What kind of player is Kaapo Kakko and what are his next Rangers steps?

Corey Sipkin

The primary order of enterprise for Kaapo Kakko is completed — a two-year bridge deal signed final week at a median annual worth of $2.1 million — and now the strain is all on the 21-year-old Finn.

There's room for argument on the state of Kakko’s improvement after a promising postseason that ended within the press field, however there are solely two opinions that actually matter: these of Chris Drury and Gerard Gallant. And, no less than in Gallant’s case, it’s clear that he believes Kakko has fairly a protracted option to go — in any other case he wouldn’t have benched Kakko within the remaining recreation of the season.

That call drew ire from segments of followers and media principally on account of its divergence from typical knowledge concerning Kakko’s play. Moreover, Gallant by no means gave an in-depth clarification concerning his thought course of, so it's laborious to say precisely what Kakko must do to regain his standing going into his fourth NHL season. However what we will do is take a deep dive into the numbers to attempt to determine what a greater season would seem like.

At five-on-five, what stands out is the trendline. Although Kakko’s scoring and help charges in 2021-22 have been on an upward trajectory from 2020-21, a complete lot of underlying stats inform a special story.