The Seattle Kraken made a blockbuster trade on Wednesday, sending defenseman Will Borgen, a third-round pick, and a sixth-round pick in this summer’s NHL Draft to the New York Rangers for 23-year-old forward Kaapo Kakko.
Hailing from Turku, Finland, Kakko is already in his sixth NHL season, having tallied 61 goals and 70 assists in 330 games—all with the Rangers. He has four goals and 10 assists this season. The best output of his career to date came in the 2022-23 season when he played all 82 games for the Rangers and posted 40 points (18-22=40).
Borgen, meanwhile, heads to Broadway where the Rangers hope he will help them shore up a leaky defense corps that has contributed to New York’s slide in the Metropolitan Division standings.
“Kaapo is a young, dynamic forward who brings skill and offense to our club,” Kraken general manager Ron Francis said. “We’re excited to have him join us. I also want to thank Will for everything he’s done for our franchise. As an original member of the Kraken, we wish him all the best in New York.”
What the Kakko Kaapo trade brings to the Kraken
Kakko was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 draft, and in the lead-up to that draft, there was even some discussion from pundits that he could end up supplanting Jack Hughes at No. 1. At the time, Kakko was seen as a developed skater with size and hockey IQ, ready to make an immediate NHL impact.
He hasn’t lived up to the sky-high expectations in New York, though, and with Rangers GM Chris Drury desperate to shake things up for his club, Kakko went the way of captain Jacob Trouba, who was dealt to Anaheim last week.
This trade for Kakko should help Seattle both now and in the future. He still has plenty of upside and a reasonable salary cap hit of just $2.4 million for this season. He will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in the summer, meaning he will only be able to sign with Seattle but has some leverage in potentially incorporating a neutral party to determine a fair contract extension. We will talk more about that at a later date, but the point is that Kakko is likely to remain with the Kraken beyond this season.
This past week, Kakko found himself in headlines after he was surprisingly made a healthy scratch by Rangers coach Peter Laviolette on Sunday in what would turn out to be a 3-2 loss at the St. Louis Blues.
He publicly voiced displeasure with the decision, telling Mollie Walker of the New York Post, “I haven’t been on the ice too much when [opponents] score a goal… I have not been the worst guy, but that was me out of the lineup.”
Interestingly, if you scour reactions from Rangers reporters, they seemed to agree that Kakko had not been the problem for New York. Vince Mercogliano of the USA Today tweeted, “Just my opinion, but this is a peculiar choice. If you’re going down the list of guys who have disappointed with their effort lately, I’d name at least a half dozen before I got to Kakko,” and Larry Brooks wrote on the same platform, “I don’t think Kakko has been at his best recently, but come on, he is the one singled out? Can’t be. This cannot simply be a run-of-the-mill healthy scratch.”
Our belief is that Francis made this trade looking for a player that can get to the inside to help create more dangerous chances for a team that has been starved for offense and looked incapable of generating chances the last two games. At first glance, this Kakko trade appears to be a win for Seattle, both for immediate impact and long-term potential, especially if he finds his footing in a new environment.
Best of luck, Will Borgen
It was fascinating to watch Will Borgen blossom from an unknown, oft-scratched blueliner in Seattle’s inaugural season to third-pair stalwart by the end of his tenure in Seattle. He played with an edge that few others on the Kraken carry and became a reliable player in all three zones.
During Vince Dunn’s extended absence, though, Josh Mahura filled in admirably and arguably performed better than Borgen during that time. With Borgen becoming a desirable asset around the league and playing on an expiring contract, packaging him now—well ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline—with a couple draft picks for a player of Kakko’s caliber and potential is a no-brainer.
We will remain big Borgen fans and wish him the best of luck in the Big Apple. We also worry for Matty Beniers, who will certainly be devastated to see his buddy and roommate moved on.
Sound Of Hockey will surely have more Kakko-related content in the coming days, so stay tuned. In the meantime, what do you think of this deal? Let us know in the comments.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.