New York Rangers and Kaapo Kakko Agree on One More Shot

The New York Rangers and Kaapo Kakko agreed on a one-year contract extension, likely giving the right winger a chance to earn back a larger role on the team.

Now that the New York Rangers are out of the NHL playoffs, speculation has started about their off-season plans, and there's lots to discuss.

The New York Rangers are hanging on to their second-overall pick in 2019.

The team announced Thursday it agreed to a one-year contract extension with Kaapo Kakko. While the Rangers did not announce the cap hit, PuckPedia reports it's $2.4 million, equal to his qualifying offer had he become an RFA in July.

Kakko, 23, had a promising season in 2022-23, when he recorded a career-high 18 goals and 40 points. But this season, his production fell to 13 goals and only six assists for 19 points. His average ice time was a career low at 13:16 per game, which dropped to 12:06 in the playoffs.

The right winger recorded a goal and an assist in 15 playoff games and was a healthy scratch in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final against the Florida Panthers.

There was some speculation that Kakko was unhappy about his ice time. That led to an increase in trade speculation regarding the player, with pundits and fans wondering whether there's a better fit for him. That said, he'll likely have an opportunity next season to earn back some more minutes and show he deserves to stay with the club that drafted him.

In 2022-23, he mainly excelled on a line with Filip Chytil as the center and Alex Lafreniere on the left wing. They didn't play together this year. That said, Kakko also played more than 200 minutes with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider in each of the past two seasons, per moneypuck.com.

Where the Rangers play Kakko next season and how the player responds could quickly figure out his future with the team after 300 games played across five seasons. During that time, the Turko, Finland, native has 57 goals and 60 assists for 117 points.

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