Brennan Othmann’s presence at the morning skate was expected. Kaapo Kakko’s was not.

But there was No. 24, skating with his teammates for the first time since going down with a left leg injury on Nov. 27, albeit while wearing a red, no-contact jersey.

“It was nice to see Kaapo out there,” head coach Peter Laviolette said before the Rangers’ 4-1 win over the Blackhawks. “I think the next step in his progression is to have him start skating with us and he was at that point so it’s great to have him out there.”

There is no timetable for Kakko’s return from the injury he sustained with 4:47 remaining in the second period of that Buffalo contest while awkwardly falling into the boards following a corner engagement with Erik Johnson.

Thursday’s Garden match represented the 17th straight game for which the Finn has been sidelined.

“He looks good, he’s moving well,” Laviolette said. “That’s all positive stuff.”

Kakko opened the season playing on the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad connection but after recording only two points (1-1) in 11 games, he exchanged places with Blake Wheeler and skated on the third line with Will Cuylle and Nick Bonino until he was injured.

The Rangers are quite circumspect about the status of injured players, but it seems as if Kakko could be back for the Rangers’ trip to Vegas and California that commences on Jan. 18, if not sooner.

It remains to be seen when he will start to accompany the team on the road.

“When it comes to that, I think you look at the trips and see whether there’s going to be opportunity to skate or whether it’s more valuable to keep him here,” Laviolette said of Kakko, who left the lineup with three points (2-1). “I believe that’s the plan.”