Kakko pumped to head home to Finland for Global Series with Kraken 

Kaapo Kakko and the Seattle Kraken spent more than nine hours on a plane Saturday into Sunday, but it was a flight he had been looking forward to since March.

That’s when the NHL announced the Kraken will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2026 NHL Global Series Finland at Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki. Those two games against the reigning Stanley Cup champions -- on Thursday (12 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN+, TVAS) and Saturday (1 p.m. ET; HHN, Prime Video, CARNHL, KONG, KING, NHLN, SN1) -- are finally up next on Seattle’s schedule following a 4-3 loss against the New York Rangers at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Saturday.

“I’ve been waiting the whole season to get there,” Kakko said. “So excited.”

It will be the first games outside of North America for the the Kraken, who entered the NHL as an expansion team in 2021. The Global Series is also the closest thing Kakko can get to playing a true “home” game. The 25-year-old forward grew up in Turku, about 90 miles west-northwest of Helsinki.

When asked who is planning to come to watch him play, Kakko replied simply, “Everyone.” 

“Family, friends, a couple of old coaches, people like that, all the closest,” he said. “My grandparents, they're going to be there. They’ve never been (to North America), so it will be the first NHL game for them. And I guess there's some of my buddies who haven't been here, some of the coaches, too.”

Kakko expects it to be a special experience.

“They are following back home, but the time difference is 10 hours, so they are watching the game from a TV,” he said. “Now, it's a chance to actually be there to see before the game and see after the game and then they can have fun all together, watching the game when I’m playing. So, I think it's going to be good.”

Although the trip will undoubtedly have additional meaning for Kakko and the Kraken’s two other players from Finland -- 24-year-old defenseman Ville Ottavainen (Oulu) and 22-year-old forward Jani Nyman (Valkeakoski) -- he hopes it will be memorable for the entire team. 

Seattle (9-6-1) already had a five-game road trip against Eastern Conference teams in October, which provided an early-season bonding opportunity. Kakko expects the Global Series to be “something different”, though, with the Kraken spending an extended period together in Helsinki, giving many of their players their first encounter with Finland’s culture.

“We had a long (trip) already, and it feels long,” said Kakko, who is in his third season with Seattle after being acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on Dec. 18, 2024. “You play the game, and you go to a different place, and then play another. That's how it goes here, and it’s a lot of games, and you are tired in the end. But I think this is something special. Obviously, for the Finnish guys and maybe other European guys, you are closer to home, but also you’re going to stay in one place for the whole week and have a chance to do actually something over there with the team. 

“So, I think that's something that's going to be good for the team for the rest of the season, and, hopefully, the guys are going to like it.”

A veteran of eight NHL seasons, Kakko is more familiar with Helsinki than Ottavainen and Nyman, so he has been charged with taking the lead in planning the off-ice activities during the trip. 

Kakko said he consulted with former Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen (now with the Rangers), who grew up in Vihti, about 30 miles northwest of Helsinki, for recommendations for restaurants and other activities his teammates might enjoy.

“I’ll try to show some places to them, and I hope they're going to like it,” Kakko said. “It’s not the best time of the year to be there. Summer is beautiful, but I just checked it out and it’s going to be raining all week. So, I think that's something they are not happy about.

“They’ve been giving me pressure all the time like we’ve got to do something over there. So, I've been trying to find something.”

Sauna is an integral part of Finnish culture, so Kakko said “that was the first thing that came to mind” when he began putting together plans for the week. Kakko hopes his teammates will complement their sauna experience by plunging into the frigid Baltic Sea.

“That's something I would recommend,” he said. “It's something I've been doing my whole life, and if you have chance to do it, I think you should try it. It's a little cold at the time, but that's how it should be.”

Among the traditional foods Kakko would like his teammates to sample is the salmon soup.

“That's actually something you can get when you get out of the sauna,” he said. “It's one of my favorites, and I think everyone is going to love it. They haven't been saying nice things about it, yet, but I think they're going to change their minds.”

On the ice, the Kraken will be focused on trying to win two games against the Hurricanes, but Kakko also views the trip as a chance to promote the NHL game to the fans from Finland. In addition to the two games, each team will hold an open practice at Veikkaus Arena on Friday. 

“Thinking about myself, 15 years ago, I would love to be there just seeing the practice, what players are doing,” Kakko said. “I think there's going to be a lot of young kids. I think all the kids like to see how we're practicing and how much work we are putting in and they are trying to learn.”

Kakko, who is tied with Chandler Stephenson for second on the Kraken with 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 16 games this season, remembers the NHL playing games in Helsinki when he was a child, but said the tickets were “too expensive” for him to attend. His dream back then was to play for TPS Turku in Liiga, Finland’s top professional league, which he did for two seasons before being selected by the Rangers with the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.  

He said he played “couple national team games,” at Veikkaus Arena (formerly Hartwall Arena), so he’s eager to see the atmosphere when the Kraken and Hurricanes play there.

“Finnish people, they love hockey, but we’ll see how it’s going to be,” Kakko said. “I think it’s going to be sold out, for sure. There’s been a lot of talking about the games already and I think the fans there are happy to see the games. I know there’s a lot of Hurricanes fans because of (Sebastian) Aho. I think he's got a lot of fans back there.

“So, we'll see how many Kraken fans we have there. That's something I want to see.”