On Dec. 18, the New York Rangers traded right winger Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for defenseman Will Borgen, a third-round pick, and a sixth-round pick. The underwhelming return is reminiscent of the Pavel Buchnevich trade, which was the first big trade made by Chris Drury, who is the team’s general manager (GM) and president.
The Kakko Trade
The Rangers drafted Kakko second overall in the 2019 NHL Draft and while he has not become a star, he has become a valuable defensive forward and he had success playing on the third line. During the 2022 Playoffs, he played alongside Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere and their line was one of the team’s best. He followed that up with a strong 2022-23 season, finishing with 18 goals and 22 assists even though he rarely played on the power play. All but three of his points came at even strength.
Early last season Kakko got a chance to play in the top-six but he struggled and then missed extended time with a lower-body injury. However, he played better on the third line late in the season and finished with 13 goals and six assists in 61 games.
This season Kakko played well on the Rangers’ third line with Chytil and Will Cuylle. The line was the team’s best but head coach Peter Laviolette opted to split them up with the top two lines struggling. He then decided to scratch Kakko in a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 15. He had four goals, 10 assists and was plus-9 in 30 games. All but two of his points came at even strength.
The Rangers have been very sloppy defensively over the past few weeks so the decision to scratch Kakko was odd given that he has been one of the team’s better defensive forwards this season. Veteran center Mika Zibanejad has had numerous giveaways and defensive lapses that have led directly to goals for the team’s opponents and he is minus-19 this season, by far the worst on the team.
A few days after the benching, Drury traded Kakko. Borgen, who spent four seasons on the Kraken’s third pairing, struggled with them this season and had just one goal and one assist in 33 games. He also was minus-13, the worst on the team. He does possess size and physicality and he set career-highs last season in goals (three) and assists (22).
Kakko has more upside than Borgen and is having a much better season. Borgen is set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season while Kakko is set to become a restricted free agent after this season. Adding draft picks is nice but neither one is in the early rounds so this is a disappointing return for the Rangers.
The Buchnevich Trade
During the 2020-21 season, Buchnevich had a breakout season with the Rangers, finishing with 20 goals and 28 assists in 54 games, while playing very well defensively. Drury took over as GM after the season ended and promptly traded him to the Blues in exchange for Sammy Blais and a second-round pick.
Related: Rangers GM Chris Drury’s 5 Best & Worst Moves
At the time, the trade looked bad for the Rangers as Buchnevich was a top-six forward on the rise and Blais was a fourth-liner. Over time, the trade got even worse for New York. Buchnevich was immediately one of the Blues’ best players, finishing with 30 goals and 46 assists in 73 games in 2021-22. He followed that up with 26 goals and 41 assists in 63 games in 2022-23, and 27 goals and 36 assists in 80 games last season.
Blais had played well on the fourth line with the Blues but had never finished with more than eight goals or 15 points in a season when the Rangers acquired him. He had no goals and four assists in 14 games before a lower-body injury ended his 2021-22 season. He then had no goals and five assists in 40 games before they traded him back to St. Louis during the 2022-23 season. This season he is playing for the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League (AHL).
The deal haunted the Rangers as they never found a right-winger that could replace Buchnevich on their top line with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Although they made deep playoff runs, they lost in the Eastern Conference Final in both 2021-22 and 2023-24.
For the Rangers Moving Forward
The Kakko trade shows Drury did not lot learn from the mistake he made trading Buchnevich. Borgen, a struggling but gritty third-pair defenseman is not worth moving a 23-year-old forward who possesses much more upside. There was no need to rush a trade and they could have held on to Kakko until the trade deadline and looked for a better return.
Now the Rangers have to hope the Kakko trade ages better than the Buchnevich trade. Either way, with the team struggling, Drury’s job could be on the line and he needs to get better value than he did in both the Buchnevich and Kakko trades.
