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

[Peasy]

Whoever created this thread should be barred from hf boards for life

Its okay the man went into hiding to never be seen again.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

The funny part about this thread isn't even the kakko takes, it's the pumping of other prospects tires that also didn't turn out that is peak hilarity.

Who’s that?

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

It was a totally reasonable opinion in their draft years. Grow up


You must have been blind then.

Undressing NHL stars at the WC at 18 years old. Bedard shit in his draft year honestly. Dominating Finnish men’s pro league. Great at WJC

I don't remember his draft year. I don't follow prospects like I used to - sorry!

 

[HanSolo]

I personally love a good thread bump and dunk. Too many awful takes go unaccounted for when they are eventually proven to be undeniably wrong a few years later. Also fun to go back and see various poster's thoughts from that point in time.

Sometimes. Sometimes it feels uniquely mean spirited and uncalled for. But given how HF armchair scouts have always and will always make overly confident predictions about players who haven't even been drafted or made the NHL yet, I'm always interested to see retrospectives. You can apply that to professional scouts too.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Sometimes. Sometimes it feels uniquely mean spirited and uncalled for. But given how HF armchair scouts have always and will always make overly confident predictions about players who haven't even been drafted or made the NHL yet, I'm always interested to see retrospectives. You can apply that to professional scouts too.

It's not mean-spirited in this case.

It's deserved.

 

[Fantomas]

Another case study for why scouting overly obsessed with strength and size ("Hughes has a small frame") is misguided.

Not to pile on too much on the OP. Scouting is hard.

 

[Castle8130]

Another case study for why scouting overly obsessed with strength and size ("Hughes has a small frame") is misguided.

Not to pile on too much on the OP. Scouting is hard.

To be fair, Kakko had outstanding statistical numbers for his age too. Size wasn't the biggest factor here.

 

[Mrfenn92]

I personally love a good thread bump and dunk. Too many awful takes go unaccounted for when they are eventually proven to be undeniably wrong a few years later. Also fun to go back and see various poster's thoughts from that point in time.

Fair enough. So my guess is you would have no issue with people bumping opinions of yours in the past then.

 

[Fantomas]

To be fair, Kakko had outstanding statistical numbers for his age too. Size wasn't the biggest factor here.

I'm just referring to what the OP said regarding Hughes's size. It's a common mistake some people make on this board.

The bigger prospect is not necessarily at an advantage over a smaller one. I would say it's more likely to be the opposite. Bigger guys sometimes peak early, dominate their peers and then once they reach the highest level of competition they become average players.

There's also the issue of hockey sense. It's rather obvious that Hughes has much more of it.

 

[HBK27]

Fair enough. So my guess is you would have no issue with people bumping opinions of yours in the past then.

Have at it!

I'll gladly own up to them. Though (spoiler alert) I'm not one to spit out such hot takes. I have 12K+ posts for you to prove me wrong though.

Good luck!

 

[Castle8130]

I'm just referring to what the OP said regarding Hughes's size. It's a common mistake some people make on this board.

The bigger prospect is not necessarily at an advantage over a smaller one. I would say it's more likely to be the opposite. Bigger guys sometimes peak early, dominate their peers and then once they reach the highest level of competition they become average players.

There's also the issue of hockey sense. It's rather obvious that Hughes has much more of it.

Yeah I was a big Hughes guy myself, still am.

 

[Breakers]

This thread isn’t nearly as bad as the one about Kakko being the most NHL ready prospect they have ever seen.

 

[Mrfenn92]

Have at it!

I'll gladly own up to them. Though (spoiler alert) I'm not one to spit out such hot takes. I have 12K+ posts for you to prove me wrong though.

Good luck!

I have no interest in looking up anyone’s post history.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

This thread isn’t nearly as bad as the one about Kakko being the most NHL ready prospect they have ever seen.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: no one homers like the Finns.

 

[Hntz]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: no one homers like the Finns.

Yeah we either overhype the living shit out of our prospects or hate their guts and constantly point out their flaws. There’s no inbetween.

 

[jj cale]

Yeah we either overhype the living shit out of our prospects or hate their guts and constantly point out their flaws. There’s no inbetween.

With heavy emphasis on the former.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

This thread isn’t nearly as bad as the one about Kakko being the most NHL ready prospect they have ever seen.

Why? He might have been. No way to know since Gallant wouldn't give Mario or Gretzky big minutes when they were rookies.

 

[Hntz]

With heavy emphasis on the former.

Yeah no kidding. A few posters here do seem to have some sort of counter-reaction to that, and hate on every single prospect of ours however.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

I'm just referring to what the OP said regarding Hughes's size. It's a common mistake some people make on this board.

The bigger prospect is not necessarily at an advantage over a smaller one. I would say it's more likely to be the opposite. Bigger guys sometimes peak early, dominate their peers and then once they reach the highest level of competition they become average players.

There's also the issue of hockey sense. It's rather obvious that Hughes has much more of it.

Hughes has been given all the chances in the world to excel. Kakko hasn't.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Hughes has been given all the chances in the world to excel. Kakko hasn't.

That doesn't change the fact that Hughes is and always has been the better prospect/player.

 

[Breakers]

Why? He might have been. No way to know since Gallant wouldn't give Mario or Gretzky big minutes when they were rookies.

He wasn’t
And gallant wasn’t his coach

 

[Wats]

Which part of the hype did you not understand? He had a phenomenal Liiga season, playoffs and World Championships. The hype and draft position were completely justified at the time. Too bad his game has taken this long to transition to smaller ice. Hopefully he still has a couple more gears.

Slafkovsky pretty much was 1st overall for same reason (minus Liiga success)

 

[Albatros]

That doesn't change the fact that Hughes is and always has been the better prospect/player.

Hughes was fairly awful in his rookie season as well as at certain junior tournaments. He's ahead now but pretending like he always was is anachronistic.

 

[Nico Hischier]

Never forget rangers fans cheering when the devils drafted Jack Hughes. CLASSIC

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Hughes was fairly awful in his rookie season as well as at certain junior tournaments. He's ahead now but pretending like he always was is anachronistic.

At no point would I have ever taken Kakko over Hughes if starting a team from scratch.