New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko joined the team’s skate this morning in a red no-contact jersey, according to The Athletic’s Arthur Staple. This is believed to be the first instance of Kakko at Rangers practice since the forward suffered a leg injury in November.
While Kakko is likely still a decent way off from a full-on return to the Rangers, this is undeniably encouraging news. The 22-year-old’s injury has left the Rangers thinner at their right wing position compared to just about any other position on their roster, and despite his slow start to the year, Kakko had a career year last season with 18 goals and 40 points.
Some other injury updates from across the NHL:
- Minnesota Wild forward Mats Zuccarello continues to skate as he pursues a return to the ice, and The Athletic’s Joe Smith reports that Zuccarello could return before the Wild make their trip to Tampa to play the Lightning in the middle of January. Zuccarello has been out since December 16th and has 28 points in 28 games this season.
- Smith also relayed an update on defenseman Jonas Brodin, who has been out since December 8th due to injury. A key defensive defenseman for Minnesota, Brodin skated for the first time since his injury and could be inching closer to a full return. He’s averaging just under 24 minutes of ice time per game this season, including three minutes short-handed.
- Marcus Foligno was classified as a game-time decision for the Wild’s January 2nd contest due to a lingering undisclosed injury, but now The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports that he’s considered out on a day-to-day timeline. Foligno, 32, is a respected defensive forward and the Wild benefit when he’s on the ice rather than off it, especially considering his $3.1MM cap hit is even more meaningful due to the Wild’s existing cap constraints.
Lafreniere, Kakko, And Chytil have all been very disappointing so far.
Yeah they have been. Kakko as a bigger player will take more time and from what I hear he plays a good solid analytics game and defensive game too. I still think Lafreniere will be decent but I sincerely doubt he ever becomes a 100point player like so many thought he was going to be.
Maybe they should be added to the other 319 guys that you believe should hang up the skates.
Chytil was really turning the corner, he was arguably their best forward at even strength last year. They are all really good players who play complete games and have really good possession numbers. Their overall goal and assist totals take a huge hit since none of them see any power play time at all, thanks to the presence of Zibanejad, Kreider, Panarin and Trocheck. And if you look at how good the Rangers power play is, you can’t blame them for playing those guys for almost all of the two minutes which is usually what happens. Scoring five on five is hard in this league, last year Kakko and Chytil both scored more even strength goals than Zibanejad. Lafreneiere has been awesome this year, just a totally different player and is all over the ice driving possession every night.