Seattle Kraken’s Kakko Experiencing Career Resurgence

When 23-year-old forward Kaapo Kakko – the second-overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft – was traded by the New York Rangers to the Seattle Kraken, there were two ways to view the deal. 

From the Rangers’ perspective, Kakko had stalled in his development, and the organization was no longer willing to put in the effort needed to help him reach his potential, which was less than two months away from his 24th birthday. The forward was made a healthy scratch in mid-December for what would end up being the Rangers’ 11th loss in 14 games and spoke out against the decision. He was traded the next day.

From the Kraken’s point-of-view, swapping pending unrestricted free-agent defenseman Will Borgen for Kakko represented an opportunity to buy low on a player once deemed the next superstar to emerge from Finland. In the month and a half since the trade, the bet looks to have paid off for the Kraken and could prove to be one of the best trades in the franchise’s short history.

Kakko Pushed to the Margins by the Rangers

Kakko’s final healthy scratch issued by head coach Peter Laviolette and the ensuing soundbite was the nail in the coffin, but the writing was on the wall for the young forward who becomes a restricted free agent (RFA) this summer.

Kakko was thought to have broken out following an 18-goal, 40-point campaign in 2022-23, but only scored 17 goals and 33 points over the next 91 games with New York before being traded. He saw an average of 15:18 minutes in all situations during the 2022-23 season, but that dropped significantly to a career-low 13:16 minutes per game in 2023-24, a number he matched during his final 30 games in New York this season.

Laviolette’s history of being a veteran-friendly bench boss and the Rangers’ Stanley Cup hopes worked against Kakko. 2020 first-overall pick Alexis Lafreniere was also once in this predicament, but his 28-goal, 57-point effort during the 2023-24 regular season and a strong showing in the 2024 NHL Playoffs (14 points in 16 games) gave the Rangers’ front office more confidence in committing to him long term. 

While Lafreniere earned a seven-year contract worth $7.45 million annually last summer, Kakko’s vocal opposition to his deployment and stagnant professional development ultimately spelled the end of his frustrating tenure in New York.

Kakko Making Most of Fresh Start in Seattle

When players who were picked high in the draft struggle to meet expectations, a trade can either be a sorely-needed second chance or a death knell for their career in North America. 

Nail Yakupov (first-overall; 2012), Griffin Reinhart (fourth-overall; 2012), Michael Dal Colle (fifth-overall; 2014), and Olli Juolevi (fifth-overall, 2016) are some of the most notorious draft busts of the salary cap era and while Kakko showed more at the NHL level than those four in his first few seasons, it’s not a reach to say he was going down the same path. 

Luckily for him, the move to Seattle looks like it has revitalized his career, as he’s seen a notable uptick in ice time (ATOI) in all situations compared to earlier this season. Since the trade, Kakko ranks third among all Kraken forwards in five-on-five ice time and fifth across all situations.

The Kraken have struggled immensely over the past month, only accounting for 46.1% of all shots (29th in the NHL over that time), 41.5% of expected goals (30th), and 39.8% of scoring chances (32nd). The team is looking more and more like a bottom-five outfit this season, but Kakko’s line has been the lone bright spot since he arrived.

In the 18 games since the trade, Kakko has scored four goals and 14 points to tie for the team lead in scoring over that time while recently taking up residence on the Kraken’s new-look first line beside Jaden Schwartz and Matty Beniers. 

In just over 200 minutes together at five-on-five, the trio has controlled 50.3% of all shots on net, 50.7% of high-danger chances, and has outscored their opposition by a 12-8 margin. The Kraken have been outscored 26-19 at five-on-five when none of those three are on the ice, demonstrating their importance to the squad.

The Kraken are an underwhelming 7-10-1 since trading for Kakko, but he and his linemates have injected some optimism into the team’s youth movement going forward.

Kakko Trade is a Good Move for the Future

I have written endlessly about the Kraken’s need to pick a direction as a franchise ahead of the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline (March 7th) and while trading Borgen for draft picks would have been a good move on its own, getting a more polished, but still growing asset is a better one.

Kakko joins the Kraken’s intriguing group of players under 30 years of age, with Eeli Tolvanen (25), Joey Daccord (28), Vince Dunn (28), Jared McCann (28), and Andre Burakovsky (29) still under contract through next season while being on the right side of the ledger. The circumstances that brought Tolvanen to Seattle were very similar to Kakko’s situation, and the Kraken should continue making bets on once highly-regarded prospects as a way to make up for their lack of top draft picks.

Three under-23 players, Ryker Evans (23), Matty Beniers (22), and Shane Wright (21), all have more than 100 combined NHL and American Hockey League (AHL) on their respective resumes. Further, the organization recently added forward Berkly Catton (picked eighth-overall in 2024) to a blossoming prospect pool which Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked 12th in the NHL a year ago and saw a bump in the 2025 rankings, even as Wright graduates from his designation as a prospect.

Despite the promising early returns of the Kakko deal, the Kraken still have their work cut out for them going forward. They are not only staring down an eight-point deficit to catch the Calgary Flames for the second and final wildcard spot in the Western Conference but also have three other teams to leapfrog in the process. Each of those teams is at least two points ahead in the playoff race, with three of the four, including Calgary, holding at least two games in hand on the Kraken.

The odds of making the playoffs for the second time in franchise history are not in their favor as Hockey Reference, MoneyPuck, and The Athletic all give Seattle a less than 10 percent chance of qualifying for the postseason. The success of the Kakko trade and the quality of the prospect pool should give the Kraken the push to go all-in for a mini-retool with the goal of seriously contending in the back half of the decade. It will bring pain in the short term but remains a much more appealing option than forever treading water in the NHL’s mushy middle.

Data courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and the NHL.