New York Rangers: Blueshirts fans all in on Kaapo Kakko

You could feel the excitement all the way in rainy old England when the New York Rangers selected Kaapo Kakko with the No.2 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft tonight.

Let’s face it, it has been a foregone conclusion for months that the New York Rangers would be gifted Kakko, and it was finally confirmed after the New Jersey Devils kept to the script by taking generational center Jack Hughes with the No.1 pick.

The Blueshirts were in the best position possible heading into tonight, knowing that whatever happened they would be walking away with an absolute phenom.

And, if we are being honest, this was the best possible outcome for a franchise who have had the hockey gods smiling down upon them throughout this whole process.

Rangers fans have wasted little time in taking Kakko to their hearts with various supporter accounts set up on social media to worship the stud forward.

Kakko fever has officially swept The Big Apple and the feel-good factor from this move will reverberate around the City for quite some time.

And so it should. This is all of a sudden an exciting time to be connected to the Blueshirts with the future looking brighter than ever.

Just days after trading away literally nothing in order to gain a bona fide top-pair defenseman in Jacob Trouba, the Rangers now have their cornerstone piece and potential future face of the franchise.

This rebuild has now been put into fast forward mode and Kakko will be the centrepiece of a roster that is being carefully crafted into a team that can compete for Stanley Cups on a consistent basis.

And there are bound to be more moves before the weekend is out. With the 2019-20 Salary Cap expected to be confirmed on Saturday, expect Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton to get to work and prepare to work his magic yet again.

He sees the opportunity that lies ahead for his team and franchises like the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins have proved that rebuilds don’t need to be mass renovation jobs, rather more subtle makeovers.

But, for now, Gorton can rest easy in his bed tonight knowing that his franchise has improved a lot in a matter of days.

With Trouba patrolling the blueline and Kakko strutting his stuff all over the ice, the Rangers are starting to construct a really strong core that they can build around and add key pieces to going forward.

It has been a while since Rangers fans were this head over heels for a draft pick but Kakko has taken Broadway by storm and he hasn’t even set foot in the City as a full-time Blueshirt yet.

He’s got all the weapons in his armoury to be able to morph into an elite sniper in the NHL, and he’s proven already that he can handle the hustle and bustle of life on the big stage.

Kakko is built for the big moments and he’s built to truly thrive in New York where expectations have now sky rocketed.

Whether he was expecting it or not, Kakko is the new darling of Madison Square Garden and he now has the chance to make himself a hero in New York City.

He’s arguably one of the most exciting talents to arrive at MSG in years and tonight’s draft has officially ushered in an exciting new era for the New York Rangers.

It feels pretty good to be a Blueshirts fan right now and, now that we’ve got our man, bring on October when we can see Kaapo Kakko unleashed on the NHL to do some serious damage.

But, for now, let’s sit back and bathe in this glory as the Kaapo Kakko show well and truly arrives in New York City.