Rangers forwards Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko heading to World Championships

New York Rangers forwards Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko will join Team Czechia and Team Finland, respectively, at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship, they told reporters, including Arthur Staple of The Athletic, on Wednesday.

Coming off the heels of a disappointing first-round loss, the two Rangers youngsters now get a shot at redemption at the closest thing to a best-on-best tournament in men’s hockey. The 2023 edition of the tournament, which will take place in Tampere and Helsinki in Finland, begins next week.

Neither Czechia nor Finland have announced their full rosters for the tournament. They’ll be competing in separate groups, with Finland among the assumed leaders in Group A alongside Sweden and the United States, while Czechia is at the higher end of Group B with Canada and Slovakia.

This will be Chytil’s fourth appearance with Czechia at the tournament. In 20 games combined in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 tournaments, he’s registered four goals and eight points. After a breakout season this year in which he broke the 20-goal and 40-point plateaus for the first time, expect a rejuvenated performance from him.

For Kakko, it’s his second appearance at the tournament after scoring six goals in 10 games with Finland in 2019, leading the team to a gold medal. Finland has reached the final game in three consecutive tournaments.