It was a family reunion on Friday night in Seattle. As they prepared to face the Kraken on Saturday, the Rangers got to see Ryan Lindgren, who hosted some former teammates at dinner last night.

That included Adam Fox, Alexis Lafreniere, Braden Schneider, Will Cuylle, Jonny Brodzinski, and Jonathan Quick visiting Lindgren at his home for an Italian dinner.

A popular blood and guts Ranger who always sacrificed for the team over six seasons, Lindgren will face those same players later tonight at Climate Pledge Arena.

After being an integral part of some good Rangers teams that included two that made trips to the Conference Finals, he was dealt to the Avalanche on Mar. 1 in a four-player trade that included Juuso Parssinen, a 2025 second round pick (Malcolm Spence), and fourth round pick (Mikkel Eriksen) coming back in return.

Lindgren signed with the Kraken as a free agent over the summer. So far, he’s been used by Kraken coach Lane Lambert in a defensive role to help stifle opponents. Thus far, he has 18 blocks and six hits in 10 games with an assist and 23 penalty minutes.

Not the highest scoring team, the Kraken rely on tight defense and a strong forecheck to stay in games. They enter play with a 5-2-3 record to rank third in the Pacific Division. They’ve scored 28 goals and given up 28 goals.

Seattle has had some injuries to key players. Ryker Evans started the season on the injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Jared McCann has been on the IR with a lower-body injury since Oct. 25. Frederick Gaudreau (upper-body) is expected to miss four to six weeks since being placed on the IR on Oct. 16.

However, one player is expected to make his return for tonight’s game. After injuring his hand in preseason, Kaapo Kakko is a game-time decision, according to Lambert. From the looks of it, it sounds like he’ll be back in the lineup for the first time this season.

Originally a Rangers second overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, Kakko had his ups and downs on Broadway. Although he never met expectations as a hyped prospect, he turned himself into a steady two-way forward in the Big Apple.

If there was a highlight during his six-year Rangers career, it was the play of the Kid Line during the 2021-22 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Under former coach Gerard Gallant, Kakko was part of a good third line that also featured Lafreniere and Filip Chytil. All three were former first round picks who had strong chemistry playing together during that run.

The cohesive trio combined for some nice goals in the Rangers’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals. That included a dominant shift that led to a Chytil goal in a  Game 1 win on home ice over the Lightning.

It was memorable. At that time, Kakko was 21, and Lafreniere was 20. Chytil was 23. They really did look like a big part of the Rangers’ future.

Although he only finished with two goals and three assists for five points during the playoffs, Kakko did so many things right. He was strong on the puck and tough on the wall. Able to hang onto the puck, he won a lot of battles to help make that a successful forecheck line that ate up possession time and generated chances.

There was every reason to believe that all three players would grow in stature. While Chytil and Lafreniere evolved, Kakko never took the next step as a player. He was unable to follow up an 18-goal, 22-assist, 40-point 2022-23 season the way the organization envisioned.

Eventually, following being a healthy scratch by former coach Peter Laviolette last year, Kakko voiced his displeasure. He was justified in what he said about being made an example out of for the Rangers’ lethargic play. There were plenty of veterans who could’ve benched. Laviolette never did it last season.

Kakko was traded to the Kraken for Will Borgen, a 2025 third round (Sean Barnhill), and sixth round pick (Samuel Jung) on Dec. 18, 2024. After going 4-10-14 in 30 games with the Rangers, Kakko produced better with the Kraken. In 49 games, he had 10 goals with 20 assists for 30 points. That allowed him to post career bests in assists (30) and points (44).

While the Rangers were pleased enough with Borgen to give him a five-year contract worth a $4.10 million cap hit, the Kraken and Kakko agreed on a three-year deal worth an AAV of $4.525 million this past summer

The 24-year-old right wing will have the chance to prove himself in Seattle. He had good chemistry with Matty Beniers last season. On a low-scoring team that’s seen Beniers struggle without him, we’ll see if Kakko can help spark another former number two pick.

The day before, Kakko spent some time with former teammate Urho Vaakanainen. Both are close dating back to their days spent together playing for Finland in the World Junior Championships. That included winning the gold medal in 2019 against Team USA on Kakko’s game-winning goal.

The intriguing storyline is one to keep an eye on tonight.