Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniére are super promises whose final breakthrough to the top of the NHL is still waiting.
- The New York Rangers got lucky in 2020, when a 12.5 percent chance earned them the first round of the NHL draft.
- A year earlier, Rangers were also in a good position, when in the draft lottery there was a 7.8 percent probability of a second reserve round.
- Rangers used it for the Finnish super promise Kaapo Kakko, who as the youngest player of all time had managed to win both the under-18, under-20 and adult world championships.
Even in Kultaleijon, the 18-year-old TPS student was not a continuation of the group, but became the team’s best scorer with six hits.
The first NHL season 2019–20 brought Kaapo to Kako 23 points in 66 matches, which raised promises but has not yet fulfilled them.
The expectations of Rangers fans rose even higher in 2020 when the club won the first reserve round in the draft lottery. That’s what it used to Alexis Lafreniérewhose position as the number one reservation had a full consensus among the experts.
The North American media saw the then 18-year-old Canadian as the sport’s next big superstar.
Despite the different reservation years, Lafreniére and Kakko were both born in 2001.
The Rangers put them in the same chain with a center forward they booked in the first round, two years older By Filip Chytil with. The Czech reservation number in 2017 was 21.
“The Kid Line” was born.
Comparison with Hughes
However, at no point did the young trio emerge as the expected profit unit, and now it has already been disbanded.
Lafreniére and Chytil have joined the second chain by Artemi Panarinand Kakko has been promoted to number one by Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejadin alongside.
Kakko has scored 45+55=100 points in 248 NHL games played, and Lafreniére has scored 51+44=95 in 225 games.
Kakko even challenged for the first pick in the 2019 draft Jack Hughesbut now it’s easy to say that New Jersey pulled the right strings: Hughes has mastered 92+133=225 rock-solid performances in 252 matches.
He leads this season’s points market with a staggering 5+13=18 points after eight matches.
On the plus side
Did the Rangers squander their golden opportunity – the number two and number one pick in back-to-back years – by relying on the wrong players?
Of course, Kakko and Lafreniére should not be judged as lost promises, after all, they are only 22 years old.
Both have also improved in overall playing, which is reflected, for example, in their plus/minus balance. The readings of Kako’s four previous seasons are –26, +3, +9 and +12, and Lafrenié’s three seasons are –7, +2 and +10, respectively.
Power behind
No player of the brightest superstar class has been found behind Kako either. Still, it should be clear that with today’s information, Rangers would have chosen differently in 2019.
For example, in the fourth and sixth drafts, Colorado and Detroit grabbed top defenders By Bowen Byram and by Moritz Seider.
Booked seventh by Buffalo Dylan Cozens has scored 51+75=126 in 210 games and Anaheim’s ninth Trevor Zegras In 189 matches, 50+91=141.
Minnesota got number 12 Matt Boldynwhose performances in 130 matches are proportionally even stronger: 47+57=104.
Booked by Montreal number 15 Cole Caufield has scored 57+37=94 points in 132 matches.
Arizona’s fourth-round picks and number 98 can be considered real steals Matias Maccellia (95, 13+48=61) and in Nashville’s seventh round and number 201 Juuso from Pärssi (53, 8+20=28).
Pearl side to mouth
Tim Stützle’s development has been faster than the number one reservation Alexis Lafreniére. AOP / USA Today Sports
A year later, the supply of talent behind first place Lafreniére was not as broad, but the top of the age group was even sharper.
Ottawa got the German, who turned out to be the brightest diamond of the entire year, in the third turn Tim Stützlen (218, 75+112=187), and right after Detroit caught the Swede Lucas Raymond (166, 43+67=110).
Stützle would pass by throwing Lafreniére if the draft could be manipulated based on later information.
Booked by Buffalo number eight Jack Quinn (77, 15+24=39) and went to Winnipeg two innings later Cole Perfect (78, 11+32=43) have made decent performances considering their number of matches.
The silent years
Anton Lundell (146, 30+49=79) ended up with number 12 in Florida’s wound and Seth Jarvis (160, 35+53=88) right after the Finn to Carolina.
For example, Lundell’s (0.54) average points per game is better than Lafreniére’s (0.42).
New Jersey still got number 18 by Dawson Mercer (172, 44+54=98) and Buffalo in the second round and number 34 JJ Peterkan (88.16+20=36).
The Rangers had two first-round picks in 2020, and at No. 19, they took a defenseman by Braden Schneider (133, 8+23=31).
In the second round, it stuck Will Cuyllenwhich has so far only been seen in 13 NHL games (1+0=1).
After that, complete silence begins: none of the players booked by the Rangers in 2021, 2022 and 2023 has yet played in the NHL.
In these years, the club has made a total of 19 bookings, two of which in the first round (Brennan Othmann 2021, Gabriel Perreault 2023).
The mountain trusts
– Of course you can learn from it, Ari Vuori says for those with hindsight the favorable opportunity to evaluate reservation annual reports in retrospect.
Vuori started last year as the European director of Rangers’ talent search. He moved to New York from Toronto, where he worked for several years in the same position.
This year’s NHL draft was the first that Vuori was planning on the Rangers’ payroll. The GM, North American talent search directors and head coach have also recently changed.
Vuori doesn’t want to start rooting for the club’s reservation policy of previous years.
– But yes, I have strong credit. I see that they are all coming from there, Vuori says of Kako, Lafreniére and Chytil.
– They have been brought in little by little, and I believe that this season will be good for all three. The beginning has been promising.
Long term
Vuori reminds that the players are still young, so there is time.
– It’s a tough place to move to the NHL at the age of 18. It’s quite extraordinary if someone hits straight away. For a European, it also takes a certain amount of time to adapt to life and the game in North America.
– When we reserve players, we think about the future of that player. It’s very rare to think about a player coming to play next year. You have to be patient and give yourself time to work.
The Rangers organization receives unreserved praise from the 61-year-old Turku man who has worked in various NHL organizations for almost 30 years.
– Everything is done for the player’s development, and yes, I have terrible faith in Kaapo, Vuori assures.
– Yes, it will come from there even in light of the points.