Was Kaapo Kakko misused this season?
By Steve Paulus
Kaapo Kakko had a successful rookie season for the New York Rangers, but he wasn’t as dominant as many had expected. Was he given the best chance to succeed?
When 18-year old Kaapo Kakko fell into the lap of the New York Rangers when they won the second pick in the NHL Draft Lottery, many had visions of a player who would immediately be a dominant scorer and Calder Trophy candidate.
While Kakko had a good season, most would have predicted more production from the rookie than 10 goals and 13 assists in 66 games. If the season is truly over, Kakko’s season wouldn’t rank anywhere near the best recorded by recent top picks.
Gabriel Landeskog was the second overall pick in 2011 and that year he went out and scored 22 goals and 52 points in 82 games as a 19-year old.
Jack Eichel went second overall in 2015 and scored 24 goals and 56 points in 81 games.
Patrik Laine was 18 years old when he made his debut for the Winnipeg Jets after being the second overall pick in 2016. He played in 73 games, scoring 36 goals and 64 points.
David Quinn has repeatedly compared Kakko to Andrei Svechnikov of the Hurricanes. The Russian had a better rookie season, with 20 goals and 37 points in 82 games for Carolina in 2018-19. He did improve to 61 points this season as his assist total jumped from 17 to 37.
To be fair, other second overall picks have had similar seasons to Kakko. Sam Reinhart didn’t make the NHL in his first season and Aleksander Barkov was just a little better than Kakko in 2013-14, when he scored eight goals and 24 points in 54 games for Florida. Most recently, Nolan Patrick of the Philadelphia Flyers scored 13 goals and 30 points as a 19-year old rookie in 2017.