Kaapo Kakko has got to be out of chances at this point
Kaapo Kakko was one player the Rangers should have traded earlier in the month at the deadline, and while they will still have the first right to sign the pending restricted free agent, is he even worth attempting to bring back?
Kakko has just 10 goals and 15 points on the season in 51 games, and his 13:18 of average total ice time remains the lowest of his career. It should foreshadow the Rangers not even bothering to extend a qualifying offer to Kakko.
One would have hoped that at some point, Kakko would have ventured over 50 percent in the Corsi or even contributed more to the Rangers scoring - just 19 on-ice goals for this season at 5-on-5 - but here we are with 10 games left in the regular season as of March 28th, and that hasn’t happened.
This wouldn’t be as much of an issue if Kakko’s current AAV sat lower than $2.1 million (base salary this season of $2.4 million). He’s still been consistent defensively, and that should continue throughout the playoffs, but extending Kakko to a higher price tag would have only been a good idea if he showed at least a little improvement offensively following the deadline.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)