Rangers trade Kaapo Kakko to Seattle for pennies on the dollar

For the second time in three years, the New York Rangers have traded a top-10 European pick to the Western Conference for pennies on the dollar. This time, the the Rangers traded Kaapo Kakko to Seattle for defenseman Will Borgen, and 3rd and 6th round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft. Kakko’s rocky tenure in New York comes to an end, and hopefully he gets a fresh start with more playing time in Seattle.

Borgen is….not good. Not in the slightest. The 27 year old pending UFA is big, and that’s about it. He hasn’t been a net-positive on the ice in some time now. But he’s fast, so maybe that bodes will with Peter Laviolette’s man/zone defensive zone system?

The issue isn’t about the Rangers trading Kakko, it’s about the return. We knew Kakko was going to get traded, if not just for the soft trade request he made, but because with Brett Berard, Gabe Perreault, and Brennan Othmann either in the NHL or likely there next year, a winger needed to go.