New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko has no idea who his head coach will be next year and doesn’t think his opinion on the matter really matters.
“I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen,” he said on Saturday. His remarks were translated on the National Hockey League (NHL) website. I’m not the first to be asked for my opinion. We will see. We all know that next year there will be a new head coach. We’ll see who it will be.
Kakko will play his fourth season on the Bettman circuit in 2023-2023, he was the second player selected in the 2019 draft. He will play for a third head coach after David Quinn and Gerard Gallant.
While waiting to return to the Big Apple next fall, Kakko is making full use of his experience with Finland at the Ice Hockey World Championship.
“Being here is a great chance to play a little more, become a better player and help the team,” he said. I use the things I learned in the past before I came here. I want to do it here before I bring it back to New York next season.
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The 22-year-old skater joined his national team after the Rangers were eliminated by the New Jersey Devils in seven games in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
“I was ready to play a lot longer as I thought we had a great team. I didn’t expect to find myself here at all. But when I was offered the opportunity to come here, I quickly accepted.”
“It gives me a second chance to win something this year,” added Kakko.
In Finland, the winger is much more often on the ice than in Rangers. Kakko has had about 15 minutes of ice time with the blueshirts this year, but has seen his usage drop by about two minutes following the arrival of forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane in New York.
“Here I am entitled to game time on the power play and more minutes on the ice than at [New York], he stressed. I understand that, especially because we added people at the end of the season that allowed us to become a solid team. That means other guys can’t play as much.”
Still, Kakko said he’s happy with his final NHL season.
“Ever since I’ve been in the NHL, I’ve been playing better and better every year,” said the 40-pointer in 2022-2023. This year I played all 82 games. That was my main goal as I missed games last season.