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Player Discussion Kaapo Kakko: Part IV

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True Blue said:
I hate to say this, but a teenagers who has not played in the NHL view of things matters not at all. Kakko's game would have led him to be a superstar.....in Liga. In the NHL, he would have been an also ran. With the coaching staves help, he took his game and then changed it to what works in the NHL. It looks like it is working out for the best.
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Tbh, the one area where many Finns are not impressed at all about the NHL is the coaching and player development. Many people believe that there are way too many inflexible dinosaurs who inherit their tactical and personnel management ideas from the ancient times.

And I think Finland is pretty used to maximizing the last drop of talent from our often quite mediocre teams agains much stronger opponents on international level - we have developed coaching to pretty high level. This is not a comment on Rangers coaching though of which I know next to nothing, Quinn certainly is no dinosaur and you have such a great depht of talent developing. Kakko's development has seemed pretty fine - I would have preferred him to start at the AHL to get confidence and time to acclimatize to the North American style of hockey, but on the other hand if you learn to swim by being thrown into the deep end you tend to learn pretty damn well.
 
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Watching Kakko’s development has been a real pleasure. Last year he looked completely lost. This year he’s been dominant in possession and along the boards. His biggest weakness has been his shot. Either he would be too hesitant, try to make too many moves, or pass up the shot all together.

Yesterday he just rips the one timer from the circle, and on the 2nd goal uses his size to dominate infront of the net to bat in a puck. If he keeps doing that the skys the limit for this kid. He has all the tools to be a great player in this league.
 
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LionsHeart said:
Watching Kakko’s development has been a real pleasure. Last year he looked completely lost. This year he’s been dominant in possession and along the boards. His biggest weakness has been his shot. Either he would be too hesitant, try to make too many moves, or pass up the shot all together.

Yesterday he just rips the one timer from the circle, and on the 2nd goal uses his size to dominate infront of the net to bat in a puck. If he keeps doing that the skys the limit for this kid. He has all the tools to be a great player in this league.
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Watching his confidence grow has been great. Also he and Laf building chemistry is so good for both of those players.

Get those sunglasses out boys, future is BRIGHT
 
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Earlier in his career you would've seen him try to corral the puck, do a hard cut back to his left around the goalie or make the extra pass. ANYTHING except shoot the puck with confidence off the pass. You've seen him lately start to force a little bit more of a shooting mentality and if he continues that and continues to develop his shot we have a tremendous player developing

Now on the other hand, everyone here needs to remember this optimism and the strides we see him making when he undoubtedly goes through his next rough patch bc it is going to happen...
 
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mas0764 said:
Lot of assumptions in here. Quinn is molding him into the player Quinn wants him to be; that’s not to say another approach wouldn’t have been better or quicker.
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Whose approach? Seems like the organizational approach has been working out pretty well.

Lots of people on internet boards have ideas on what prospect development should look like. When I see the results that the professionals are having, I think the wise move is to trust it.
 
Peltz said:
That one timer was fantastic. More of that please.
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And also something you would have never seen last year. Last year, he dipsy doodles and looses the puck. Now, he is bull off the rush and has learned that he needs to shoot.
 
Another year of working on his skating and we're going to be seeing a player that will be an absolute issue on the ice for opposing defenders. He already has the hands. He's gaining the confidence to make plays with the puck.

I like him being with Kreider as well. That line can play big body hockey and they can skate on top of it. It would not shock me that if this team somehow sneaks into the playoffs that this is the line that does the best. Being able to be physical is a big deal when going through a 7 game series.
 
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Peltz said:
That one timer was fantastic. More of that please.
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A lot of good things to unpack on this goal:
  • Kakko owning the puck around the boards and behind the net
  • Chytil drawing two defenders to him and then slipping the puck to Fox
  • Fox with the setup through the lane created by Chytil
  • Kakko with a beauty of a one-timer from one knee
 
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After last night, Kakko is now producing at a higher pace than last year (31 points/82 vs 28 points/82). Even better is that he has 9 points in his last 12 games, while still playing strong away from the puck.

He has 8 goals in 42 games (15/82), after having 10 in 66 games last year (12/82). He has 3 goals in his last 12 games.

It's also important to note that while he is playing a full minute more per game this year at even strength (13:02 vs 12:02), he's playing almost a full minute less per game on the PP (1:22 vs 2:14). Last year he had 10 points at even strength and 13 on the PP. This year he has 13 at even strength and only 3 on the PP (all 3 came in the last 12 games). He's scoring at a rate of 1.425 points/60 at even strength this year. Last year he was at .755 points/60. That's nearly double the production.

I think he is poised to break out next year. He probably won't see a significant bump in PP time unless someone is traded/injured, but he should see an increase in even strength time.
 
Next year I would love to see Kaako get PK time as that will increase his overall TOI. PP1 competition for RW will be cuthroat with Buch, Laf, Kravy, Kaako all vying for that spot.
 
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Kodiak said:


A lot of good things to unpack on this goal:
  • Kakko owning the puck around the boards and behind the net
  • Chytil drawing two defenders to him and then slipping the puck to Fox
  • Fox with the setup through the lane created by Chytil
  • Kakko with a beauty of a one-timer from one knee
[/QUOTE
They need to play. I happy they got rewarded. Wish they had gotten more minutes in games prior. Looks like all our kids have pretty high confidence right now. It’s amazing what a couple goals/points and some simple line up changes will do for a talented kids game. Gotta have the carrot and the stick
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Raspewtin said:
Kakko is our best defensive forward imo and that is a massive, massive leap from where he was last year.

I have full confidence that he will have a dynamite year next year.
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Call me crazy but I see him as a center in the years to come. I noticed quite a few times that he was occupying the middle defensively and looked completely natural and of course incredibly disruptive.
 
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Machinehead said:
He's on pace for 16-16-32 over 82 games with great defense.

In his D+2, he's already Jesper Fast with a few more goals. And you know what? Jesper Fast is pretty good.

Like, if you're that at 20, that's great.
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I feel like Kakko made such strides in his game from year 1 to year 2 and even from the beginning of this year to now that another full offseason to work on things like his shot, etc, and prepare for next season will show us that he's ready to take the next step
Just that he worked hard and learned quickly to improve his game so much and now he can focus more on the scoring parts as well
 
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Levitate said:
I feel like Kakko made such strides in his game from year 1 to year 2 and even from the beginning of this year to now that another full offseason to work on things like his shot, etc, and prepare for next season will show us that he's ready to take the next step
Just that he worked hard and learned quickly to improve his game so much and now he can focus more on the scoring parts as well
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That's another little snippet of Fast there. Fast always did quiet work to get better. He was never mean, and I don't think Kakko is either, but he aged like a fine wine along the boards.

The great thing about Kakko is that he's much bigger and much more skilled, and I think he's got the brain and the work ethic to really apply his talent to the right package.

It's an adjustment (and I think the same goes for Lafreniere) for these in between prospects. They're good enough to dominate every other level, but not quite good enough to continue dominating in the NHL right away (like a Crosby or a McDavid), so they have to learn how to play real, competitive hockey instead of clowning people and apply their skills to a plan. It's re-learning the whole game.

How quickly Kakko has taken to a mature game is really exciting, as is his willingness to do it.
 
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Narcissus said:
Call me crazy but I see him as a center in the years to come. I noticed quite a few times that he was occupying the middle defensively and looked completely natural and of course incredibly disruptive.
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Good catch. I saw that too, Kakko moving in to cover the ice directly in front of Shesty, that was new.
 
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