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Player Discussion Kaapo Kakko: Part III

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Really not worried much about Kakko. His conditioning will improve and his strength will catch up to his size. With Increase in confidence as well he has the makings of a very good power forward.
 
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There was nothing wrong with Kakko's skating. This fan base is beyond moronic with thinking every player has to skate like Pavel Bure to great. They made that stupid mistake with AV when all he wanted was small, quick defenseman which lead our defense in the toilet. Panarin is not an elite skater. He actually has a hockey brain unlike a player like Buchnevich who is an idiot. Kakko's game will be about his size, strength and hands. Lemieux is a very fast skater. However, he's stupid and he doesn't have the hockey IQ, hands or skill to be anything but a 4th line player. Only thing Kakko was struggling with was getting knocked off the puck and not playing a little quicker with his thinking. Our fan base needs to move away from this idiotic AV type of thinking that all our players have to skate really fast. It's nonsense. The Rangers have had way too many low hockey IQ players like Buchnevich and Skjei getting top minutes for years. It has to end.
 
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usekakkorightquinn said:
There was nothing wrong with Kakko's skating. This fan base is beyond moronic with thinking every player has to skate like Pavel Bure to great. They made that stupid mistake with AV when all he wanted was small, quick defenseman which lead our defense in the toilet. Panarin is not an elite skater. He actually has a hockey brain unlike a player like Buchnevich who is an idiot. Kakko's game will be about his size, strength and hands. Lemieux is a very fast skater. However, he's stupid and he doesn't have the hockey IQ, hands or skill to be anything but a 4th line player. Only thing Kakko was struggling with was getting knocked off the puck and not playing a little quicker with his thinking. Our fan base needs to move away from this idiotic AV type of thinking that all our players have to skate really fast. It's nonsense. The Rangers have had way too many low hockey IQ players like Buchnevich and Skjei getting top minutes for years. It has to end.
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Dude were you watching the same player the rest of Ranger Nation was watching?

There was nothing wrong with Kakko's skating? HUH? The guy could not keep up with his teamates on rushes up the ice. And even in those few times he did, he was gassed after 20-25 seconds and than transition, he was way behind the play. Kakko I think I could count on one hand the whole year before the covid break, times when he won a battle for a loose puck that required some speed and at the very least some quickness to retrieve the puck.

NO offense bro but you are out of your mind if you don't think that Kakko's skating was a huge issue along with his lack of stamina and strength to win the battles. If anything Kakko looked slow as molassis out there and it was very concerning to be frank.

But like I said the other day, there is hope and I really think he's going to be just fine. He had played way way too much hockey over the previous year with both junior tournaments, league play...etc. He was spent bottom line. He really had nothing left to show by time training camp started and it showed all thru the regular season.

A funny thing happened tho. Tho he had started to show signs last few games of regular season, during the covid break Kakko obviously recharged his batteries and when he came back post covid into the bubble, he looked like a new man. He kept up with his teamates...he won battles to loose pucks....he looked faster and had more burst. And just as importantly shot the puck more and just looked more confident.

Had this been the Kakko we had seen pre-covid, no one would have said a peep about his performance as we all would have been thrilled.

Bottom line, let's not be disingenuous and say Kakko didn't have a skating issue...he most certainly did and we all saw it with our own eyes except apparently you. An offseason tho combined with the covid break, I have no doubt that with the offseason regiman the Rangers put him on to improve his stamina, strength and yes...skating, Kakko will come into the upcoming season the Kakko we all thought we were going to see.
 
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Kaapo's an interesting case. He wasn't physically engaged in all three zones last year, certainly not to the point where the offensive output would have lead to winning hockey. But guess what, analytically stars like Kane, Bread, Giroux, Nylander (etc) aren't either. The issue I think is that he wasn't initiating enough, and was trying to figure out his reads. If this trend continues, the mob gets larger.
I think spotting him in situational minutes, especially when the other team is fatigued should help him adjust to the pace of play, and a few more shifts off the rush. He was a little skinny last year, but with some added time off you can really add mass and more power to his game.
 
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Amazing Kreiderman said:
It doesn't seem to be a problem with Rantanen, Aho, Laine etc who train with the same guy as Kakko has for the last few summers.
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Rantanen and Laine were very raw as far as skating and physique goes. Aho was raw physically and while he was a better skater his skating definitely didn't stand out which is probably why he was picked in the 2nd round.

I'm not fully sure how it works but a lot of Finnish prospects developed their skating a lot more after they were drafted than before.
 
teravaineSAROS said:
I'm not fully sure how it works but a lot of Finnish prospects developed their skating a lot more after they were drafted than before.
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Either it is one huge coincidence or there is something seriously wrong in the program, because developing skating later is just plain stupid.
 
I'm not concerned with any particular part of Kakko's game. I am concerned that he had the worst season ever recorded according to some metrics.

Hopefully, that's a one-time thing, but to not be concerned about his future is ludicrous.
 
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chosen said:
I'm not concerned with any particular part of Kakko's game. I am concerned that he had the worst season ever recorded according to some metrics.

Hopefully, that's a one-time thing, but to not be concerned about his future is ludicrous.
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My thought exactly. I'm not worried about this kid, though I had my gripes with him last season. His issues were not thinking fast enough and over relying on moves he thought NHLers couldn't defend against. The lessons will be useful.
 
Def had tunnel vision, especially in transition. Laser focused on not turning it over at either blue line which is good, but he missed some easy slam dunk odd man rushes with a quick little pass to a streaking wide open teammate often just a few feet away.
 
I tend to think it's a little less "tunnel vision" and a little more used to having extra time to make decisions and being able to buy himself that time.
I'm not particularly concerned, he had a bad first year but I feel like it really comes down to him not being ready for the NHL last year, and that's fine. This year will be more important for predicting his long term ability I think
 
mackinnon was a 1st overall pick who averaged 56 points per 82 games over the first 4 seasons of his career. there would have been a lot of moaning about him if he was our player at that time.
 
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ecemleafs said:
mackinnon was a 1st overall pick who averaged 56 points per 82 games over the first 4 seasons of his career. there would have been a lot of moaning about him if he was our player at that time.
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Ohhhhhh boy.

A lot of us here are in for a big disappointment with Lafreniere then.

I expect a stronger season from Kakko if he continues to play anything like he did against Carolina. He was the Rangers' best forward in the series with some time off. The kid was gassed after playing more than 100 games of hockey all over the globe in his draft year. I expect to see a rested player out there with more confidence that ends up a competent top 6 forward this year. 10ish goals and 25-30ish points in 50something games barring injury.
 
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