WASHINGTON — One of the more intriguing aspects of the Rangers’ record-setting regular season is that only a select few of their players had career years. That leaves room for growth within the lineup that finished with the NHL’s best record. There is room for players to restate their cases. There is opportunity to create a new narrative.
“I feel that’s the way everyone has to think. There are guys who are having great seasons already but for myself, I have to think that I can change something in the playoffs and that will make the difference,” Kaapo Kakko told The Post in advance of Friday’s Game 3 against the Capitals. “You don’t look at stats, you need to win four games. That’s all that matters.
“We won the Presidents’ Trophy but if we don’t go far, who cares?”
The Rangers did the required by sweeping the opening two at the Garden against their eighth-seeded opponents but did not dominate and did not put on a show of force that would have left the Caps quaking. Instead, Washington was banging on the door at the end of Game 2. The Blueshirts have some work to do in D.C. this weekend.
Kakko has work to do as he completes his fifth season after ping-ponging into his second-overall selection in the 2019 draft. Five seasons already for the 23-year-old, who is coming up on restricted free agency for the second time in the last three summers, though this time with arbitration rights.
That’s for a couple of months from now, though. It’s on hold, though No. 24 can sure increase his value over these next couple of months after coming off a season in which he missed 21 games early and finished with 13 goals and six assists in 61 games. Two years ago, he missed nearly half the year with injuries. He’s played an NHL total of 300 games with 57 goals and 60 assists
Five years in and in many ways it feels as if Kakko’s career hasn’t really begun. But Kakko’s big-bodied, straight-line, responsible two-way philosophy is built for the playoffs. Way back in the 2020 bubble experience in Toronto, Kakko was perhaps the club’s best player as a rookie in the three-game sweep by Carolina. He did the job on the right side of the Kid Line during the 2022 run.
Kakko bounced back-and-forth from the presumptive top line centered by Mika Zibanejad to the third line that was centered at different times by Nick Bonino, Jonny Brodzinksi and Barclay Goodrow before Alex Wennberg assumed the assignment upon being acquired from Seattle at the deadline.
The Will Cuylle-Wennberg-Kakko combination has been intact for the final seven games of the regular season and the opening two games of the tournament.
“I think Kaapo was playing his best hockey down the stretch and over the last 20 games of the season,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “You’d like to see that translate through to the playoffs.
“You need to use your size and your physicality, if he has the puck on his stick it’s difficult to get off of him, and he can create from there. His line has done that.
“I do think this is an opportunity for him to continue where he was at the end of the regular season. If you have a long run and he has a stint like he does the last 20 games, it does change the look of the season.”
Kakko averaged 13:17 of ice time per, 2:01 below last year, 1:00 under the previous lowest of his career established as a rookie. The Finn, who is on the second power-play unit but does not kill penalties, often refers to his ice time when assessing his performance. That, though, is not a concern for the playoffs.
“I don’t know how much I talk about that, but it’s the coach’s choice. He puts the guys on the ice he thinks are going to make the difference,” said Kakko, who got 11:44 and 11:45, respectively in Games 1 and 2. “As a player you understand and think about the best for the team.
“When I get onto the ice, I do my best and that’s all I can do. All of the guys are thinking that way. No one is thinking about the minutes. It’s easier if you play all the time, but there’s only one thing and that is the team..”
Kakko, Cuylle and Wennberg often surrounded the net. The next objective is to get the puck to the net. The objective after that is to put the puck in the net. Creating and winning battles are vital because the playoffs are a battle of attrition.
“I feel my game is playoff hockey,” Kakko said. “You know the series can be seven games so guys can become more tired if you can keep the puck in the O-zone and wear them down behind the net, in the corners, fighting for the puck.
“We want to create chances down low and keep it there. I think our line is a good match for the playoffs. We want to contribute. I want to contribute.”
He wants to flip the script. He wants a rewrite. Year 5, yearning for his close-up.