Pre-practice sessions with Rangers skills coach Marc Caccio have become an occasional informal routine for Kid Line.
Sometimes they are all present. Otherwise, just one of him: Kaapokakko, Alexis Lafrenière and Philippe Chitil.
Even Patrick Kane said he needed to join up “early on the ice” Saturday after the Rangers beat the Panthers. A skill translated into ice.
That game against Florida was the second time they’d all scored in the same game (the other was against Vegas in December), and Kidlein was the Rangers’ head coach ahead of Tuesday’s game. He continued to receive positive reviews from teammates like Gerald Gallant and Kane. against the Blue Jackets.
“I think all three of us [have] We were watching him like we were younger,” Kakko, who has 14 goals and 36 points this season, told the Post. [Kane said that]”
Lafrenière said he sometimes tries to “feel the pack a little bit” when working with Chaccho.
Chaccho will also work them in stickhandling and skating, Kakko added.
And for Kakko, the 22-year-old winger has always enjoyed skill work.
He practices skating near corners on his own and tries to hone his cutbacks.
That’s why he thinks it’s good for everyone to do it from time to time – and why, “I think I’ll be a skills coach too,” he said with a split smile.
But if Kane stopped by one of his sessions with Kidline, it would be “nothing wrong,” Lafrenière said.
“It’s like a simple skill…” Lafrenière told the Post. “He’s probably a lot better than us.”
Niko Mikkola has been in this situation before.
Since joining from St. Louis in a trade with Vladimir Tarasenko on February 9, his defensive partner has changed, most recently due to Ryan Lindgren’s lingering shoulder injury.
However, Mikkola told The Post that this was similar to what he encountered in the Blues, sometimes skating minutes for the first pairing, and other times dropping a defensive unit or two.
“I don’t want to overdo it or try to do something I can’t do,” Mikkola said.
Mikkola added that he would rather focus on his role.
His average ice time per game has increased by nearly two minutes since his arrival on Broadway, from 16:39 to 18:31, and has exceeded 20 minutes six times in 22 blueshirts. Blues.
Jacob Truba told the Post that Mikkola added physicality to the Rangers’ blue line and felt Mikkola quickly adapted, especially once he understood the subtle differences between New York and St. Louis’ defensive systems.
“Everyone kind of moves at their own pace,” Truba told the Post. increase [with] Everyone’s timing is different, but that’s natural. ”
