I May Be In The Minority . . . But I Believe That Kaapo Kakko Could Be Selected 1st Overall in 2019

[FinnishSniper]

Kakko looks dominant. Hughes is an elite talent though. And Podkolzin is the dark horse. There is something Ovechkin-esque about him.

Yeah Podkolzin is crazy talented also. Just don’t think that he will be able to compete with the other two with the huge hype surrounding them.

 

[FinnishSniper]

Kakko has been good, but not nearly impressive enough to suddenly put him ahead of Hughes who has only played one game and looked just fine in that one game. I certainly see the difference in the two. Kakko is very assertive and strong to the net, but Hughes hands and skating are ahead by a mile.

Skating for sure, but Kakko has crazy good hands, you’ll see

 

[stampedingviking]

Kakko is not better than Hughes, let's be real.

Yes he is, let's be real.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Yes he is, let's be real.

This is really the substance of the "debate" around here.

 

[member 157595]

Yeah, for sure, but they really are on the same level, I bet you’ll notice that as well. I’ve watched a lot of shift-by-shift videos of Hughes and was impressed, but he isn’t the ”McDavid” that some have made him out to be.

No one with a brain thinks Jack Hughes is a McDavid-level prospect.

 

[Habs76]

Kakko is not better than Hughes, let's be real.

He is though. I also see Kakko as more likely to be a C in the NHL, though both could be.

 

[Blade Paradigm]

No one with a brain thinks Jack Hughes is a McDavid-level prospect.

Indeed, but the D-1 and D-2 hype painted him as "not far off," aka "McDavid-lite."



The next Connor McDavid or Mitch Marner? Meet Jack Hughes, the 15-year-old who ‘thinks the game on another level’

The next Connor McDavid or Mitch Marner? Meet Jack Hughes, the 15-year-old who 'thinks the game on another level'
Michael Traikos
March 17, 2017 7:39 PM EDT
Last Updated March 20, 2017 8:29 AM EDT
...

TORONTO — The next Connor McDavid — or is it Patrick Kane or Johnny Gaudreau or Mitch Marner? — has the puck once again and once again all eyes are on Jack Hughes.

That includes the many scouts from the Ontario Hockey League and the U.S. National Development Team Program who are here searching for the Next One at the OHL Cup this week, as well as agents, parents and, of course, the on-ice opponents who are trying their darnedest to prevent the 15-year-old Toronto Marlboros centre from taking the game over.

As anyone who is familiar with him knows, it’s no use. Hughes, who skates and handles the puck as though he is playing with cheat codes, darts up the ice and turns a defender inside-out before beating the goalie with a casual backhand deke. By the end of the 6-3 blowout win against the Eastern Ontario Wild on Thursday, he had scored two goals and four points.

A day later, he picked up a pair of assists in a 4-2 win against the Thunder Bay Kings.

“He’s a special player,” said Barrie Colts head coach Dale Hawerchuk, whose team plans on taking Hughes with the No. 1 pick in this year’s OHL minor midget draft. “He’s so fast and a such a great skater. But he’s also got great instincts. He thinks the game on another level.”

As Mark Seidel of North American Central Scouting observed, “I see a little bit of McDavid and Marner in him. He’s got the puck skills of Marner, but he has a McDavid burst. He’s going to sell a lot of tickets (in the OHL).”

...

“Jack has had a very similar development curve as Connor,” said Beyond The Next Level sport performance coach Dan Ninkovich, who worked with McDavid when he was the same age as Hughes is. “What separates them is that they can think the game fast and few steps in advance. When I play Jack with junior and pro players in the summer, he brings his game up a whole other level.”

As for the pipe-dream comparisons or being called the Next One, Hughes laughs them off. It’s nice, he said. But it’s also a bit premature considering he’s two years away from his NHL draft year and not even playing in the OHL. For now, he’s just trying to have fun.

“Sometimes it’s a little overwhelming to me,” he said. “(McDavid’s) the best player in the league or one of them. It’s pretty cool, but it doesn’t really mean anything. It’s just people saying things. I love watching him and trying to emulate him.

“Hopefully I can be as good as him one day.”

Excerpts from that article:

“Jack has had a very similar development curve as Connor,” said Beyond The Next Level sport performance coach Dan Ninkovich, who worked with McDavid when he was the same age as Hughes is. “What separates them is that they can think the game fast and few steps in advance. When I play Jack with junior and pro players in the summer, he brings his game up a whole other level.”

As Mark Seidel of North American Central Scouting observed, “I see a little bit of McDavid and Marner in him. He’s got the puck skills of Marner, but he has a McDavid burst. He’s going to sell a lot of tickets (in the OHL).”

Quinn, Jack Hughes: The present, and maybe future, of Michigan hockey

Quinn, Jack Hughes: The present, and maybe future, of Michigan hockey
George Sipple, Detroit Free Press Published 3:39 p.m. ET March 1, 2018 | Updated 3:48 p.m. ET March 1, 2018

...

Jack has dealt with comparisons to McDavid since he dominated the Greater Toronto Hockey League, before coming to Plymouth.

"He's an unbelievable player," Jack said of McDavid, who he skated with this summer. "It would be an honor to be compared to him for a little bit."

...

John Vanbiesbrouck said, last year, that he was in the category of Matthews and Eichel, if not better:

Meet Jack Hughes, the 16-year-old dazzling like a future (2019) No. 1 NHL draft pick
Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports Published 3:39 p.m. ET March 30, 2018 | Updated 5:17 p.m. ET March 30, 2018

...

“He’s very brave,” said former NHL goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, now general manager of the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks. “For a young guy to be as brave as he is and to have the vision he has puts him an elite category.”

Vanbiesbrouck, also vice president of USA Hockey’s junior council, said if Hughes isn’t the top pick in 2019, “I would like to see the player who is.”

Added Vanbiesbrouck: “I do believe (Hughes) is in the category with Matthews and Eichel, and he might be able to set his own category.”

...

Although Vanbiesbrouck's view of Hughes was that "there is no playing on the perimeter for him."

Could Quinn, Jack Hughes be Canucks' next star brother tandem? - Sportsnet.ca

Could Quinn, Jack Hughes be Canucks’ next star brother tandem?
Mark Spector @sportsnetspec August 4, 2018, 8:35 AM
...

“There’s a factor with Jack that’s different than a lot of other players,” said Team USA general manager John Vanbiesbrouck. “He can whittle his way through the mix pretty fast, and he’s pretty captivating when you watch him. There is no playing on the perimeter for him. He gets to the middle of the ice.

...

With so many people touting him as the best great thing not too long ago, it's obviously going to take a lot of work for them to backtrack.

 

[Blade Paradigm]

Corey Pronman, last June, rated Jack Hughes the second-best prospect of the past five years.

On_Wings_Of_Pastrami
2 points · 6 months ago · edited 6 months ago
It's a confusing list as it's based on how they were perceived at the time of the draft, and not where they are now. So basically it assumes we know nothing about the players as they currently are... As though they are all 18 year olds in the same draft.
So guys like Puljujärvi, and Bennett are ahead of him... And guys like Barzal and Draisaitl are ranked behind.
Perhaps most interesting to me was Jack Hughes who he said right now would be #2 between McDavid and Laine. The hype train for that kid is huge.

B.D. Gallof of Hockeybuzz wrote this last season:

It wasn't uncommon for the media to call him the second-best prospect after McDavid prior to this season.

Of course, even looking at those comments today makes them seem hyperbolic about his abilities.

I think there's a lot of resistance to change after the media depicted him as McDavid-lite.

Recently, Pierre McGuire, who said he knows the Hughes family well and has seen Jack play many times, placed Jack in the tier of Nico Hischier. I put Hughes in the tier of Hischier, Ehlers, and Keller. I think that's a more precise measurement of his abilities than anything else that has been said about Hughes by the media.

 

[FinnishSniper]

If Hughes really is the second best prospect after McDavid in recent years, shouldn’t he be able to dominate in the WJC like Laine, Matthews, Pulju, Dahlin others...

 

[stampedingviking]

This is really the substance of the "debate" around here.

It's a reply to a post saying virtually the same thing.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

It's a reply to a post saying virtually the same thing.

Exactly. The reality is a very small percentage of posters on this cite have seen enough of both players (really seen them) to have a worthwhile opinion.

 

[member 157595]

Exactly. The reality is a very small percentage of posters on this cite have seen enough of both players (really seen them) to have a worthwhile opinion.

Watching players play is overrated. I prefer to look at a player's passport to determine if he's good or not.

If Hughes really is the second best prospect after McDavid in recent years, shouldn’t he be able to dominate in the WJC like Laine, Matthews, Pulju, Dahlin others...

I have no idea how Hughes has played but do I really need to mention the countless high-end NHL players that either didn't play at the WJC or had one or more unimpressive tournament(s)?

This tournament has been overhyped for freaking forever thanks to TSN/etc, and unfortunately it's the only place where you see some of these prospects come into direct competition. Therefore, the importance of this tournament is drastically overstated when it comes to evaluating talent.

 

[FinnishSniper]

Watching players play is overrated. I prefer to look at a player's passport to determine if he's good or not.



I have no idea how Hughes has played but do I really need to mention the countless high-end NHL players that either didn't play at the WJC or had one or more unimpressive tournament(s)?

This tournament has been overhyped for freaking forever thanks to TSN/etc, and unfortunately it's the only place where you see some of these prospects come into direct competition. Therefore, the importance of this tournament is drastically overstated when it comes to evaluating talent.

Yeah for sure it might be overhyped, but the kid doesn’t dominate like the one’s I mentioned. He has been good, but not ”better than Matthews good” in the games I’ve seen.

 

[member 157595]

Yeah for sure it might be overhyped, but the kid doesn’t dominate like the one’s I mentioned. He has been good, but not ”better than Matthews good” in the games I’ve seen.

I'll take your word for it, I haven't watched a game.

Matthews was much more physically mature at the time of his draft than Hughes is now and played a year in a men's league. Similar situation with Patrik Laine; those two were men excelling against men prior to their draft. If you're physically mature it's often better to play in a men's league if you can because guys like Matthews/Laine can dominate their own age group using their physical skills alone (thereby not sufficiently developing skills needed to excel against players of comparable size). Hughes has the puck skills to play in the NHL but he's likely going to have more of an adjustment period than bigger/stronger players like Matthews, Laine and Eichel in my opinion.

No one should be drafting Hughes or Kakko based on what they can do next year or the year after in the NHL; it's about what they can do over the course of their respective careers. I wouldn't begin to claim I know enough about Kakko to make an educated guess on that front at this point in time.

 

[FinnishSniper]

I'll take your word for it, I haven't watched a game.

Matthews was much more physically mature at the time of his draft than Hughes is now and played a year in a men's league. Similar situation with Patrik Laine; those two were men excelling against men prior to their draft. If you're physically mature it's often better to play in a men's league if you can because guys like Matthews/Laine can dominate their own age group using their physical skills alone (thereby not sufficiently developing skills needed to excel against players of comparable size). Hughes has the puck skills to play in the NHL but he's likely going to have more of an adjustment period than bigger/stronger players like Matthews, Laine and Eichel in my opinion.

No one should be drafting Hughes or Kakko based on what they can do next year or the year after in the NHL; it's about what they can do over the course of their respective careers. I wouldn't begin to claim I know enough about Kakko to make an educated guess on that front at this point in time.

Yeah, Kakko is though at the same level physically as Matthews I’d say. His upside is also huge. He will contend for the calder for sure next season. He is miles ahead of Laine at the same age.

 

[member 157595]

Yeah, Kakko is though at the same level physically as Matthews I’d say. His upside is also huge. He will contend for the calder for sure next season. He is miles ahead of Laine at the same age.

I don't know enough about Kakko to comment but I definitely want to caution you about tempering expectations. What Laine did his last year in Finland should not be discounted.

 

[FinnishSniper]

I don't know enough about Kakko to comment but I definitely want to caution you about tempering expectations. What Laine did his last year in Finland should not be discounted.

He was great at the end of the year, but Kakko is actually able to dominate the game all around the ice. Laine was only good of the rush.

 

[Hokinaittii]

We shouldn't look too much into who was better in Liiga or WJC, but instead how their skill sets suit for NHL. I think Kakko's skillset is everything you need in NHL whereas Laine's tools are more suited for bigger rink where there would be more time and space for him.

 

[Absolut]

I would love the Rangers to draft Podkolzin. I am really impressed with the kid. How far do you people think he'll fall in the draft because he doesn't want to play junior hockey in North America?

 

[BB88]

Kakko is going to be such a beast with the puck.

I take going to a good team over 1st overall.

 

[1OApick]

Kakko isn't physically mature. But def more mature than Hughes. Kakkos natural low gravity makes him so good. Also he has been amazing against SVK

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

More impressed with Kakko than Hughes.

 

[kroypuck]

Kakko isn't physically mature. But def more mature than Hughes. Kakkos natural low gravity makes him so good. Also he has been amazing against SVK

6'2 190lbs is physically mature

 

[1OApick]

6'2 190lbs is physically mature

Have you seen his body? He is superskinny yet. In Liiga even he outstrenght grown up men it's not about his physical strenght. He often falls because he lacks pure power but with short stick and lower body gravity he can win most of his puckbattles. Yes he is heavier than Petterson but in Kakkos prime he will be 200-215 lbs and probably having less fat.

 

[JJTT]

6'2 190lbs is physically mature

Seriously? Kakko has a lot of room to grow, likely he will end up closer to 6'3 215lbs in his prime.