New York Post

Kakko listening to doctors amid COVID concerns

- By LARRY BROOKS larry.brooks@nypost.com

As Kaapo Kakko is on the ice in Finland preparing to rejoin the Rangers for the qualifying round against Carolina if the NHL is indeed able to stage its summer Stanley Cup tournament, president John Davidson isn’t alone in monitoring conditions that would apply to the 19-year-old who has Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease.

“We are in constant communicat­ion with [Kakko],” Andy Scott, Kakko’s agent, told The Post via email on Monday. “He is skating, working out and feeling great.

“As you can appreciate, we are monitoring everything closely for all of our players, including Kaapo, and we will be listening to the advice or our medical experts, and those of the Rangers, regarding his particular situation.”

According to the main page of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) website, “Current evidence suggests that individual­s with well-managed T1D are NOT at higher risk of contractin­g COVID-19. Experts further say that if someone with well-managed T1D does contract COVID-19, they are not necessaril­y at higher risk of developing serious complicati­ons from the disease. Those at greatest risk are people with consistent­ly elevated blood sugar levels and those with a second chronic disease [such as heart disease or lung disease].”

Kaako, the second-overall selection in last June’s entry draft, recorded 10 goals and 23 points in 66 games as a freshman. The winger broke a 14-game drought by scoring twice in the Blueshirts’ 4-2 victory in their penultimat­e match in Dallas on March 10.

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