Left out on Sunday against the St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko still does not understand why he was punished in this way by his head coach Peter Laviolette.
“I was surprised, yes,” admitted the Finn on Tuesday, as reported by the journalist from New York Post Mollie Walker.
“I know you have to do something as a coach when you lose games, but I think it’s easy to pick a young guy and take him out of the lineup. That’s how I feel, to be honest. »
“I haven’t been on the ice often for our opponents’ goals… I’m not the worst, but I’m the one we took out of the lineup,” confided the man with the second best team differential at plus-10.
The 23-year-old, who has only 4 goals and 10 assists in 29 games this season, also says he has no intention of questioning Laviolette about what he must do to regain his place in the team. ‘alignment.
“I’m not going to do that. If they have something to tell me, they will tell me. »
Asked to comment on the Finn’s comments, Laviolette denied having reprimanded him only because it is more difficult to act in this way with a veteran.
“There have been older players who have been left out. The decisions I make are difficult to make. Our team, Kaapo, our team – we have to play better. We are 3-10 in our last 13 games and that’s not good enough. We all need to play better hockey. »
Laviolette also claims not to worry about rumors suggesting that he is facing dismissal.
“These are things I can’t control. I’ve been in this business for a long time. There are always these kinds of conversations wherever you go, especially when you’ve been there for a long time. My real concern – the main one – is to get a win tonight, get the team back on track and back into playoff contention. »
Selected second overall in the 2019 draft, Kakko has 61 goals and 131 points in 329 career games. He signed a one-year, $2.4 million contract with the Rangers last spring.
The Rangers face another struggling team tonight, as they visit the Nashville Predators.
