Kaapo Kakko is still trying to make an impact for the Rangers without a place in the top six

Kaapo Kakko burst onto the world stage with strong performances, leading Team Finland to gold medals at both the 2018-19 World Junior Championships and the 2019 World Championships before being selected second overall by the Rangers in June.

Five years later, five years into an NHL career marked by starts and stops and frustration, there is no guarantee at all that Kakko will be selected for Team Finland for next February’s Four Nations tournament Team USA and Team Canada and Team Sweden will also take part. At best he’s on the bubble.

“I feel like everyone who plays in the NHL is on his list,” Kakko told The Post after practice Friday ahead of Saturday’s day off. “We had a meeting in the summer, but I don’t think about it at all.

“That’s not it [motivation] For me. The season here, all the games I play, I have to be as good as I can be. That’s the most important thing.”

The most important thing for No. 24, as he has repeatedly emphasized, is to stay healthy this season. Kakko missed 21 games last year with a leg injury, two years after missing 39 games, first with a wrist injury and then with a lower-body injury. Just when the Finn seems to be gaining momentum, he finds himself in rehab.

“To be honest, I just want to play as well as I can and try to stay healthy,” Kakko said. “I missed a lot of games last year. But then we’ll see what happens next. I try to do my best no matter how much time I have on the ice.

“I mean, that’s all I can do.”

It feels like time travel, doesn’t it? Kakko in the third row with Fil Chytil in the middle, but instead of Alexis Lafreniere on the left it’s Will Cuylle, except neither the center forward nor the right winger are kids anymore.

“I know what Fil can do out there, he’s a good player,” said Kakko, who has been on the ice with Chytil in five-on-five games for almost a third of his career. “But I feel like I had very good games with Brodzy last year [Jonny Brodzinski] and Bergy [Alex Wennberg] when he got to the deadline.”

We know the story of how Kakko had the opportunity to act as a shotgun driver with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad at intermittent periods in his career – the first 11 games of last season, for example – but just couldn’t quite stick the landing. He is more than reliable without the puck and strong on the wall. But there is a stoppage in getting the puck into the net.

On the day of the split following the conference finals loss to Florida – in which Kakko was a healthy substitute in Game 2 – head coach Laviolette took some responsibility for the winger’s plight and indicated that it was up to him to find a way to save the winger to be more involved in the situation game.

However, that will be very difficult. It looks like Kakko has at least seven forwards ahead of him on the power play and at least six forwards on penalties. When working as a third party without special teamwork, minutes are limited.

“I mentioned the goal[ing] Some players try to improve their games and [Kakko] was one of them, and it probably didn’t hit the way he wanted or I wanted or we wanted,” Laviolette said Friday. “I’m sure he’d love to be part of the power play units, I’m sure he’d love to have more minutes and more impact, and I’d love to make that possible if I can.

“But it also has to be justified, right, on the ice? I thought his line [Thursday against Boston] was really good, I thought the puck was on his stick quite a bit.

“It was a good start.”

Kakko signed a straightforward, one-year, $2.4 million contract for his qualifying tournament. The Rangers made it clear he wasn’t untouchable, but GM Chris Drury refused to sell the Finn short. So he’s back. Kakko played 300 games for the Rangers, scoring 57 goals and 117 points, but it almost always seems like he’s starting from scratch.

Well, at least the third line no longer wears the green training jerseys like in the heyday of the Kid Line.

“The ability to have that balance and depth somewhere in the top nine, no matter where you go, can make you a really dangerous hockey team,” Laviolette said. “So nothing has changed in terms of the start of this year.”