Thread by @StatBoy_Steven

#NYR winger Kaapo Kakko (R1, 2019) was interviewed this week.

With some help from several Finnish friends, I will share a translation below:

hc.tps.fi/hunajacast/hun…

Q: How are you doing?

KK: Doing well. I've watched some TPS games. I can't wait to see fans in the stands again, it makes such a difference. I look forward to a full house at Madison Square Garden again

Q: What's the biggest difference between Paju (Lauri Pajuniemi) and your situation? We're hearing that he's driving your car in NYC now. How different is his situation from yours?

KK: I don't know if it's that much of a difference except that I've been there for 2 years already and I know what to expect. I guess he's staying in a hotel now to start off. I haven't invited him to stay with me *laughs*

Q: What is life like in New York for you now?

KK: I have my own apartment. Last season was weird because I couldn't really do much, mostly staying at home and play video games. I look forward to a normal season.

Last season was tough. Playing the same teams over and over again and staying in your hotel room when traveling

Q: How hard was last season – mentally and physically?

KK: Yeah um, there was a lot to think about – like you had to stay away from restaurants. You were playing the same teams over and over again, had to stay in your hotel room and so on so it was much different than Year 1 in that sense. Also didn’t play that well

Q: Has your career gone as you would have expected after 2 years in the NHL?

KK: I had bigger expectations for sure, but on the other hand I’m satisfied with last year in the sense that my game improved. And of course – or I think I am the kind of player who expects to put up points, score goals and play on the scoring lines.

KK: That has been missing, although my overall game got better last year. Now would be a good time to take that next step forward.

Q: How much time do you have during the season to really hone your skills? You play a lot of games and travel a lot. There’s probably not that much time to train for 2 hours every morning and go full speed 5 on 5?

KK: There’s not that much time. The morning skates are rather short and your off-days are just recovering so you’re not in the gym as much. Summers like this are a good time to really build something and train harder. During the season you are either travelling or resting at home

Q: In Liiga teams meanwhile have people like nutritional experts etc. How is it in the NHL? The more experienced players probably don’t need that much guiding in that regard?

KK: Yeah, back there they expect you to already know what you’re doing. They’re not babysitting you – there are of course trainers there that will help you if you have questions, but they expect you to pretty much know how to do basic training yourself.

Q: How much feedback do you get from the coaches? There must be a difference to Finland where it’s probably more tight-knit and you’re chatting with the coaches? How much have you really had like talks about your development etc. with your coaches in the NHL in the last 2 years?

KK: We now have a new coach, but the last 2 years pretty much actually. He was more like the coaches in Finland, giving advice. But now we have a new coach who I don’t really know yet so we’ll see.

Q: How much contact have you had with the team over the summer? And with who the most?

KK: We have a WhatsApp group, but I haven’t really paid THAAAAT much attention to it. I like to think that when I’m at home in Finland, I want to enjoy my summer and have a vacation, doing other things to get your mind off things. It’s a long season so there’s time for that then

Q: Is it true that you turned off your US cell here in Finland?

KK: Haha, yeah. My battery has been “dead” a few times.

Q: I talked to your agent Petteri Lehto on Saturday at the TPS game. He said that Kaapo is in an awesome (monster) condition. What do you think?

KK: Well yeah, all my (test) results have improved and that’s the way it should be. I think I’ve trained well in the summer with good trainers. The last 2 summers have been great training-wise.

Q: How do you train in the summer?

KK: According to Rautala’s plan. This has been the 5th summer so I’m familiar with it. Also with a lot familiar guys – like Paju – so it’s a great atmosphere to train.

Q: Has Paju already asked you all the questions like how to open the doors, where to get the taxi and how to get to the arena?

KK: haha, not that kind of stuff, but when he was leaving he was really bombarding me with questions. He forgot his sticks here so now I have to bring them. But my bags are already full, haha. I told him maybe they have some sticks also over there. But yeah, he was asking a lot.

Q: So this will be your 3rd season and the last of your rookie deal. I also talked about this with your agent on Saturday. So who am I to say this, but now would be the time to really ‘break the bank’.

KK: I agree. I’m not thinking about it that much, but I know what the situation is. I’m pretty confident – the last season went well and now that we have a new staff, the table should be clean.

KK: Now it’s up to me to either take a spot on the scoring lines or stay on the 3rd/4th lines where I have been playing past couple of years. I’ve trained well and think that I’m well prepared.

Q: Let’s talk about the lines. In the NHL you have the scoring lines (1 and 2) and the 3rd and 4th line. Can you tell us what the exact difference is in the NHL when you’re on the 3rd or maybe on the 1st line? How does it differ?

KK: Yeah in the NHL, it’s a pretty big difference. I’ve seen it now the last 2 years. So if you’re leading or trailing at the end of games, it’s the best guys who will play to either tie the game or keep the lead.

KK: And because we had a lot of young guys, it’s been often the case that the young guys have had to watch on the bench how the experienced guys do the thing. But it’s a big difference if you just look at the ice-times. You’ll see which lines get to play.

Q: Do you see this in the hierarchy of the team? Like you have the star players and then the others?

KK: No I don’t think so. We have had great team chemistry the last 2 years, regardless of who you are and where you play.

Q: Have you already talked with your new coach? How much does the coaching change affect you and your situation since you want to take a role on the scoring lines?

KK: Not yet. Maybe because my cell battery has been empty, haha. Just kidding, I think we will talk when I get over there. For me it’s a good thing, because I wasn’t given much responsibility in the last 2 years so now it’s maybe easier for me to do, because of a clean slate.

Q: Let’s talk about the big stars. Take someone like Artemi Panarin. Do the coaches go to him and say something like “hey come on man, you need to get to the gym” or something like that? Or are they like just expected to score and put up points and that’s it?

KK: Yeah no, I haven’t noticed anything like that. Not like someone would go to him and say “here there’s the rack, go squat”. Like I said, they expect you to take care of your body and be ready to play individually.

KK: But on the other hand, it doesn’t matter who you are if you’re not playing well. They will mention it to you. But then others don’t see the ice anymore and others get away with a small reminder. They expect with that that you to then fix your short-comings or errors.

Q: Your 3rd season. Has the whole NHL world been the way you expected? Glamour etc? What did you think?

KK: Yeah it was pretty much what I expected. You play a lot more, but especially the last season was weird. In the Liiga you play like max 3 games a week and last season we played something like 15 games in the last month with 1 day off in between.

Q: How much do you have to play in / with pain? Have you already experienced something like that in regards to a threshold?

KK: You have some small pains & aches throughout the whole season. We all wants to play so if you’re not playing and your replacement is playing well, you might lose your spot. We haven’t played in the playoffs yet, but from what I’ve heard, people play with all sorts of injuries

Q: How does your body maintenance look like? Stretch and watch TV or what?

KK: I stretch after the morning skates and I’m taking more massages. All kind of different things.

Q: Twitter questions: How have you handled your small “short-comings” or not living up to expectations sicne your seasons haven’t really taken off like they did in Finland?

KK: You try to take it game by game. It’S not always easy. Like I said, my own expectations were also a bit bigger – I wanted to continue where I left off in Finland: it was fun, you had a lot of responsibility and I was scoring points.

KK: It’s been different, learning something new by watching the others play more. It’s not always a great feeling. Never really had to think about playing only 7 minutes a game on the 4th line before. Now I’ve seen how it can go, but now I’m aiming for more ice-time and so on…

Q: How much do you follow the media – and what they say about you - in Finland or the US?

KK: Not at all really.

Twitter: Who would you choose as a captain for the next season?

KK: Tough question. There’re are a lot of good options. We haven’t had captain over the last 2 years and I don’t know if we’ll have one this season either. But Mika would be one good option.

KK: There a are a lot good options. I don’t really have a favorite and I’m ok with whoever gets to be captain.

Twitter: What can you get in New York that you can’t get in Turku and the other way round? What do you miss the most?

KK: What I miss the most is a real Sauna. Would be nice to have one in the arena. Yeah, we have some kind of a steam room, but no. No. No. Not the same.

Twitter: In what areas have you improved the most over the summer?

KK: Like I said, all my test results have improved. I’ve gained strength and some speed. My endurance has always been good so it has been more maintenance based. It has all felt good on the ice.

Twitter: How nice is it to live in NYC?

KK: Yeah um, I haven’t lived directly in the city. Our training rink is 40-45 minutes away from the city. I like to live near the training arena, because you are there almost every day.

KK: There are also so many people and so much going on in the city directly. I like it a bit more peaceful – good to relax etc.

Q: So how far do you live from the MSG?

KK: ca. 50 Minutes. But on Game Days we normally go directly to the City after the morning skate and then take a nap in a hotel.

Facebook question: Where do you spend your free time on Manhattan?

KK: Well in the city – nowhere. I stay most of the time at home and the last season especially was very busy so I didn’t really want to “cruise around looking for sightseeing” or anything.

Q: How do you enjoy your time then normally? If you know what I mean?

KK: The last season was so tight scheduled that you didn’t really have time for that. But I enjoy myself when I play hockey. I wouldn’t live there if I wasn’t playing hockey – I would be here (in Turku). We’ll see if something new comes up now that things are opening up again.

Q: Who’s the funniest guy in the locker room?

KK: There are many good guys. Strome is a funny guy, he has some good jokes. Brendan Smith always had funny things to say. Smith actually helped me a lot when I got there. He lived close to me and we were carpooling.

Q: What’s the difference in NYR locker room culture when you compare it to TPS or Leijonat?

KK: I don’t know if there’s a big difference. Some guys are more vocal than others. When I got there, we had a lot of Russians so the second language in the team was Russian, haha.

KK: Yeah so would also be nice to have another Finnish guy for a whole season in the locker room so I could speak a bit more Finnish also.

Q: Doesn’t Mika speak Finnish?

KK: Yeah, a bit, but not so well that we could talk in Finnish the whole time. More in English.

Q: How are your food allergies dealt with actually? How much do you have to pay attention to it?

KK: Everything is taken care of. I just have to ask where my food is if I don’t know. But you can find almost everything pertaining to my situation in pretty much every store. And during road trips our staff always takes care of it so I don’t have to think about it.

Q: Do you chat with Georgiev about TPS?

KK: I watch a lot of TPS games, he doesn’t. Maybe sometimes, but not really that much.

Facebook/Twitter: What are your expectations of the new coach? Did you feel like you got a fair opportunity to show your skills under David Quinn?

KK: Yeah, feeling food about that.

Q: Talk about the opportunity under Quinn. Did you think that?

KK: Well I can’t say that didn’t get any chance to succeed…yeah, there were games where I got to play a lot – and maybe I should have been productive in those situations.

KK: Like I said, I can’t say I didn’t get any chances, but I just didn’t make the most of it. But now it’s a new coach and a new chance.

Q: How is it mentally? We talked about a new coach, last year of your contract and so on. Have you mentally prepared yourself for the situation when you get to NY again, like now it’S show time.

KK: Well, I’m going over thinking that it’s awesome to get to play again. I’ve been working hard the whole summer. It’s the thing what I like to do.

KK: You’ll get in the flow when you’re playing well – it also makes you feel well, like what happened my last season here in Finland. I’d like to have that same feeling again.

Q: Whats’s the most famous telephone number you have?

KK: Teemu Selänne

Q: Does it make it easier for you in New York because you play for the Rangers? Where can you use that to your advantage? Do people recognize you?

KK: Ahh, there are so many people in New York. Nodody really recognizes me, except the fans on Game Days of course.

Q: Do you have a “trusted person” in New York? Like if you need something and don’t know where to go get it? Can you talk to someone?`

KK: Yeah, we have a kind of a team manager who takes care of that kind of things.

That's all, folks!

Hope you enjoyed the read #NYR