Rangers' Kakko blasts healthy scratch: 'I have not been the worst guy'

New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko said Tuesday he was "surprised" to be a healthy scratch for Sunday's 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues. 

Kakko, whose name has surfaced in trade rumours amid the Rangers' tailspin, appeared to accuse head coach Peter Laviolette of taking the easy route in making a lineup change. 

“I was surprised, yeah," Kakko told reporters. "I know you got to do something as a coach when you’re losing games, but I think it’s just easy to pick a young guy and boot him out. That’s how I feel, to be honest.”

New York has won just three of their past 13 games dating back to Nov. 19. The 23-year-old Kakko has four goals and 10 points this season and has the second-best plus/minus on the team at plus-10.

"Haven’t been on the ice too much when [opponents] score a goal," Kakko said of his own performance this season. "...I have not been the worst guy, but that was me out of the lineup.”

"There’s been older players who have sat out as well," Laviolette responded at his media availability later on Tuesday. "The decisions that I make, they’re tough decisions.

"Kaapo, our team, we need to play better. We’re 3-10 in our last 13 games, so that’s not good enough. We need to play a better brand of hockey."

It's been a downhill slide for the Rangers, who won the Presidents' Trophy last season, with general manager Chris Drury informing the league shortly after their current skid began that he was open to making changes to his roster. Drury made veterans Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider available on the trade market, in addition to Kakko. Trouba was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 6 after the team threatened to waive him if he did not waive his no-trade clause for a deal. 

The Rangers (15-14-1) are 2-4-0 since the Trouba trade, which Drury said did not close the door on more big moves in the future.

“There’s always a lot of moving parts and it’s my job to try to figure out on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis on what the team needs,” Drury said at the time. “I’m certainly not opposed to making more changes, but big picture with that said, the team has been through a lot the last couple of weeks and certainly this week. I’d like to let the dust settle a little bit. … We’d just like to let the team get settled with this a little bit."

Selected second overall in the 2019 draft, Kakko has 61 goals and 131 points in 329 career games. He inked a one-year, $2.4 million deal with the Rangers in the spring after trade rumours had followed him at that time. He is scheduled for restricted free agency again this summer.