Player Discussion Kaapo Kakko: Part IV

[Chytilmania]

I cannot speak for what was going on in Finland, but think that the Scandinavian countries were more open than US & Canada.

Many players did not also go for 10 months without playing like Lafreneire did. As I do not see Kakko as an issue at all, in his case there is nothing to respond to.

If there was a hidden gym that trained professional athletes, that would be news to me. Not shocking, but certainly news. That does not change the fact that it was against the law to do so and would have faced serious repercussions if caught.

Whereas a multi millionaire like Kreider could have a fully functioning home gym, I tend to believe that an NHL rookie does not.

Did Stutzle go 10 months without playing?

And yes a rookie will not have a gym but if multi millionaire Kreider has a gym and is a team leader he can invite rookies over to use. Pretty sure K'Andre and Laf worked with Prentiss anyways. K'Andre went a while without playing a game and he's producing.

 

[The New Russian Five]

Obviously we all want him to have more points. I just think that we're nitpicking his play, because he isn't getting them. He has been absolutely fantastic, just not finishing himself, and having to watch his teammates miss chances all too frequently. I'm also struck with the idea that he isn't in the centre of the ice enough, but the numbers don't suggest that, and I think it may just be a bias that's created by how amazing he is on the boards.

His shot is the only aspect of his game that stands out as something he could immediately improve.

This isn't an argument that I would make for Lafreniere. He's clearly better than Kakko was last year, but he still has a bunch of areas he could improve quickly.

But Kakko; he has been a force on both ends of the puck; just needs a little more luck and some tweaks to his shot/shot selection. Along with the natural progression that a kid with his ability is going to have, of course.

Can clearly see that skill and talent is there. Just some of his decision making and shot selection I think is what is holding him back.

 

[McRanger]

The Athletic did an entire piece just on Lafreniere working out in his garage with his trainer and how he stole all the equipment from his gym.

Five days on, two days off

It’s mostly about building more power but also flexibility; not being able to work in a gym presents no particular hindrance as Dubé isn’t a strong believer in working out on machines. His approach chiefly involves using one’s own body weight and applying resistance.

I think its safe to say 1) Laf weight trained more since you can't weight train like that with a packed game schedule and there were no game days in the spring and fall and 2) that his trainer didn't think gyms being closed was a problem plus he basically stole the mans gym.

Since that debate should be settled, I look forward to the continuing debate.

 

[True Blue]

Did Stutzle go 10 months without playing?

No. He did not.

And yes a rookie will not have a gym but if multi millionaire Kreider has a gym and is a team leader he can invite rookies over to use. Pretty sure K'Andre and Laf worked with Prentiss anyways. K'Andre went a while without playing a game and he's producing.

Prentiss could only work with them once he was allowed to operate. But not before. And he was not allowed to operate for quite a long time. Gyms around the tri-state could not open until September.

Neither you nor I have any idea of IF Kreider has a fully functioning home gym. Not everyone does. So that is one thing. Another is that that could not happen until Miller and Lafreneiere arrived here. So that is another. And that is pre-supposing that he even has such a thing. All of the clips for his training have only been at a gym that is not his house.

 

[Chytilmania]

The Athletic did an entire piece just on Lafreniere working out in his garage with his trainer and how he stole all the equipment from his gym.





I think its safe to say 1) Laf weight trained more since you can't weight train like that with a packed game schedule and there were no game days in the spring and fall and 2) that his trainer didn't think gyms being closed was a problem plus he basically stole the mans gym.

Since that debate should be settled, I look forward to the continuing debate.

"Using one's body weight and applying resistance" doesn't sound great but that's also very vague.

 

[True Blue]

Being able to train, being able to weight train and being able to skate are all different things.

If this is all Lafreniere needed, then ok. I tend to think people, especially professional athletes, need a bit more

Among its contents: a variety of dumbbells, some Swiss balls (you can see one in the photo), stability boards, a couple of medicine balls and a TRX suspension training set-up.

This also does not mitigate the fact that not playing actual hockey for 10 months was probably not a good thing.

 

[Synergy27]

This also does not mitigate the fact that not playing actual hockey for 10 months was probably not a good thing.

This is another thing you keep harping on and another thing that I don’t think anyone disagrees with. That said, who is responsible for that? To me it’s the team/management. They have made what appear to be at minimum questionable decisions that have adversely impacted his early development.

We can all hope that these impacts will be mitigated over time but all we have right now is a 1OA who is struggling to produce and a bunch of potential reasons why. Similar to how his entry into the league was unprecedented, his path from where we are today to the superstardom we are hoping for is just as murky.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Did Stutzle go 10 months without playing?

And yes a rookie will not have a gym but if multi millionaire Kreider has a gym and is a team leader he can invite rookies over to use. Pretty sure K'Andre and Laf worked with Prentiss anyways. K'Andre went a while without playing a game and he's producing.

Yes. Miller, Lafrenière, Barron and Robertson worked out with Kreider during the off-season.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Yes. Miller, Lafrenière, Barron and Robertson worked out with Kreider during the off-season.

Absolutely love having the kids work out with Kreider. Even Miller, physical freak that he is, must get into the gym with CK, and after 5 minutes be like, "Holy shit, this is what it takes at this level!"

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

"Using one's body weight and applying resistance" doesn't sound great but that's also very vague.

it's just resistance training i don't really understand why that doesn't sound great?

 

[Chytilmania]

it's just resistance training i don't really understand why that doesn't sound great?

To me that sounds like a lot of body weight/TRX stuff which is not what elite athletes need. But it was a pandemic so anything is better than nothing.

 

[Rongomania]

The Athletic did an entire piece just on Lafreniere working out in his garage with his trainer and how he stole all the equipment from his gym.




I think its safe to say 1) Laf weight trained more since you can't weight train like that with a packed game schedule and there were no game days in the spring and fall and 2) that his trainer didn't think gyms being closed was a problem plus he basically stole the mans gym.

Since that debate should be settled, I look forward to the continuing debate.

Changing my name to 'LafsGarage'.

 

[rdhstlr23]

4 points in 20 games. 0.2 ppg.
And there are some people that aren’t concerned? Not even a little?

Rangers have scored 8 goals last 2 games and not a single point.

 

[FireGerardGallant]

Really starting to believe @Machinehead when it comes to the cultural thing. It just makes no goddamn sense how you can get two of these guy and both struggle this mightily. It happens once sure it sucks but it happens, but twice?? Everyone top down should be fired for this embarrassment

 

[Crease]

Approaching 100 NHL games and we’re still waiting for actual production. Zero shots tonight.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Thought it was just him but Laf also sucking is a pretty strong indication that something is rotten in Rongoland. Lets see what happens with Kravtsov...

 

[Machinehead]

Really starting to believe @Machinehead when it comes to the cultural thing. It just makes no goddamn sense how you can get two of these guy and both struggle this mightily. One sucks but it happens. Everyone top down should be fired for this embarrassment

Right, the Rangers have always been bad at this and I don't think you can just ignore that. One quick example: Kovalev was outstanding everywhere else. He was just good here. It's not like hoodoo or anything like that but teams very rarely have hard resets. Somebody is always around from the last regime and so on and so forth. Things get passed on.

The Rangers are very old school. They come from an era where you cut your teeth and broke in at 23. But there were six teams then and everybody back then would be a star in a 32 team league. It was harder to get in.

I always go back to the same thing which is that these guys just look scared to do anything. And I don't think the team cares about the production. I think they care whether or not these guys learn whatever it is Quinn wants them to do. That's the old school approach.

Over on defense, Fox, Lindgren, and Miller just got thrown out there mostly because our defense is hot butt and we had to. And you know what? It works. Fox and Lindgren are amazing and yeah Miller f***s up all the time, but he's still really exciting and he scores more than Laf and Kakko do as sad as that is.

I don't think the Rangers have ever gotten away from that "cut your teeth" development.

And I'm not gonna turn this into another Quinn crucifixion but he's very into that also. In the NCAA, you kinda just watch until it's your time.

 

[aufheben]

Really starting to believe @Machinehead when it comes to the cultural thing. It just makes no goddamn sense how you can get two of these guy and both struggle this mightily. It happens once sure it sucks but it happens, but twice?? Everyone top down should be fired for this embarrassment

So what about Chytil then?

Kakko is being outscored by Blackwell, Di Giuseppe, Rooney, and Gauthier. Brendan Lemieux has the same amount of points as him FFS. That’s not the culture.

 

[Machinehead]

So what about Chytil then?

Kakko is being outscored by Blackwell, Di Giuseppe, Rooney, and Gauthier. Brendan Lemieux has the same amount of points as him FFS. That’s not the culture.

You constantly post about how bad they are but you go out of your way to absolve the team at every turn.

Do you think they're just bad players and every scout alive got it wrong? Honest question here.

 

[FireGerardGallant]

So what about Chytil then?

Kakko is being outscored by Blackwell, Di Giuseppe, Rooney, and Gauthier. Brendan Lemieux has the same amount of points as him FFS. That’s not the culture.

Chytil is 2 years older then both Laf and Kakko. Hes also struggled for points in every year before this season and even now hes only half ppg.
And that 100% is a development issue a guy who was considered as good as he was should not be getting outscored by those likes. His peer has triple the points he does. This isn't some mid first rounder being thrown to the sharks, this is a f***ing second overall pick. And when you see our first overall have the same problems you have to question things beyond their age

 

[CLW]

Thought it was just him but Laf also sucking is a pretty strong indication that something is rotten in Rongoland. Lets see what happens with Kravtsov...

I didn't see any mistakes from him. But like Laf Quinn's pond hockey just leaves them outside of the play most of the time. And if others screw up he gets to sit. That's Quinn's only idea, sit players or switch up the lines.

There's no coaching or development from Quinn. He doesn't understand the game on any deeper level, so he has nothing to teach. He can only play power games, punish or reward. Kakko's development this season came from his own off season work and Martin's defensive coaching as far as I can see.

 

[Rangerboy030]

I absolutely refuse to believe, even for a second, that we landed a pair of top-two picks in back-to-back drafts, who were the consensus picks at their draft positions, both of whom are projected to be elite and one of which is projected to become a bonafide franchise player, and they both turn out to be busts. That would be utterly unprecedented.

 

[FireGerardGallant]

This team coulda swapped the picks had had Hughes first in 2019 and Stuz 2nd in 2020 and they would both be struggling just as much if not more then Laf and Kak are

 

[CupSeeker]

I absolutely refuse to believe, even for a second, that we landed a pair of top-two picks in back-to-back drafts, who were the consensus picks at their draft positions, both of whom are projected to be elite and one of which is projected to become a bonafide franchise player, and they both turn out to be busts. That would be utterly unprecedented.

That won't happen. They will both be all-stars; maybe not as Rangers if Quinn stays. But they will develop and kick ass.

 

[Quinnisinoverhishead]

This team coulda swapped the picks had had Hughes first in 2019 and Stuz 2nd in 2020 and they would both be struggling just as much if not more then Laf and Kak are

Did we just become best friends?