Meeting Their Local Kraken Hero Up Close 

HELSINKI, Finland – Winning a raffle draw among youth hockey players in their hometown of Turku, about two hours’ drive from here, to meet Kraken forward Kaapo Kakko was something brothers Kasper and Viktor Smith could barely believe. 

After all, Kakko had played his youth hockey for the very HC TPS organization the brothers now hone their fledgling skills in and they’d long heard the storied lore about him. Now, Kakko was actually back in Finland with the Kraken this week as part of the NHL Global Series against the Carolina Hurricanes, which is why more than 300 young hockey players from TPS applied for the raffle draw to attend the meet-and-greet with 20 lucky winners actually getting to go. 

For little Kasper, 6, a head shorter than his brother but who actually plays with older 7-year-olds on a TPS 8-Under team, the meeting in a private Veikkaus Arena suite offered a chance to pepper Kakko with multiple questions before anyone else could get a word in. 

“He asked me what school we go to,” Kasper said. “And he asked me how old I was and then I told Kaapo Kakko that he looks super young.” 

Viktor, 8, chimed in: “I asked him if I could have his stick.” 

Then Kapser jumped back in, adding: “I asked him whether I could have one of the sandals he was wearing.”  

That prompted a mini-argument between the brothers about which one had asked for the sandal. Neither of them got one, though they did come away with autographs – Viktor showing off his on his TPS wool hat.

The excitement level among all the TPS players was palpable. They’d been waiting for Kakko in the suite after attending open practices for both the Kraken and Hurricanes when Kakko quietly entered the room unannounced and got wide-eyed gasps from a couple of young players seated on chairs near the front. 

One of them quickly scampered back into a lounge area to tell the rest of the players Kakko had arrived. From there, Kakko could barely advance more than a few feet before being swarmed, especially by the talkative brothers.

“It is very important for all of them,” said Emmi Partanin, a communications specialist handling publicity for TPS who joined the players on their visit. “A lot of them want to play in the NHL, so to meet a player like him who once played for their teams, it means a lot.” 

Kakko donated the tickets and transport to attend the open practice and is discussing potentially bigger ventures with NHLPA Goals & Dreams, a charity fund run by the NHL Players’ Association that helps players allocate funds to youth organizations from their hometowns.  

TPS runs youth hockey programs for players ages 7-to-15, as well as junior hockey teams and a squad in Finland’s top Liiga professional circuit. Kakko played two pro seasons for TPS ahead of becoming a No. 2 overall pick of the New York Rangers in 2019.  

Some of the 16 other former TPS players to make the NHL include Saku Koivu, Mikko Rantanen, Juraj Slafkovski, Miikka Kiprusoff and Sami Salo.

“These are the things that I love to do,” Kakko said after meeting the players and signing autographs for about 20 minutes. “Like, when I was young, I was looking up to these (NHL) guys. I feel like I’m nothing special. But then when I come here and there’s a lot of kids looking up to me, it just feels crazy.” 

He added: “It’s so easy for me just to walk up here after practice and talk to them a little bit. Then you see the look on their face and that’s the best thing about doing this.” 

For brothers Kasper and Viktor, seeing an NHL practice up close for the first time was almost as good as meeting and talking – and talking and talking some more – with Kakko. Both hope to make the NHL someday and were taking copious mental notes from an up-close vantage point near the arena’s rink. 

“I learned about how hard they pass the puck,” Viktor said. 

Kasper had noted the difference in how his teammates react when youth coaches blow the whistle compared to what the Kraken do when head coach Lane Lambert blasts his.  

“They go straight there,” he said of the Kraken players.  

Something to take home with them, even if the brothers never did come away with any of Kakko’s sandals.