NHL Commerce Grades: Kaapo Kaako Dealt by Rangers to Kraken for Will Borgen and Picks

The New York Rangers, desperately looking for options to what’s more and more changing into a nightmare season, make their second commerce of the final 20 days.

Trading Jacob Trouba was a mandatory transfer within the huge image, however it didn’t resolve monumental issues on protection. They hope right-handed defenseman Will Borgen will help.

In the meantime, Seattle can be out of the playoff image. They might not have the hysteria at the moment current in New York, however this can be a staff that should change its make-up and inject some youth at ahead.

Is that this commerce doubtless to assist the Rangers flip issues round? What can Seattle realistically count on from Kakko after he didn’t reside as much as the hype in New York?

Listed below are commerce grades for each the Rangers and Kraken.

The New York Rangers’ issues proper now are well-documented.

They’re enjoying atrocious hockey and, if the season ended at the moment, would not be a playoff staff. However the actual story has been very public discontent throughout the group.

Kaapo Kakko’s latest complaints about being a wholesome scratch had been solely the newest set up in a season-long melodrama.

With a staff needing wholesale change, it is no shock that they moved on from the disgruntled winger.

The truth is that these developments solely expedited the inevitable. Kakko was due for one more contract in the summertime and the group is stocked with younger wingers on the up-and-up. Gabe Perreault, Brennan Othmann and Brett Berard will all be combating for full-time NHL standing subsequent season, with Adam Sýkora not far behind. They’re going to want low cost, younger gamers to refill the lineup as they try to search out dearer options to issues on protection and possibly at heart.

So on that entrance, the Rangers made an inexpensive evaluation of the state of the group and staff wants.

This is the issue.

It looks like Kakko has been round eternally however he’s nonetheless simply 23. There are gamers simply breaking by way of at that age. Even when the Finnish winger has plateaued in his improvement, he’s a 45-point winger with a powerful defensive presence and could possibly be a succesful NHLer for the following decade. That is a priceless participant within the NHL panorama.

And what do the Rangers have to point out for it?

When Will Borgen is on his sport, he generally is a helpful defenseman. He brings little offense, however the 6’3″ Minnesota native is an effective skater for his dimension. He can retrieve pucks and discover exits out of the defensive zone. He is an honest sufficient defender in opposition to the push, a obvious weak point for the Rangers. At his finest, Borgen is a shutdown third-pairing defenseman.

However Borgen has been very poor for Seattle this season. Statistically, the righty has been one of many worst defensemen in the NHL in all sides: offensive, defensive, and total impacts. It is attainable the Rangers simply made their protection even worse.

The Rangers are betting that Borgen wasn’t a match for brand spanking new head coach Dan Bylsma’s programs, however to what finish? Even when he figures it out in New York, it will likely be as a third-pairing defenseman who turns into an unrestricted free agent in six months.

Ignore Kakko’s historical past as a second-overall decide. The Rangers traded a younger middle-six winger who performs a 200-foot sport in return for spare components. It is onerous to see how, even within the best-case situation, this does a lot of something to alter the trajectory of their season whereas providing little in the best way of long-term assist.

Grade: C-

Let’s get this out of the best way; Kaapo Kakko has not lived as much as second-overall billing and by no means will. He has work to do to even cement a spot within the top-15 of a 2019 redraft.

As soon as all expectations are decoupled from that historical past, it is simple to understand what the Finnish winger brings to the desk. For many of this season, Kakko was an vital a part of the staff’s finest line. He has nice defensive habits to remove lanes and win pucks. He’s extraordinarily robust across the partitions, holding pucks eternally and increasing offensive-zone cycles.

With the mix of dimension, instincts, and work ethic, Kakko is phenomenal at making performs all around the ice to tilt play in his staff’s favor.

What hasn’t developed for Kakko since his days in Finland are his fingers. It takes him too lengthy to course of play and get the puck off his stick, whether or not that is an additional delay in his taking pictures movement or a wrestle to beat a defender in open ice.

He’s simply 23 years outdated, although, and he in all probability was impacted rather a lot by expectations that he inherited as a international teenager within the New York market. Perhaps Seattle can unlock extra in his sport. Perhaps Kakko will discover his approach and grow to be a 50-point top-six winger. If he does, it is a steal for Seattle.

Even when not, one can safely undertaking Kakko as a fixture on the Kraken third line for the following 5 seasons. The value for that sort of participant is often far more than third- and sixth-round picks plus a depth defenseman who fell out of favor. Contemplate, as an illustration, that each Tanner Jeannot and Beck Malenstyn introduced again second-round picks over the summer season regardless of being far worse gamers.

Grade: A