Last in a three-part series
Niko Mikkola was a credible third-pair defenseman for the Rangers down the 2022-23 stretch and in the first round against the Devils after he was acquired as a rental from the Blues with fellow lend-lease property Vlad Tarasenko about three weeks before the deadline.
GM Chris Drury would have wanted to keep the 6-foot-6 lefty but did not have the requisite cap space to prevent him from defecting to hated Florida — where he has become a latter-day axe murderer (don’t take me literally), twice fined within the last month by the ironically called Department of Player Safety for egregious acts that would stand out on Broadway but are just part of the act in Sunrise.
At age 29, Mikkola has become the lab rat at the center of the genetics vs. environment debate — and no, we have not cut funding for this research. After being another guy in New York, the Finn has emerged as a significant part of the Cat Pack and, what is more, as the epitome of nature vs. nurture.
