“We fully expect him to be back” – Kaapo Kakko expected to play playoffs with Rangers despite lower-body injury
Follow Us
Kaapo Kakko
New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko is expected to play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs even though he’s week to week with a lower-body injury. The 21-year-old previously played 5:06 before leaving in the first period of a 4-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
This marked his fourth game back after missing 31 because of an upper-body injury. Reacting to this, the Rangers coach Gerard Gallant stated that following the game he did not think the injury was serious.
“The only tough part about this one is Kakko was playing really well,” Gallant said on Monday, as quoted by NHL.com. “He just got back from missing eight weeks. I think he had three or four games there and in his last game, he had two goals [against the Philadelphia Flyers on April 13] and played really well. It’d be definitely disappointing for him, but again, it’s not long term. We fully expect him to be back and hopefully, possibly, play maybe two or three of the last games. But we expect him for the playoffs.”
“You have to focus on what you can do and get back out”
The Finnish ice hockey player Kakko has scored 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 41 games this National Hockey League (NHL) season, his third after being chosen with the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
“You just have to move on,” Gallant said. “You have to focus on what you can do and get back out. You can’t worry about it. You’ve got to think positive and good things will happen for him.”
He added: “We’ve been pretty fortunate with injuries this year compared to some of the other teams. You get a guy here, a guy there, besides Sammy Blais obviously. But for the most part we’ve been pretty fortunate with injuries and we’ve got a lot of guys around.”
Also Read | “Will do everything possible can to get him back” – Calgary Flames on signing Johnny Gaudreau
Stay Updated!
Sachin Arora
(2527 Articles Published)