Player Discussion Kaapo Kakko: Part III

[Crazyalbo76]

Honestly i think kakko has been more then fine. You can tell there are occasions where hes still trying to dangle through people maybe forcing it a little but i think his skating etc looks much better than last year. I believe this is just an ice time issue, but the way quin coaches, its more like a do something with the time you're given and you'll get more time thing. Im sure as the season progresses we will see the progress of all our young guys. Its only been 3 games, posters here were ready to jump off a cliff after the first game. Yall need to be patient

 

[IDvsEGO]

What am I missing when I don’t understand those that are saying he’s looked good? Can you point me to a couple of plays and/or shifts that I can rewatch and reassess?

I feel like I’m quickly becoming a Kakko hater. I don’t want that to be the case. I am not making any arguments about what Kakko can possibly become or what his ceiling is - that’s above my pay grade. But, I do feel pretty confident saying that he has yet to impress me outside of a few good plays here and there.

Is it too much to expect that a player of this caliber would dominate a game every now and then as he develops towards that elite ceiling? Why does he look so much slower and less dangerous with the puck than his fringe line mate Di Giuseppe?

rewatch the first period against the devils last night. towards the middle of the period him and chytil just take over. it had little to do with PDG, and was pure puck retrieval and puck control. The only reason they didnt score was because johnson cant shoot for shit.

 

[The New Russian Five]

What am I missing when I don’t understand those that are saying he’s looked good? Can you point me to a couple of plays and/or shifts that I can rewatch and reassess?

I feel like I’m quickly becoming a Kakko hater. I don’t want that to be the case. I am not making any arguments about what Kakko can possibly become or what his ceiling is - that’s above my pay grade. But, I do feel pretty confident saying that he has yet to impress me outside of a few good plays here and there.

Is it too much to expect that a player of this caliber would dominate a game every now and then as he develops towards that elite ceiling? Why does he look so much slower and less dangerous with the puck than his fringe line mate Di Giuseppe?

He's still 19 and playing on a team with a lot more start players than a top 3 drafted player would typically land on. So he isn't relied upon as much as a Matthews or a McDavid. So you're inevitably going to see a slower progression. But he definitely looks faster than last season and he is controlling the puck more. His underlying stats are (albeit small sample size) is showing that he has made a huge leap from being the worst player in the league. It might take another year or two, but I can see the base is there for Kakko to get to an elite level if he works for it.

 

[will1066]

rewatch the first period against the devils last night. towards the middle of the period him and chytil just take over. it had little to do with PDG, and was pure puck retrieval and puck control. The only reason they didnt score was because johnson cant shoot for shit.

Yeah, two weak wrister attempts

 

[aufheben]

I think the Kakko confidence thing is overblown. He's looked good the last two games, just like in the play in. He just needs reps and some consistency in who he's playing with. Obviously that's not happening tho.

He played with Chytil for half of last season. DiG-Chytil-Kakko was a line for 10-15 games down the stretch.

I agree he should just stay with them for now. They’re playing well together, so I don’t really see an issue with that.

The Rangers used to have lethal 3rd lines during the AV years.

Is it too much to expect that a player of this caliber would dominate a game every now and then as he develops towards that elite ceiling? Why does he look so much slower and less dangerous with the puck than his fringe line mate Di Giuseppe?

It shouldn’t be. He’s barely given us a crumb.

Honestly I saw more from Lafreniere in game #2 than I have from Kakko in 70+ games. Night and day.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

He played with Chytil for half of last season. DiG-Chytil-Kakko was a line for 10-15 games down the stretch.

I agree he should just stay with them for now. They’re playing well together, so I don’t really see an issue with that.

The Rangers used to have lethal 3rd lines during the AV years.

It shouldn’t be. He’s barely given us a crumb.

Honestly I saw more from Lafreniere in game #2 than I have from Kakko in 70+ games. Night and day.

Kakko had a stretch last year where he put up 11 points in 18 games. Funny enough, this string came to an end before he gassed out and Quinn decided that he wanted to take him off of PP1 for "reasons."

I know that it was a while ago, but lets not get ignant, it wasn't THAT long ago.

 

[bondra]

Dont get me wrong Im not into advanced stats, but sometimes I like to check them out.

Its small sample size but Chytil, GiuSeppe and Kakko all have over 60 CF% and FF% so their advanced stats doesnt look bad.

I have watched last 2 games from Rangers and Kakko's skating has developed, no question about it. Sometimes he just gets lost from the picture and his playing seems forced, he needs more confidence and find joy of playing icehockey. Maybe its impossible with David Quinn.

If your reading this Quinn, definitely keep Chytil and Kakko together.

 

[SlingshotVv]

Right now watching Lemieux, or DiG, is more exciting on a shift by shift basis than Kakko. I expected him to be a penalty drawing machine in the NHL, forcing holding and hooking calls, and going to the net drawing the occasional roughing/cross checking. I don’t know he doesn’t seem to threaten with his play enough to force that. I’m hoping he turns a corner as the season rolls along.

 

[Edge]

This is one of those conversations where I feel like people are watching two totally different sets of games and I don't know how to describe what they're not seeing, or what they think they're seeing.

It's like trying to describe the taste of water.

 

[TheDirtyH]

What am I missing when I don’t understand those that are saying he’s looked good? Can you point me to a couple of plays and/or shifts that I can rewatch and reassess?

I feel like I’m quickly becoming a Kakko hater. I don’t want that to be the case. I am not making any arguments about what Kakko can possibly become or what his ceiling is - that’s above my pay grade. But, I do feel pretty confident saying that he has yet to impress me outside of a few good plays here and there.

Is it too much to expect that a player of this caliber would dominate a game every now and then as he develops towards that elite ceiling? Why does he look so much slower and less dangerous with the puck than his fringe line mate Di Giuseppe?

Personally, I don't expect to see Kakko dominate anything until he's got a clear opportunity to do so. He's not blown me away, but he plays on an inept team, without any cohesiveness or consistency both in roster makeup and style of play on even a game to game basis.

I guess my point is that hockey, especially at the NHL level, is very much a team sport. People harp on Kakko's skating only because without wheels like Point or Barzal or McDavid, you don't need to rely on structure to play fast. I look at a team like San Jose and the players they've had when they were elite and none of their top players (except Marleau) were anything close to burners. But they played in tight spaces, worked short passes, give and gos, pretty basic formulas to move the puck into openings, rotate players, and cause opposing defenses to scramble creating a lot from a little so to speak. Kakko, to me, looks like a player who would thrive with that kind of approach. And even going back to last season, it's why PDG, an otherwise very blah player, works so well with he and Chytil.

He played with Chytil for half of last season. DiG-Chytil-Kakko was a line for 10-15 games down the stretch.

I agree he should just stay with them for now. They’re playing well together, so I don’t really see an issue with that.

The Rangers used to have lethal 3rd lines during the AV years.

It shouldn’t be. He’s barely given us a crumb.

Honestly I saw more from Lafreniere in game #2 than I have from Kakko in 70+ games. Night and day.

I'm not blown away by any individual plays by Lafreniere TBH. I have the same sense of confidence, and more so even, because he's clearly not needing to adjust to the rink size, but he's thrown the puck away, he's fumbled more shots than he's taken, and he's often looked like he doesn't know where to be.

That's OK, and I'm not discouraged, the talent is clear. To me, Kakko looked very similar last year, albeit a bit more overwhelmed.

 

[Raspewtin]

personally, I think Kakko was very good the last two games and the points will come. He should obviously be on PP 2 but I'm not worried about him.

 

[JHS]

He played with Chytil for half of last season. DiG-Chytil-Kakko was a line for 10-15 games down the stretch.

I agree he should just stay with them for now. They’re playing well together, so I don’t really see an issue with that.

The Rangers used to have lethal 3rd lines during the AV years.

It shouldn’t be. He’s barely given us a crumb.

Honestly I saw more from Lafreniere in game #2 than I have from Kakko in 70+ games. Night and day.

I agree. I'm concerned Kakko won't develop the foot speed needed to be a force at this level. He's very slow when he gets the puck( in decision making and literally speed.) He has to make even more progress in the next few games!

 

[True Blue]

That's OK, and I'm not discouraged, the talent is clear. To me, Kakko looked very similar last year, albeit a bit more overwhelmed.

I do not see him being overwhelmed at all. He has a goal, played well against the Devils. Were it not for Blackwood, he would have had more points.

 

[Rangers in 7]

kakko has played very well these last two games....i dont understand what some people on this board think he needs to do, ryan f***ing strome had almost 10 minutes more then him against the devils, thats criminal

 

[True Blue]

kakko has played very well these last two games....i dont understand what some people on this board think he needs to do, ryan f***ing strome had almost 10 minutes more then him against the devils, thats criminal

Well, Strome plays center and Kakko plays RW, so there's that.

 

[IDvsEGO]

Well, Strome plays center and Kakko plays RW, so there's that.

The counter to that is that Chytil played fantastic as well, and got similar time to kakko. Now 8 of those 10 extra minutes were on the powerplay, but chytil should've absolutely played himself into that conversation. He was 56% on faceoffs, and he's absolutely our 2nd best center right now.

 

[True Blue]

The counter to that is that Chytil played fantastic as well, and got similar time to kakko. Now 8 of those 10 extra minutes were on the powerplay, but chytil should've absolutely played himself into that conversation. He was 56% on faceoffs, and he's absolutely our 2nd best center right now.

The counter to the counter is that Chytil and Kakko were playing very, very well together and perhaps breaking them up was not the right answer.

 

[jay from jersey]

The counter to the counter is that Chytil and Kakko were playing very, very well together and perhaps breaking them up was not the right answer.

The counter to the counter to the counter is that Quinn is an asshat when it comes to us favorites. At least howdy is improving

 

[True Blue]

The counter to the counter to the counter is that Quinn is an asshat when it comes to us favorites. At least howdy is improving

Aside from Howden, who played less that virtually all other forwards what else are you going to point to? Strome? The same guy that was trending to 70 point center and had excellent chemistry with Panarin? Anyone else?

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Kakko has looked good when he actually plays on a consistent basis. Skating definitely looks much better than last season. Would love for Gauthier to go back on that line and DiGi to go back to the 4th line where he belongs. Unfortunately Quinn looks to be scratching Gauthier for Rooney tomorrow

 

[DoingItCoolKiwi]

The counter to the counter is that Chytil and Kakko were playing very, very well together and perhaps breaking them up was not the right answer.

I'm completely fine with Kakko-Chytil 3rd line, but they need to get consistent minutes and a stable spot in 2pp. No random benchinngs and odd line changes mid game. Tired of the complete chaos that happens every time this team is chasing the game.

 

[True Blue]

I'm completely fine with Kakko-Chytil 3rd line, but they need to get consistent minutes and a stable spot in 2pp. No random benchinngs and odd line changes mid game. Tired of the complete chaos that happens every time this team is chasing the game.

They just played over 14 minutes. What else do you want? Should Buchnevich's and Panarin's time be cut down?

Considering how much time the second PP unit gets, is it really a big deal? I want them there as well, but the amount of time it gets just does not move the needle enough to make it a big deal.

 

[Edge]

Kakko has looked good when he actually plays on a consistent basis. Skating definitely looks much better than last season. Would love for Gauthier to go back on that line and DiGi to go back to the 4th line where he belongs. Unfortunately Quinn looks to be scratching Gauthier for Rooney tomorrow

One of the things I have liked is that he's keeping his feet moving. That keeps him in the play and I feel as if he's been rewarded with opportunities for doing so.

I really feel like we're a couple of bounces and one Strome away from having really solid offensive starts from both Kakko and Laf. They're right there in the midst of it.

 

[Ghost of jas]

One of the things I have liked is that he's keeping his feet moving. That keeps him in the play and I feel as if he's been rewarded with opportunities for doing so.

I really like we're a couple of bounces and one Strome away from having really solid offensive starts from both Kakko and Laf. They're right there in the midst of it.

By away I assume you mean shot into outer space.

 

[True Blue]

I really like we're a couple of bounces and one Strome away from having really solid offensive starts from both Kakko and Laf. They're right there in the midst of it.

Agreed. I like what I have seen from them. Feels like something is on the horizon, right around the corner.