Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant would not explain why Kaapo Kakko was a healthy scratch in Saturday night’s Game 6 vs. the Lightning, declining to discuss it after the game and skirting the question a bit in Monday’s end of season presser.
"When we sit down and talk about our lineup, that’s what we do," Gallant said Monday. "We love the kid. He’s a good young player, but we just thought the best lineup was trying to win that game. It’s not about his game. It’s about the team game and the lineup."
Gallant also never apparently told Kakko he was scratched, as the young Finn learned of his benching when he saw the lineup posted in the locker room.
“It’s never fun when you’re not making the lineup. I wasn’t so happy about that,” Kakko said bluntly.
But, as he heads into restricted free agency, Kakko says his preference is to remain a Ranger – “I like to play here,” he noted – and while the benching won’t leave a sour taste when it comes to negotiations, he will use it as motivation for 2022-23, wherever he is.
"I want to show I’m better than that. You should put me in the lineup. I’m a good player,” Kakko said. “It’s gonna be more motivation. I try to take it like that. I think that’s the way I need to do that and handle that. I think just working out a little more next summer and coming back and showing you can be there, you can be in the lineup.”
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Kakko was limited to 43 games due to injuries, and despite low totals on the tally sheet, he believes he played “maybe the best hockey I’ve ever been playing” in the postseason, as the “Kid Line” continued to grow.
“I think our line played very good these games," Kakko said. "We didn’t play that much, but still, I think all the times where we went out on the ice, something good happened. I think we played good.”
But if he does return, well, that “Kid Line” isn’t guaranteed to be together. Gallant had Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere on separate lines while Kakko was scratched in Game 6, and intimated Monday that could be the case next year with or without Kakko.
“They could be a real good line together and also we could move different guys in bigger roles and that’s going to be part of it, too,” Gallant said. “They’re all going to be key players for us next year, the three of those kids for sure.”
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