Rangers Got Their Man

Though the Rangers weren't able or unwilling to parlay roster players into picks in that "purple" area of the first round, they were still able to get their man.  Their transformative figure: Kaapo Kakko.

Kaapo is the most talented forward the Rangers have ever drafted.  And being such a gifted forward, he's left pundits reaching for some odd comparables.  Where Jack Hughes comfortably fits into the Patrick Kane - Connor McDavid continuum of greatness, Kaapo has already outstripped his Aleksander Barkov - Patrick Laine launch point.  He broke their teenage records, and is much more obsessed with getting better than the gamer Laine seems to be.  He could be the Finnish Jagr or something.  And that's why it's hard for people to come up with comparables.

We've talked about this before, but both Hughes and Kaapo have very special hands, eyes, and spatial gifts. And both of them really make the rest of their teams better. Hughes has been leading a team of teenagers and 8 of his teammates were drafted tonight. Kaapo dragged junior teams and then his men's national team to gold.

We saw him embarrass full grown NHLers in the World's last month, while 6 months earlier he was scoring the series winning goal against Jack's team in the World Juniors or was it the 18-U's?  They’ve both been all over the international stage for the last two years.

In this year of the centers in the draft, Kaapo was better than all of them - save or don't save one and we'll see how that develops over the next 15 years  What's more, both Kaapo and Vitali Kravstov have played C in meaningful games and tourneys and are terrific passers with center instincts to go along with their elite wingability.

It would be great if Kakko and Kravstov and Chytil and Buch, if he's still around, can bring out the best in each other's gifts.

Still, after they had picked Kaapo today, they seemed like they might have a chance to get him some more elitish help, but for whatever reasons it was not to be.

I think they have 7 picks left over the final 6 rounds, including 2 in second half of the second tomorrow.  Let's see what else they can do - but let's keep remembering, they got their man and thus the team has been immeasurably improved.