I don’t understand the Kakko hate or reason for trading him. Yea, he hasn’t lived up to 2nd overall hype, but he’s still a good NHLer at age 22. His strong suits are puck possession/protection, wall play and defense. His cap hit is $2.1m and coming off a slow start/serious injury this year. He’s oddly become the scapegoat when Kreider/Mika have sucked at 5v5, so obviously Kakko gets demoted to 3rd line
Last year Kakko had 15 goals 32 points at 5v5
More points than:
Bergeron, JT Miller, Tarasenko, Zucc, Barzal, DeBrincat, Reinhart, Batherson, Kreider
1. Some people are impatient
2. Some people think the window is closing
3. Some people base everything on G & A
Fact is, this is the prelude to the Chris Drury window. His job isn’t in jeopardy. The kids are developing and getting playoff experience. More kids are being drafted that will be a big part of the window. He’s not giving up important pieces for an extra round of playoffs today
It's just draft position & expectations in New York. He needs to go somewhere else to get that off his back. He's a solid player and will be appreciated as such with a fresh start.