Time for Rangers to move on from Kaapo Kakko — and the trade that makes most sense
Daily double alert regarding the Rangers who, after losing to the then-32nd and last-overall Blackhawks at the Garden on Dec. 9, have the opportunity to lose to the current-32nd and last-overall Predators in Nashville on Tuesday.
1. Kaapo Kakko has not been close to being a singular problem through the Blueshirts’ slide, but head coach Peter Laviolette thought that scratching the Finn in St. Louis on Sunday would be a solution.
It is time to move on. It is not going to pop here. And even when it kind of does, even when there is a glimmer, it is never quite sustainable, the puck still doesn’t go in, it is always a disappointment.
And I’m sure for Kakko, too, whose ceiling gets lower by the week.
2. The hierarchy that includes president-general manager Chris Drury and chairman Jim Dolan are hurtling toward a crossroads off this 3-10 nosedive that commenced two games ahead of the memo. The organization will have to decide whether to attempt to bolster this roster for a playoff run or whether to go into a 2018-19 retool.
Here’s the thing I can confidently tell you: The Rangers will not sacrifice their most promising future assets — the likes of Will Cuylle, Gabe Perreault, Brennan Othmann, E.J. Emery — in order to do patchwork so that this team might squeeze out a round or two in the tournament.
Trading a first-rounder for the opportunity to rent Columbus defenseman Ivan Provorov would represent lunacy.
The idea is not to consume two or three or four home playoff dates. It was not in 2018, when the organization was in range of making the playoffs for the eighth straight year but chose to go the route that took them to the conference finals twice within six years of the Letter, and it is not now.
3. Kakko is not a sell-high guy. I doubt that his inclusion will prove a tipping point in any major package on which the Blueshirts might be working. I’m not sure what fair value is for the 23-year-old, third-line winger (4-10-14 in 29 games averaging 13:23 of ice time per), but there is no point in being picky, either.
The Sabres have to be looking to make a move. They are one of the few teams currently in a worse place than the Rangers. Of course, I would want Dylan Cozens, and of course I would want Alec Tuch. Kakko does not trigger that type of conversation, unless as a throw-in.
I’d offer Kakko for Jordan Greenway, the 6-foot-6, 230-pound winger who put K’Andre Miller on IR with a blow in the Rangers’ 3-2 victory in Buffalo last Thursday.
Greenway brings size; he brings attitude; he goes to the net. His 11.88 hits per 60:00 at five-on-five would rank third on the Rangers behind Cuylle (18.46) and Adam Edstrom (11.92). The Canton, N.Y., native who a week ago returned from a three-week absence (mid-body), has three goals and four assists in 20 games, 1-3-4 over the last 15.
I know, but that’s why he might be attainable in exchange for Kakko. You think you’re getting Cole Caufield in return?
Greenway, who turns 28 on Feb. 16, can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 coming off a deal under which he carries a $3 million cap hit. Not ideal, but it’s not ideal either that Kakko is coming up on his final year of restricted free agency off his one-year, $2.4M deal. Of course, it is doubtful that No. 24 will get there as a Ranger.
4. Laviolette appropriately cut Mika Zibanejad’s ice time in the third period in St. Louis on Monday while the Rangers were chasing a 3-0 deficit that they narrowed to 3-2. No. 93 received only three shifts worth 2:15 for the first 14:37.
But then he got another one at 14:27. And then, for whatever reason, Laviolette simply could not contain himself and sent Zibanejad on for the final 2:33 after the Blueshirts had pulled Jonathan Quick for the extra attacker.
Meanwhile, Cuylle — who had scored the club’s second goal by going to the net and burying an Alexis Lafreniere feed — got only two shifts after bringing the team within 3-2 at 11:37 and did not get on the ice for the final 3:55.
What are we doing here?
5. The collapse of the Zibanejad-Chris Kreider partnership has been devastating. It is as if these two symbiotic friends and forwards have aged two decades in two months. The last three years, Nos. 93 and 20 had a 58.74 goals-for ratio. This year, it is 42.11.
Kreider, who worked hard on a rejiggered bottom-six line with Sam Carrick and Edstrom in St. Louis, has one goal in his past 10 games. Yet he, like Zibanejad, was on for the final 2:33 when Berard, who had scored the first goal, was not on, either.
There comes a time when the back of the baseball card no longer applies.
6. According to MoneyPuck, there are 62 defense pairs that have played at least 200 minutes at five-on-five.
The top-ranked pair per expected goal share?
K’Andre Miller-Adam Fox with a 65.9xGF.
The 62nd-ranked pair?
That would be Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox at 40.1.
So, of course, Laviolette had broken up the Miller-Fox tandem (for the second time) eight games prior to No. 79 going down in Buffalo … so he could go back to Lindgren-Fox.
What are we doing here?
Oh, I said that before.