He’s hitting that stage, where the Rangers aren’t going “out of their way” to put him into positions to succeed anymore, like we see with high draft choices.. A trade is probably the best thing for him at this point. A different approach, role, etc, maybe makes a difference for him somewhere else..
As for the Rangers? Hey, it happens. He’s certainly nowhere near a Top 10 pick, and likely not a 1st Rounder in any redraft. You can’t blame the Rangers for drafting him though. Everyone would’ve made the same pick. Did they push him too much early? Maybe. We’ll never really know though. This was a big summer for him to take another step, but it’s pretty apparent that’s not in the cards.
If he goes somewhere else and becomes a consistent Top 6 player, it’ll be because he changed some things after leaving NY. It’s time for a change though. They won’t get much in return. If it gets to next summer though, they’ll likely get nothing, so if they can get something now, it’s probably reached that point.
The Rangers still need that 3rd liner who can play up when needed, kill penalties and play a lot of those hard minutes for them. That’s what they should be looking for, from a team. Could they get a Rasmussen from Detroit? It’ll cost more than Kakko, but he’s locked in at around $3 million for the next 3-4 years. Not sure Detroit would/should trade him but maybe there’s a deal that be made for a player like him. He’s hard to play against, and plays those hard minutes I was talking about. He’s also priced right AAV wise.
It really does look like the Kakko years are reaching the end of the line though. If they can include him as part of the value, to bring in a player who is gonna help them when it counts, they’d be smart to do so.
