Was Kaapo Kakko misused this season?
By Steve Paulus
Who he played with
The one issue that many fans had with Kakko’s deployment was that he rarely saw any time on the top two lines, playing with the team’s best forwards. At even strength he played 198 minutes with Brett Howden and 141 minutes with Filip Chytil.
He played only 70 minutes with Mika Zibanejad and 93 minutes with Ryan Strome, the top two centers on the team. He played 65 minutes opposite Artemi Panarin, the most gifted forward on the Rangers.
The top line of Panarin, Strome and Jesper Fast played 454 minutes together at even strength. The Zibanejad-Kreider-Buchnevich line was together for 294 minutes (even with the Kreider and Zibanejad injuries). The “kid line” of Chytil, Howden and Kakko was together for 135 minutes. While the smaller total could partially be attributed to the early demotion of Chytil to the AHL and Howden’s bouncing all over the lineup, the three didn’t have nearly as much ice time together.
Possession stats
What happens when you put an 18-year old on a line with two 20-year olds? You get lousy possession statistics. As a threesome, the Corsi For % for the line was 46.90% meaning that the opposition had 53% of those shot attempts when they were on the ice. The trio was routinely outshot and outscored at even strength, 10-2.
That’s where the question of Kakko’s deployment comes into question. When Kakko and Howden were on the ice together, their Corsi For was an awful 36.47%. Kakko and Chytil were a little better at 45.67%.
Was it Kakko who dragged down those numbers? Let’s compare by looking at the top two lines.
In the 294 minutes minutes the Zibanejad-Kreider-Buchnevich line played together, their Corsi For % was 53.51%. They outshot the opposition 157-128 and outscored the opposition 19-13.
Kakko replaced Buchnevich on the right wing for all of 37 minutes and the line’s Corsi For percentage actually increased to 54.93% though the were outscored 4-1. They still outshot the opposition 21-17. So, in a limited sample size, Kakko didn’t hurt the Zibanejad line possession-wise when he was on the right wing,.
Where it really gets interesting is the Strome-Panarin-Fast line. As a trio, in 454 minutes, their Corsi For% was 50.11%. They outshot the opposition 267-230 and outscored them 29-11.
Kaapo Kakko played on the right side with Strome and Panarin for only 65 minutes all season. When together, their Corsi For % improved substantially to 58.59%. They outshot the opposition 42-30 and scored five goals to the opposition’s three.
In 2019-20, Kakko’s best possession stats with any forwards came when he was on the ice with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. Yet, he only played 65 even strength minutes with Panarin and 93 minutes with Strome.