NHL teams, executives, coaches, and players should all be optimistic about the next season as training camp gets underway. One day before training camp opens, on Tuesday, the general manager of the New York Rangers, Chris Drury, spoke with reporters. He fit right in with that storyline.
The Rangers general manager always had a positive spin on whatever subject was thrown at him, whether it was talking about his great friendship with captain Jacob Trouba—whom he attempted to trade this past offseason—or thinking back on the painful lessons he had to learn from losing two of the previous three Eastern Conference Finals.
That includes his opinions of the young forwards Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. Everybody wants to get better after a challenging 2023–24 campaign. But going into training camp, the general manager is optimistic that each will accomplish just that.
Drury looked especially optimistic about Kakko, who didn’t play well the previous season and is probably going to have a make-or-break season with the Rangers.
“Another guy who looks great in early testing and had a terrific offseason,” Drury remarked. “I think he’s ready for a successful year for us, and he wants to show that last year was an anomaly.”
Two seasons ago, Kakko earned 40 points and 18 goals. When the Rangers selected him with the No. 2 choice in the 2019 NHL Draft, he seemed poised to emerge as the major player they had envisioned.
It’s no secret that Kakko’s 2023–24 season wasn’t very successful. Kakko missed 21 games in the midst of the season due to a lower-body ailment that kept him out of action until the end of November. He scored 13 goals and provided six assists for a pitiful 19 points in 61 regular-season games.
Drury said bluntly, “He dealt with an injury last year, and admittedly he didn’t have the best year.”
Kakko had great hopes going into the season and was a member of the starting line-up alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. The line lacked cohesion and struggled to generate offense, therefore that experiment was a failure. After being moved to the third line, Kakko struggled offensively and got less time on the ice. He mostly played with Alex Wennberg, Jonny Brodzinski, Will Cuylle, and Jimmy Vesey.
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Kakko participated in 15 games with one goal, which came against the Washington Capitals in the opening round’s Game 4. Against the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final, he was a healthy scratch.
On June’s breakup day, though, the 23-year-old made a commitment to change as a player in the upcoming campaign. He signed a one-year contract extension right away. Now that Drury has resisted the urge to move Kakko, he stands to gain a significant role in the camp.
Kakko needs to step up his game, whether it’s by returning to the third line to increase their secondary scoring or by getting another opportunity with Kreider and Zibanejad.
Coach Peter Laviolette said on Wednesday, “He’ll get an opportunity to play his game and take hold of what he wants to take hold of.”
Related: Matt Rempe is one of the seven Rangers to watch in training camp.
The general manager of the NY Rangers says Filip Chytil is “full go” to begin training camp. Filip Chytil
Jessica Alcheh/USA TODAY Sports is the photographer.
Chytil is another Rangers player who hopes that the previous season was an exception. Due to an upper-body injury that was thought to be a concussion, the 25-year-old center missed all but ten of the team’s games. Hearing what Drury had to say about Chytil joining camp was encouraging, considering it is thought that he suffered many concussions over his career.
Chytil is a “full go” and has “nothing holding him back,” according to Drury.
The Rangers have a significant advantage over other teams down the middle when Chytil is healthy. It’s pretty damn nice to have Vincent Trocheck, Zibanejad, and Chytil as your top three centers. Even though Chytil centered for Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin prior to his injury, Trocheck, who replaced him last season, had an All-Star season, thus it’s likely that Chytil will end up on the third line.
In the event that Chytil achieves his projected 22 goals and 45 points in 2022–23, the Rangers have a strong lineup in their top nine.
Without a doubt, Chytil will be improved upon from when he made his comeback in the postseason this past spring. Chytil looked quite rusty after missing six months of activity, going scoreless in six games.
Positive signals that the Rangers have some more reliable options to provide offense this season include a completely healthy Chytil and a driven Kakko.
While that is fantastic news, Drury also had some less than ideal news regarding minor injuries. Riley Nash, an experienced center who spent the previous season with Hartford of the American Hockey League, had a lower-body ailment in the offseason and will not be present for training camp. In addition, Hartford center Ryder Korczak will miss the beginning of camp after getting “dinged up” in a rookie game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
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