Post-Game Talk: I’ve got the blues…

[zlev]

You can say anything about a guy over 25 to defend a guy under 25. It'll stick.

And that was absolutely a thing here before this group of veterans even started to suck!

yep. it had to be the Russian player that makes 11.5mil that didn't want him on his line, not that he sucked and did nothing when even Colin Blackwell looked like Luc f***in Robitaille for 35 games playing with him.

 

[will1066]

I told my wife I posted what she said about my loyalty last night. She walked by just now seeing me typing here and blurted, "still talking about what i said? I'm not sure about your loyalty."

The woman is playing games with me!

 

[Ruggs225]

He's spent the whole year with Cuylle and Chytil, our two best players at cycling, and he's still the worst player on the line scoring at below a .5 PPG rate.

Explain to me what "chance" you want him to have. What type of situation have the Rangers not put him in? He's played with everyone!

Powerplay??? Zero coaches in professional hockey are putting this guy on their first unit over other players on the roster.

Blame Kreider and Zibanejad, I know you will, but if those two guys retired tomorrow, he's still not on the first unit over Cuylle, Lafreniere, or Chytil.

Kakko sucks along the boards.

Kreider has been terrible this year. If you think Kakko was better than Kreider at winning battles prior to this year, you're seeing what you want to see.

A light breeze knocks Kakko off the puck. The idea that he's some cycling monster is enough copium to pretend Tupac is still alive.

I already said he doesnt fit with how we play here. But he has played well with chytil and cuylle. He’s still at .5 which goes with what i said earlier that if he had PP time he can be a 60-75 pt guy. And yes not on this team bc of our personnel

I just completely disagree about his board work. Nothing else to be said there.

 

[CLW]

In 2022, he started with Panarin and lost that spot to Colin Blackwell.

This is his sixth season. Which teammates, exactly, is he scoring with?

Some people have said we should keep Kakko because "well, he's an effective NHL player at pretty cheap" and that I can understand, but this guy has to have to longest book of excuses I've ever seen on this board as to why he's not a better player.

Lafreniere got fewer opportunities and glued himself to our top six long-term with the first real shot he had.

You don't eat a meal with two forks. Panarin likes to be on the puck. Kakko likes to be on the puck. Kakko's problem is that he doesn't fit with Panarin or Zib, who seemingly nobody can play with, so the top two lines are out of the question - which means he is in limbo on the third line. He has some chemistry with Chytil, but Chytil is a horse with limited vision and health issues. Ironically Trochek is probably the best fit because he mucks along the walls and skates hard but that hasn't been tried at all, partly because Chytil broke down so Trocheck was jumped up to play with Panarin and Laf and that line took off...

Kakko would be fine on a team like the Panthers where all three in the line work hard down deep and like to grab hold of the puck and to dish it to someone crashing the net. But the Rangers don't play that kind of hockey exactly. Certainly Panarin and Strome did not.

 

[Machinehead]

Assessments like those of Kakko are why I don't trust anybody's "eye test." You really can just say anything.

"He's great defensively!" He's not.

"He's good at playing a possession style." Not really. We don't have the puck all that much when he's on the ice. Turning the puck over is a major, major hiccup in his game.

"But he's an analytics darling!" Absolutely not.

We keep looking for this mythical line where he's a fit, but there isn't one, because he isn't good at one f***ing thing.

Kakko is the most "not anything" player in the league. He isn't a detriment, but out of all the players who aren't a detriment, he's probably the one that does the least.

He's not the biggest problem (which...ok?) but like, stop acting surprised that people want a player who does something instead.

 

[TheDirtyH]

Assessments like those of Kakko are why I don't trust anybody's "eye test." You really can just say anything.

"He's great defensively!" He's not.

"He's good at playing a possession style." Not really. We don't have the puck all that much when he's on the ice. Turning the puck over is a major, major hiccup in his game.

"But he's an analytics darling!" Absolutely not.

We keep looking for this mythical line where he's a fit, but there isn't one, because he isn't good at one f***ing thing.

Kakko is the most "not anything" player in the league. He isn't a detriment, but out of all the players who aren't a detriment, he's probably the one that does the least.

He's not the biggest problem (which...ok?) but like, stop acting surprised that people want a player who does something instead.

All that's fine I guess. I think there's room for disagreement about the package and it's individual components. Especially when you're talking about potential, squandered or otherwise rather than purely results, which neither side of the Great Kakko Wars can ever really keep separate.

Bottom line is, on this team, he's a middle six winger who does not play any special teams. That is the definition of expendable on this roster, and whether or not anyone thinks it coulda woulda shoulda been different (I'll always count myself among them), we're here in reality, six years of evidence that all comes the same conclusion whether you think the player could be better or not or why you think he's not as good as we once hoped: he's got no place on this team moving forward, and hasn't for some time now.

Team needs changes, it needs assets, and it certainly doesn't need Kakko to the capacity it's demonstrated it's ever going to be willing to use him.

 

[Machinehead]

Also, "he's good at cycling but we just don't play that game" went out the window when Cuylle took less of an opportunity and used it to turn into John LeClair.

 

[CLW]

Assessments like those of Kakko are why I don't trust anybody's "eye test." You really can just say anything.

"He's great defensively!" He's not.

"He's good at playing a possession style." Not really. We don't have the puck all that much when he's on the ice. Turning the puck over is a major, major hiccup in his game.

"But he's an analytics darling!" Absolutely not.

We keep looking for this mythical line where he's a fit, but there isn't one, because he isn't good at one f***ing thing.

Kakko is the most "not anything" player in the league. He isn't a detriment, but out of all the players who aren't a detriment, he's probably the one that does the least.

He's not the biggest problem (which...ok?) but like, stop acting surprised that people want a player who does something instead.

They should trade him already, but it's kind of hilarious they can't get any value for him after the Buch trade.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Kakko must have been sitting watching this last night begging for a trade

 

[LieutenantLackluster]

Still no firings yet?

 

[Greg02]

I told my wife I posted what she said about my loyalty last night. She walked by just now seeing me typing here and blurted, "still talking about what i said? I'm not sure about your loyalty."

The woman is playing games with me!

 

[will1066]

Lolol

 

[CLW]

Kakko must have been sitting watching this last night begging for a trade

I don't think he's asking for a trade. He'll make Drury trade him or go to RFA and then UFA.

 

[TheWrongWay]

I told my wife I posted what she said about my loyalty last night. She walked by just now seeing me typing here and blurted, "still talking about what i said? I'm not sure about your loyalty."

The woman is playing games with me!

If she hasn't changed the locks or attempted to slowly poison you, you're probably in decent shape.

 

[will1066]

If she hasn't changed the locks or attempted to slowly poison you, you're probably in decent shape.

Not yet, but only because she's been busy with other things.

He's spent the whole year with Cuylle and Chytil, our two best players at cycling, and he's still the worst player on the line scoring at below a .5 PPG rate.

Explain to me what "chance" you want him to have. What type of situation have the Rangers not put him in? He's played with everyone!

Powerplay??? Zero coaches in professional hockey are putting this guy on their first unit over other players on the roster.

Blame Kreider and Zibanejad, I know you will, but if those two guys retired tomorrow, he's still not on the first unit over Cuylle, Lafreniere, or Chytil.

Kakko sucks along the boards.

Kreider has been terrible this year. If you think Kakko was better than Kreider at winning battles prior to this year, you're seeing what you want to see.

A light breeze knocks Kakko off the puck. The idea that he's some cycling monster is enough copium to pretend Tupac is still alive.

It was the Cuylle Kakko show before Chytil rejoined from injury. So it wasn't the whole year. Brodzinski centered them.

He sucks on the PP though, so not sure about being a 60-75 point guy with PP time.