After turning heads in the Traverse City Tournament, Kaapo Kakko will make his preseason debut for the New York Rangers.
From the moment the New York Rangers selected Kaapo Kakko with the second overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, this day has been circled on the calendar.
Kakko will make his Rangers preseason debut on Wednesday night in a matchup against the New Jersey Devils. The Rangers’ official Twitter account confirmed the lineup on Tuesday morning.
His first-ever professional hockey game will take place at the world’s most famous arena—Madison Square Garden.
The lineup for the game is the same group that worked together in practice on Tuesday morning.
Forwards
Artemi Panarin – Mika Zibanejad – Kaapo Kakko
Chris Kreider – Lias Andersson – Vitali Kravtsov
Greg McKegg – Danny O’Regan – Nick Jones
Michael Haley – Boo Nieves – Jake Elmer
Defense
Brady Skjei – Jacob Trouba
Libor Hajek – Adam Fox
Brandon Crawley – Brendan Smith
Goalies
Alexandar Georgiev
Igor Shesterkin
Head coach David Quinn is wasting no time evaluating his newest Rangers.
Rookies Kakko, Kravtsov, Fox, and Shesterkin should see plenty of ice time throughout the game. This will give Quinn a chance to evaluate the young talent in game action.
Newly-acquired Panarin and Trouba will also play on Wednesday as the coaching staff looks to get the “first” of many firsts out of the way for many of the players who joined the team this offseason.
Faceoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on MSG Networks and streamed on the MSG GO app.
