him right back in there is a no-brainer.”

Want to catch a game? The Rangers schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.

Fox will reunite with Ryan Lindgren while Gustafsson returns to the third pair on Braden Schneider’s left side as the K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba tandem remains intact.

That means Zac Jones will resume his role as designated healthy scratch as the seventh defenseman following a 10-game run in the lineup that matches the longest of his young career. Jones played the final 10 games of the 56-game 2020-21 season after signing out of UMass.

“I think every game he was more confident,” Laviolette said. “I really like the way he attacks the game and when he has the puck on his stick there’s a really good feeling about it, like he’s going to do something.

“I thought defensively, for the most part, he got better every game. I thought he did a really good job. That was good for me to see, for us to see and it was good for him when you get that confidence playing.”