Confirmed Trade: [SEA/NYR] Kaapo Kakko for Will Borgen, 2025 3rd, 2025 6th

[Romang67]

Man, "already a good 3rd liner with upside in his draft+6 season" is such faint praise when you add the context "2nd overall draft pick who was supposed to be pro ready."

Especially when you consider the cost of picking up a defensively responsible winger who doesn't put up points.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Even if he tops out as a 50ish point player, that's a bad move for the Rangers. Really surprised another GM couldn't offer more. Unless the idea is just to get the guy as far away as possible.

That's exactly it. They would never hear the end of it if he broke out in NJ or Philly or Boston.

 

[Brookbank]

Holy f***

Forget everything I said in previous threads about player values. Drury is a f***ing disgrace and literally giving everything away for scraps.

I thought he would learn from the Buch trade but I guess not. f*** this guy.

Did Drury have any prior business experience before becoming GM ?

 

[Bond]

Like it for Seattle

 

[DANOZ28]

makes no sense too me. not a good return.

 

[604]

Guy with a career high of 18G and 40PTS has a QO of $2.4m and people seem to think he has extreme value.

Not saying Kakko can’t become something but there is a close resemblance to Jake Virtanen’s career right now.

 

[MXD]

Philly could absolutely have beaten that. I get why they want him a couple thousand miles away, though.

31 teams could have beaten that offer, including the Kraken.

 

[Coffey]

I haven't seen Devil and Isles fans this happy since '03 and '83 respectively.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

Man, "already a good 3rd liner with upside in his draft+6 season" is such faint praise when you add the context "2nd overall draft pick who was supposed to be pro ready."

Especially when you consider the cost of picking up a defensively responsible winger who doesn't put up points.

Olli Jokinen comes to mind. Different players, obviously. Sometimes a particular team makes something click with a player.

 

[cheesymc]

Wow, what a trash return lol. Rangers normally never lose on trades, so this return is very surprising. They have to plan on extending Borgen to replace Troubas truculence.

 

[Brookbank]

I know why the Canes likely weren't in on this. If the Rangers were going to make a grave mistake, they weren't going to make it inside the division.

How do 3rd line scrubs ever turn into grave mistakes ?

 

[SoundAndFury]

This trade proves this place knows absolutely nothing about trade value.

People overrate young players because they believe in the "upside" not realizing not many GMs want to flip a coin if that upside will ever be reached. Same applied to Jiricek trade who brought in an amazing haul which so many people still found too little.

 

[haveandare]

He’ll take off away from the idiocy the rangers have put him through. Not 2OA take off but solid top 6 forward who is dependable on defense.

This team is a dumpster fire in a hurricane right now. Making choices at random would be better than leaving Drury in charge

 

[MXD]

Olli Jokinen comes to mind. Different players, obviously. Sometimes a particular team makes something click with a player.

Actually, the first player I thought about here was Sam Bennett.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

How do 3rd line scrubs ever turn into grave mistakes ?

He's a 2 way 40 point guy already while only getting 3rd line minutes and no pp time. There's some untapped potential there.

 

[The Red Line]

This team is imploding, what are they doing??

 

[PWiz30]

I think a lot of people are excited about Kaapo Kakko. I'm just more excited about Will Borgen.

 

[Duck Off]

How the f*** did Anaheim not beat this?!

 

[Rschmitz]

How often do players that have this many games in change their stripes? HF likes to pretend that upside is unlimited when in fact it's very much limited. That's not to say Kakko doesn't have potentially more to give with more opportunity, but I would be very surprised if it's a seismic shift.

I'd be comfortable paying what Seattle gave up for someone of the same production and no more upside. Fact is he's a big boy and those kinda players take time to physically calibrate, a change of scenery can also sometimes be exactly what a player needs to realize their potential.

I'm not saying he's got a high probability of turning into a star, but there's enough here to think it could happen. I mean, you Ranger fans seem pretty confident that he's a dud, but this could be a nightmare.

 

[BlackAdam]

Holy f***

Forget everything I said in previous threads about player values. Drury is a f***ing disgrace and literally giving everything away for scraps.

I thought he would learn from the Buch trade but I guess not. f*** this guy.

All Drury did was trade 1 piece of scrap for multiple scraps

 

[Mike C]

I don't see how he was. His comments weren't even that bad. People making a lot of very little. Not as if he started naming teammates and trashing their play. He just said he thought he wasn't playing the worst, which is a generic type of comment with nothing behind it. And he even added that he needed to play better. I get how they were slightly newsworthy comments, but they should've gotten a lot less attention.

Nowadays the truth is so rare that it's refreshing to see the attention when it comes along

 

[Albatros]

Man, "already a good 3rd liner with upside in his draft+6 season" is such faint praise when you add the context "2nd overall draft pick who was supposed to be pro ready."

Especially when you consider the cost of picking up a defensively responsible winger who doesn't put up points.

Kakko's been putting up points though, this season anyway.

 

[goonybird]

MSGwatchparty.mov

 

[POVERTY]

If the Rangers drafted Hughes do we think he'd be the player he is now or would he be toiling away on the 3rd line with the occasional hint of PP2 time?

 

[Romang67]

Kakko's been putting up points though, this season anyway.

Kakko is pacing to put up 33 points 5v5 this season, despite his team having an unusually high on-ice sh% so far with him on the ice.

Basically, he's hitting the puck luck streak of his life on 5v5 so far this season, and the results are... fine? I guess? Everything is going right, and his P/60 puts him around 100th in the league.

It's all just so aggressively unimpressive.