Kaapo Kakko is an example of an NHL hockey player whose career was only good when he traded players and changed clubs.

• Kaapo Kakko is currently without a contract.
• The striker received a new boost to his career through a club transfer.

Forward Kaapo Kakko was informed of the first player trade of his career last Christmas, on December 18th.

The TPS coach’s career had been stagnant for a while with the legendary New York Rangers. The man was traded to the Seattle Kraken.

The trade infuriated some Rangers fans.

– I was able to wait for a while for something to happen. Now I can say that the trade was a good thing, it felt like a new beginning. I always went into a new season with high expectations, but things rolled out the same way from season to season. My playing time was a little short. It was a bit of a grind in New York.

trade

“You can look in the mirror, of course,” Kakko says.

The 24-year-old forward played for Rangers for five full seasons and a half.

Was the deal ultimately a relief or a disappointment?

– It has its pros and cons. I had already thought that maybe there would be a better opportunity somewhere else. Of course, New York had a very good team, good guys and everything was in order. And that’s where you go to play. Yes, the change gave me new motivation to train.

“First day of school”

The Kako deal came as a surprise, in the middle of an away game.

– We were in Dallas on a gaming trip when I got the news around 5 p.m. I left for Chicago, where Kraken was on a gaming trip. I arrived at the hotel in Chicago around midnight.

– I met my new gaming buddies at breakfast. It was a bit like the first day of school, a lot of new things, Kakko recounts the eventful events of December.

The fast start also brought practical problems.

– I only had a few clothes with me because I was going on a short game trip with the Rangers, and Kraken was on a longer trip. We went with the same clothes and bought new ones. One challenge was that my passport was in New York and we were going to Canada soon. I had to get my passport from there quickly. There were a lot of events.

Went in Seattle

Kakko played 30 games for the Rangers last season and scored 14 points. The forward played 49 games for the Kraken and scored 10 goals and 30 points.

So the man’s game opened up in a completely new way at the new club – but not at the push of a button.

– When I was traded, we had a game against Chicago the very first night. It didn’t go well, the first games with the new club didn’t go well. I didn’t get any spots and I was pretty sour. I was already wondering if I was in bad shape.

– I thought that now there is a new place and things have to start happening. I had been waiting for a change of scenery. I don’t know if there was any particular reason that the game started in Kraken.

No acquaintances

Kakko moved to a completely new group. He had not previously played in the NHL with any Kraken players.

– Everyone was new to me. Only Eeli Tolvanen and I had played together in the under-20 national team.

– I also have to thank Eeli for his help when the trade came. I was able to live with him at the beginning and he helped a lot, says Kakko, the under-18 and under-20 world champion and men’s world champion.

Kraken did not make the playoffs last season, and American coach Dan Bylsma was fired after the season.

The team’s new coach is Canadian Lane Lambert.

– The new coach is not familiar to me in any way. Of course, I have followed the man’s career, but we have no common experiences. Things will work out if I return to Seattle, Kakko thinks.

Waiting for an agreement

The Turkulainen’s contract expired last season. Kraken has until the end of June to make the Finn a qualifying offer in order to retain the man’s rights.

qualifying offer

Without a contract offer, Kakko will become a free agent from Monday onwards, which would give him the opportunity to negotiate a contract with any club.

– There’s nothing special to say about the contract at this point. Time will tell what happens. I’m a so-called restricted free agent, my rights are with Kraken. That’s where the negotiations are headed, Kakko says.

So the man is training towards a new season in a situation without a contract.

– This is not a particularly special situation. I have been in the same situation in previous summers, where there was no 100% certainty about what would happen in the fall. Contract or not, I am training hard for the new season.

Rautala Sähly

Kakko spends most of the summer at a cottage in Naantali. He trains well there, but the NHL player also trains with a familiar group in Turku, the so-called Rautala group, led by Marko Rautala.

– It’s pretty much the same pattern in the summer as before. I think this is my ninth summer in the Rautala group. We have a good group there. We train in the gym, run up the stairs and on Thursdays we have the traditional sähly.

According to information circulating in hockey circles, the group’s sähly is less technical and quite physical, an iron league department activity.

– I’m going to have a really long training period this summer, I think I’m already in the ninth week. That’s a good thing and it feels good in my body. I have to make the most of the long summer in terms of training. I don’t consider training hard work, the player reflects.

– I’ve already been on the ice a bit, testing skates and spinning. I’ll be doing more ice training as the summer progresses.

Young men from Turku are known to have two extra dates in their calendars, in addition to the normal holidays, namely Ruisrock and DBTL.

This is also the case with Kakko.

– I haven’t bought a ticket to Ruisrock yet, but there are such good performers at DBTL that I probably have to go there for a day. Turku is a good summer city, Kakko laughs.