New York Rangers: The Kaapo Kakko yoyo continues and Micheal Haley surgery

Too late?

All in all, Kakko played a dynamic game and deserved the ice time he got in the third period, but the question is whether he should have been getting it the entire contest.  Considering that the team was sleepwalking through the first two periods, was keeping the most dynamic player last night on the fourth line for most of the game the right strategy?

Of course, it’s a chicken and egg question.   If Quinn had not demoted him would he have played as well?  Who knows?

Quinn was asked about Kakko’s performance after the game.   Quinn said  “I just  thought he had a real good night. I thought he put a lot of energy and an edge to his game. He played with some confidence. I liked his approach.”

When asked if he thought the demotion to the fourth line was the reason for his good showing, Quinn said “His play wasn’t what we need it to be and he knows that.  Just the other guys I thought were playing better than him at the time.  But I thought he did a good job throughout the game and got better and better as the game went on.”

I suppose he was referring to Di Giuseppe who replaced him on third line.  If that assessment was based on Di Giuseppe’s work in the Toronto game, think again.  Di Giuseppe played all of 6:20 and his Corsi percentage was 20%, second worst on the team.

Quinn is definitely quicker to change his lineup when it comes to experienced players.  His move of Strome to the third line lasted all of one shift on Wednesday night, while Kakko needed to play 10 shifts on the fourth line before he earned his promotion.

As for the parallels with Svechnikov.  Last season as an 18 year old, the Hurricanes forward had 12 goals and 10 assists in his first 52 games.  He scored eight goals and added seven assists in his last 30 games.  That was an increase of 0.42 points per game to 0.50 points per game, a solid improvement, but not overly dramatic.

European players perspective

This all points to an interesting perspective for Quinn when it comes to European players.  His comment that “this game, especially here, is a lot different from over in Europe” when talking about playing without the puck, indicates a belief that there is a lack of defense and “swagger” in Europe and players coming over have to learn to develop that.

Considering that the brightest stars in the Rangers’ prospect universe are Vitali Kravtsov, Nils Lundkvist, Lauri Pajuniemi and Karl Henriksson, the question has to be whether their European roots will be held against them.

It’s a fascinating situation to monitor.  The next question will be what line Kakko is going to be on when the Rangers face Los Angeles on Sunday.  Will he be back to the third line or will he be rewarded for his excellent play with a trip up the lineup?  Or will he be back on the fourth line?

Surgery for Micheal Haley

The Rangers announced that Micheal Haley has a core muscle injury and will undergo surgery.

This is the same injury that resulted in Sidney Crosby missing  28 games so it appears that Haley is probably out for the rest of the season.   He last played against the Islanders on January 21 and has one goal and no assists in 22 games.  Haley has 50 penalty minutes on the season including four fighting majors, second most on the team behind Brendan Lemieux with five.

While Haley hasn’t been playing much, his willingness to mix it up at least gave the Rangers some options when it came to playing more physical teams.   As Haley is a free agent after this season, we may have seen the last of the veteran tough guy.