Updated Trade Landing Spots for Rangers Winger Kaapo Kakko Amid NHL Rumors

It's been a rough autumn for New York City sports fans.

The Yankees and Mets lost in MLB's final four. The Giants and Jets are closer to the NFL's top draft pick than their playoff berths. The Islanders are 12th in a 16-team conference with 50 games left in another middling NHL season.

But none, perhaps, are more disappointing than the Rangers.

Coach Peter Laviolette and Co. were regular-season kingpins and Presidents' Trophy winners in 2023-24. They eliminated the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes before losing in six competitive games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

So to suggest optimism was high when the puck dropped this fall is an understatement.

Neither is suggesting that things—in the form of a 3-10-0 plunge from a 12-4-1 start—could seem much worse than they are one week before Santa's adventure begins.

Predictably, the skid has prompted calls for housecleaning and it began with a deal that sent rugged defenseman and team captain Jacob Trouba to Anaheim for a player and a pick.

Next on the block could be winger Kaapo Kakko, who was drafted second overall in 2019 and was a healthy scratch in the 3-2 loss at St. Louis on Sunday.

TSN insider Darren Dreger said the 23-year-old is probably aiming for a fresh start amid the rumors, which prompted the B/R hockey team to consider a handful of updated landing spots should general manager Chris Drury pull the trigger on a trade.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments section.

By all indications, Connor Bedard is a transcendent talent.

But the players with whom the Blackhawks have surrounded the 2023 No. 1 pick since his arrival have been something else.

Still just 19 years old, Bedard had produced 87 points in 99 games through a Sunday defeat of the Islanders, but the team finished 31st overall in his rookie season and is languishing in similar surroundings in 2024-25.

None of the veterans brought in over the summer—including wingers Tyler Bertuzzi and Patrick Maroon and center Teuvo Teravainen—have made much of an impact, with the trio combining for 37 points and a minus-29 rating through 30 games.

Kakko's elite hockey sense, puck skills and willingness to go into the tough areas could be a worthwhile complement for Bedard, and the change of scenery might revitalize him enough to provide a spark as well.

And Chicago has picks aplenty or assets such as 2010 No. 1 pick Taylor Hall to dangle in return should Drury decide the Second City is his primary option.

Sometimes, it's just about the shakeup.

The on-ice angst in New York City may be outdone by the Rangers' upstate neighbors in Buffalo, where the Sabres are mired in a gargantuan skid that has left them winless since five days before Thanksgiving: a 0-7-3 apocalypse and a minus-15 goal differential.

Owner Terry Pegula visited the team in Montreal on Monday, and, though he assured players that big deals were not an immediate answer, it's not hard to imagine a scenario in which something happens to jolt the locker room before the league's week-long roster freeze that stretches from this Friday through December 27.

Kakko's power-play experience and top-nine tools could be useful for embattled coach Lindy Ruff as he searches for a remedy.

And defenseman Bowen Byram, who was selected two picks after Kakko in 2019, might be equally effective in New York as he continues to seek an NHL foothold after coming to Buffalo in a deal for Casey Mittelstadt just nine months ago.

This one might sound familiar.

Macklin Celebrini was picked first overall in 2024 and is considered to be a franchise-altering talent.

The 18-year-old has gotten into just 21 games with the San Jose Sharks but has produced 10 goals and 10 assists and provided precisely the sort of spark needed by a franchise that hasn't seen the playoffs or a finish higher than sixth place since the 2018-19 season.

The Sharks were without Celebrini for all but 18 minutes of a 3-8-2 start but have been something close to respectable since, going 8-9-3 with the league's 10th-best goal total (59) since he returned on November 5.

It makes sense then that general manager Mike Grier might be on the hunt for a skilled young piece to keep his development—and the team's rise—on track.

His hope? It'll work better in California than in Illinois.

And now, a picture from the other side.

The Calgary Flames have missed the playoffs for two straight seasons and three of the last four, but they're one of the league's biggest positive surprises in 2024-25, running neck-and-neck with the Vancouver Canucks for the West's eighth playoff berth through Sunday.

The unexpected success changes perception a bit, but there's still a definite rebuild underway for a franchise that's bid farewell to the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Jacob Markstrom, Nikita Zadorov, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin since the summer of 2022.

Injecting youth surely advances that approach and the reasons why Kakko could fit in Western New York are no less relevant in Southern Alberta, where seven of Calgary's 15 rostered forwards are still beyond their 30th birthday.

Kakko's 14 points in 29 games would tie him for sixth on the team and his plus-10 rating would be its best, a notch ahead of Matt Coronato's plus-9.

Remember the summer?

When every NHL news cycle seemed to include a high-profile acquisition by the Nashville Predators, ramping up optimism in title-starved Tennessee to an all-time franchise high.

Steven Stamkos. Jonathan Marchessault. Brady Skjei.

They signed within hours of one another in the first week of July on a trio of deals that combined for 16 seasons and better than $108 million.

And the competitive payoff so far has been, well, pretty unsatisfying.

The Predators have won just eight of their first 31 games, accounting for 22 points and locking them in a tie for the overall basement with the Blackhawks.

So, after going all-in on veteran forwards—Stamkos is 34 and Marchessault will turn 34 later this month—it could be time for a youthful injection up front.

Just 23 but already in his sixth NHL season, Kakko is at least a worthwhile experiment for a team desperately needing a makeover to make the rest of the season something more than perfunctory.