Kaapo Kakko has already made history on the international level in his hockey career.
The 23-year-old Finn was the youngest player in hockey history to win gold in all three IIHF World Championship tournaments, beginning with the World U18 Championships in 2018 before he won it all at the World Junior Championships and the World Championships in 2019 at the age of 17.
There will now be an opportunity to add more to Kakko’s legacy with Team Finland after the Rangers forward competes in the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament from Feb. 12-20, 2025.
Kaapo Kakko has starred on the international stage too.
“I was happy,” Kakko told The Post a couple days after the final rosters were announced. “I think it’s always fun. Those being World Championship games, it’s a little different. It’s a big thing in Finland every time. In Finland, it’s the biggest thing of the year. All the countries are excited for those games. I would be also if I was watching, but even better to play out there.”
As with most of the final roster decisions for the three other countries — the United States, Canada and Sweden — play through the first two months of the NHL season factored in.
Kakko went from not being included on most roster projections for Finland this summer to making the cut after his strong bottom-six play for the Blueshirts this season.
In the midst of his sixth season in New York, after the Rangers drafted him second overall in 2019, Kakko has seemingly come to terms with his role.
Utah Hockey Club Clayton Connor Ingram makes a save on a shot by Kaapo Kakko.
It isn’t the top-six spot he and the Blueshirts envisioned for him when he first arrived in the NHL, but he’s become a crucial part of a very effective third line.
For Kakko to get some recognition at this level, however, it was certainly a notable moment for him.
“That’s the best team you can make for all Finnish players so,” said Kakko, who carried 14 points into Wednesday night’s matchup with the Sabres. “I would say I didn’t think about it too much, you know, I think all the players are going to make the team also. It depends on how guys have been playing. I think there’s a lot of good players who didn’t make the team also.
“A lot of players can play [on the] first line, but there’s only three spots. Those are the things you sometimes have to think about as a coach. I’m happy I made it.”
There’s something extra special about representing your country in hockey, especially when NHL players have been kept out of the Olympics for a decade.
Kaapo Kakko takes a shot on goal during the Rangers’ loss to the Blues earlier in the season.
Of course, they’re set to return in 2026 in Milan-Corttina, but the league’s tournament will be a welcome tuneup.
The 2016 World Cup of Hockey was a turning point in Brad Marchand’s career.
Claude Lemieux took off after playing on the 1987 Canada Cup-winning team, too.
Perhaps Kakko, who actually scored the game-winning goal for Finland with 1:26 left in regulation at the 2019 World Junior Championships, could use 4 Nations as his runway.
Kaapo Kakko skates during Rangers’ training camp.
“I can’t think of a better guy to score that goal than Kaapo,” Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen said at the time in 2019, blissfully unaware he’d play with Kakko again at a NHL tournament six years later. “He deserved it. He played an awesome tournament.”
As for the players Kakko is most looking forward to playing with, there were a few.
“Last time I played for Finland, I played with [the Avalanche’s Mikko] Rantanen — I work out with him every summer,” he said. “We kind of usually [on] opposite teams during the summer skates, playing against each other. [We’re] good friends together. It’s going to be fun. I think [we’re] not going to be the same line, but same team at least.
“[Former Rangers turned Panthers defenseman Niko] Mikkola played here. I call him — I don’t know — once a week. Once every couple weeks. We’ve been good friends also.”
