Rangers GM Chris Drury appears to have wrapped up his Summer activities with the news today that Kaapo Kakko and hte team have agreed to a two year bridge contract at $2.1M per year. The contract means the Rangers will go into the season with around $900K of salary cap space, would be translate to around $4M of space at the deadline, excluding impacts from injuries and any other moves that might occur before then.
After being scratched in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, there had been speculation that Kakko might be traded for a center. A possible trade failed, with the Rangers’ salary cap status playing a big part in limiting the options. With the signing of Vincent Trocheck to a seven year deal on the first day of free agency, it made the likely return of Kakko much higher, with the main concern being that he might hold out going into training camp in September.
The contract is a relatively good deal for the Rangers, with every dollar giving them a bit more flexibility going into the trade deadline. Unlike last year, the team will have far fewer options this year, especially if they want to avoid trading roster players like they did last season.
For Kakko, this will be his fourth professional season in what has been a somewhat disappointing start to a career that began after he was selected second overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. To date he’s registered 26 goals and 32 assists in 157 games with his career highs of 10 goals, 13 assists, 23 points and 66 games played, all occuring in his rookie season three years ago.
The league shortened 2020-21 season didn’t help, and last year it took him 10 games to register his first point, before he got on a bit of a roll playing on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Coach Gerard Gallant elected to move him back to the second line and from there his season didn’t really recover. Injuries kept him out of the line-up for much of the second half of the season, with the young winger returning just before the playoffs began.
With the additions of Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano, Kakko was pushed down the line-up where he paired up with Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere to form the “Kid Line”. All three players seemed to benefit from the change, and began to breakout late in the first round against the Pittsburgh series, and then again against Carolina in the second round. It came as a bit of a surprise that Gallant would scratch him in the elimination game against Tampa, and that decision will remain a concern until either Kakko breaks out offensively or he is moved as part of a deal to go for the Cup.
The term and cost of his contract, likely will make Kakko (along with Chytil) the most likely forward assets to move should the Rangers decide to make a big move, but it also provides the Rangers a little bit of wiggle room for next year where they are likely to face their biggest contractual challenges with new deals due to K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere.
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