TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — You remember the Kid Line, right? You remember The Shift? The 2022 Rangers postseason run was a glorious stretch for a team that had wandered in the lottery/rebuild wilderness for five seasons, with lots of memorable moments.
But for Rangers fans who waited patiently through the 2018 letter and the sell-off that followed, maybe the best moment of that postseason was a minute-long stretch late in the second period of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final. The Rangers were up a goal on the Lightning thanks to Filip Chytil’s sixth goal of the playoffs four and a half minutes earlier.
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As the Rangers cycled and changed, Gerard Gallant’s Kid Line — Chytil, Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko — came into the offensive zone and, along with Adam Fox and K’Andre Miller, turned Tampa’s defenders inside-out. It ended with a Chytil one-timer that sent Madison Square Garden into a frenzy. Everything seemed possible, especially when the offense was coming from three of the team’s prized young forwards, working together in incredible harmony.
Heres that entire shift by the kid line for you Rangers gang pic.twitter.com/KtFwjwfbUa
— Andrew (@based_shesty) June 2, 2022
“That feels like a long time ago,” Kakko said earlier this week. “We started playing well together in those playoffs, then last year, we were almost the whole season together. Also last year in the playoffs, I think we had a couple good games, did our job. We didn’t play the most, but when we were on the ice, something usually happened.”
Gallant kept that Kid Line together as his third line for most of 2022-23. It was a breakout season for all three “kids” — Chytil had 22 goals, nearly equaling his points total the previous two seasons with just goals; Kakko had 18 goals and 40 points, both career highs, and Lafrenière had 16 goals. The kids had started to arrive, even while they were getting mostly even-strength minutes that lagged well behind the team’s stars.
Less than a year later, only one of the kids is all right. Lafrenière has been a mainstay in the top six this season, on pace for his first 20-goal season while playing alongside Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck on the Rangers’ most offensively impactful line.
But that’s where the fun ends for the trio. Kakko returned last month from a scary-looking leg injury that cost him 21 games; he’s got five goals and six points while bouncing around the lineup. At least he’s back in it — Chytil’s 2023-24 season is already over, done in by a concussion suffered on a collision with Carolina’s Jesper Fast on Nov. 2, followed by a horrific relapse when Chytil seemed on the path to return to play just two weeks ago, when he needed to be helped off the Garden ice during an optional skate with just a couple of teammates.
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Since Kakko and Lafrenière joined the Rangers five and four seasons ago, Chytil has been each winger’s most frequent center. Chytil had a solid first nine games centering Lafrenière and Panarin before the collision that sent him off course; had Chytil been able to return this season, he likely would have been Kakko’s center once again.
And the three young friends don’t get much time together anymore. Being injured, especially with a concussion, is a lonely business in the NHL — the players practice and play, sticking to their routines, while the injured guy has his own routine, fitting in medical sessions and gym sessions around the rest of the group.
“You see him around the practice rink a little when he’s here,” Lafrenière said. “It’s good to try and catch up with guys when they’re not playing, but it’s tough.”
Chytil hasn’t yet headed back home to Czechia, even though he’s been shut down for the rest of the year. People around Chytil as well as Chytil himself, in an enthusiastic Instagram post from two weeks ago, have said he definitely wants to return to play in the NHL and with the Rangers next season. That was his intent after his two-month absence, which included a three-week trip home to Europe, where he worked with his offseason skills coach and even got a skate in with Jaromír Jágr. So Chytil’s desire to play doesn’t assure anything if his health isn’t there.
And that uncertainty has left a hole in the room, especially with Lafrenière and Kakko. “He’s mostly been by himself,” said Kakko, who has had two long-term injuries of his own and knows the routine. “I think that’s really hard for him. We all wish for him to be back, it would be great if the whole team was healthy and together.”
Kakko’s future seems uncertain without injury. TSN reported that Kakko’s name has been mentioned in trade talks already — it’s possible that Kakko was part of the package the Rangers offered to the Flames for Elias Lindholm, who ended up going to Vancouver — and Kakko’s role now doesn’t scream that he has a long future here.
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Kakko has gotten a couple of looks alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad but has had a decent stretch of games this past week on a third line with Will Cuylle and Jonny Brodzinski.
“I talked with (coach Peter Laviolette) after practice,” Kakko said earlier this week. “We’ve been doing a good job last four games, what he wants us to do. Like with Fil and Laf, still third line, not playing the most but that’s our role and lately we’ve been good.”
Kakko is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights after the season. He likely won’t command a huge raise over the $2.4 million salary ($2.1 million cap hit) he’s making, but next season will be his sixth, and the wait for him to become a regular top-six impact forward continues. Lafrenière has another season at a $2.325 million cap hit, which could end up looking like a bargain if he continues down the path he’s forged this season.
Chytil was the one who cashed in after his great 2022-23, signing a four-year deal worth $ 4.437 million per season last March. Now, everyone holds their breath and hopes he’ll be able to play the rest of the contract out.
Less than two years ago, the Kid Line had Rangers fans buzzing. They are all still Rangers and still part of a successful team, but so much has changed.
“That playoff run was a lot of fun,” Lafrenière said. “We had some really good chemistry. Sometimes you do think about how fun it was. But obviously, we’re thinking about this year, right now, trying to make an even better run.”
(Photo of Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko: Codie McLachlan / Getty Images)
