Player Discussion Kaapo Kakko

[ReddestRum]

I'd like to see fans of our team cheering for both. They're not actually in competition with each other. One is a RW the other a LW.
The better they both do the better our team does.

Miller is D+5. But yeah, I don't know why a positive outlook on one young player has to be taken as a slight to another...

Three NHL seasons is what I meant.

Also, I literally said:

"18 points last season to 39 and counting. I'll take that from KK. This is the kind of improvement you want to see." ...and somehow this was a cause to go apeshit about not praising Laf in the same breath in a KK thread?

When Laf plays well, I make it a point to go into his thread and mention that. Game before last I spoke about his great play and confidence improving. If there's an issue with any player on the team, I'll voice my opinion on that as well either in the GDT, PGT, or player thread.

 

[bhamill]

Three NHL seasons is what I meant.

Also, I literally said:

"18 points last season to 39 and counting. I'll take that from KK. This is the kind of improvement you want to see." ...and somehow this was a cause to go apeshit about not praising Laf in the same breath in a KK thread?

When Laf plays well, I make it a point to go into his thread and mention that. Game before last I spoke about his great play and confidence improving. If there's an issue with any player on the team, I'll voice my opinion on that as well either in the GDT, PGT, or player thread.

I figured you probably meant three seasons.
The rest yes, I was agreeing with you. I don't see why anyone took your positive statement about Kakko as a neg about Laf. I know you're more used to me NOT agreeing. Hahaha.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Did you come into the KK thread to bitch at me about Laf? My god the Laf cult is annoying. No one is shitting on anyone, and for some reason giving props to someone not Laf seems to hurt some of your feelings that you need to come at people in a thread unrelated to him.

Miller is also in his D+3, has doubled+ his point production from last season, gets probably the least amount of PP time of the kids, and has to play a tougher game than his forward counterparts. If I gave Miller props for having a better offensive season, will you take offense to that too?

So no answer to my very simple question about why you interpret the same numbers one way or another depending on the player, instead you freak out. Got it.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

Nice to see him beat a goalie clean with a wrister, when he should shoot.

And not just any goalie either

He seems to be adding a little more shooting to score into his game

 

[CLW]

Nice to see him beat a goalie clean with a wrister, when he should shoot.

And not just any goalie either

He seems to be adding a little more shooting to score into his game

He always had a good wrister (he just refused to use it). He needs to release that shot from the mid/high slot much more often. It's good to see him, and the other kids, attacking the net from the front and shooting first.

 

[mas0764]

He always had a good wrister (he just refused to use it). He needs to release that shot from the mid/high slot much more often. It's good to see him, and the other kids, attacking the net from the front and shooting first.

He's had three goals the last 3 games and he could have 6.

He's heating up.

Unfortunately for he and Lafreniere, they come and go into hot and cold streaks that last 5-8 games all the time.

 

[CLW]

He's had three goals the last 3 games and he could have 6.

He's heating up.

Unfortunately for he and Lafreniere, they come and go into hot and cold streaks that last 5-8 games all the time.

He used to set up others (Zib eg) for 3-4 chances every night. If you only set up others you are dependent on them finishing for your own points. Him driving to the net and shooting himself is a big piece of what's been missing and he's getting there. His production will jump and so will that of the other kids.

 

[IDvsEGO]

He's had three goals the last 3 games and he could have 6.

He's heating up.

Unfortunately for he and Lafreniere, they come and go into hot and cold streaks that last 5-8 games all the time.

Thats a little bit of being a kid.
He's still only 21.
For comparison sake
Mika put up 32 ES points in 80 games while getting 16:26 minutes per game
Kakko has put up 36 ES points in 78 games while getting 15:18 minutes per game
Laf has put up 35 ES points in 77 games while getting 15:10 minutes per game

The kids are absolutely fine.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Did you come into the KK thread to bitch at me about Laf? My god the Laf cult is annoying. No one is shitting on anyone, and for some reason giving props to someone not Laf seems to hurt some of your feelings that you need to come at people in a thread unrelated to him.

Miller is also in his D+3, has doubled+ his point production from last season, gets probably the least amount of PP time of the kids, and has to play a tougher game than his forward counterparts. If I gave Miller props for having a better offensive season, will you take offense to that too?

Eh, this is Miller's D+5. Not his D+3.

You probably mean it's his 3rd NHL season.

 

[NYRangers0723]

He's had three goals the last 3 games and he could have 6.

He's heating up.

Unfortunately for he and Lafreniere, they come and go into hot and cold streaks that last 5-8 games all the time.

Not really

 

[QJL]

He's had three goals the last 3 games and he could have 6.

He's heating up.

Unfortunately for he and Lafreniere, they come and go into hot and cold streaks that last 5-8 games all the time.

Could’ve had 6? You mean like if 6 of his 10 shots were goals in the last 3 games?

It’s been a good stretch but it hasn’t been a snakebitten stretch by any means.

 

[Fitzy]

I mean that’s literally what differentiates a middle 6 player from a top line player- they tend to score in bunches and have cold streaks.

There were weeks where we never saw Kevin Hayes and others he was burning the barn down. That’s normal for a guy who is nt scoring 70

 

[IDvsEGO]

I mean that’s literally what differentiates a middle 6 player from a top line player- they tend to score in bunches and have cold streaks.

There were weeks where we never saw Kevin Hayes and others he was burning the barn down. That’s normal for a guy who is nt scoring 70

I mean do just we ignore the fact that Mika and CK both go extremely hot and cold?
Mika's season where he had a legit shot at 50 pre-covid, he also had weeks where he couldnt buy a goal.

CK has gone weeks without a point.

 

[mas0764]

Could’ve had 6? You mean like if 6 of his 10 shots were goals in the last 3 games?

It’s been a good stretch but it hasn’t been a snakebitten stretch by any means.

He's had a number of other good chances that easily could have found the back of the net.

 

[The New Russian Five]

I mean do just we ignore the fact that Mika and CK both go extremely hot and cold?
Mika's season where he had a legit shot at 50 pre-covid, he also had weeks where he couldnt buy a goal.

CK has gone weeks without a point.

Mika had something ridiculous like 22 goals in 20 games that season. He was certainly hot and cold.

 

[FlyguyOX]

Mika had something ridiculous like 22 goals in 20 games that season. He was certainly hot and cold.

Because he scored like 6 or something in 1 game against the flyers.

 

[IDvsEGO]

Because he scored like 6 or something in 1 game against the flyers.

He had 2 separate 6 point games vs the flyers that season.

 

[The New Russian Five]

Because he scored like 6 or something in 1 game against the flyers.

No that was a separate season. The 22 goals in 20 games thing was when Mika had the 5 goal game against the caps (2019-2020). The season you are referring to is the very next one (2020-2021).

 

[RempireStateBuilding]

I mean do just we ignore the fact that Mika and CK both go extremely hot and cold?
Mika's season where he had a legit shot at 50 pre-covid, he also had weeks where he couldnt buy a goal.

CK has gone weeks without a point.

He had 2 goals against Tampa literally 2 days ago, 1 against NJ at the end of March, and an assist 2 days before the NJ game. His longest pointless streak was a 2 week span in January when he went 4 games without a point.

 

[eco's bones]

The Rangers have more offensive weapons than most teams....and adding Tarasenko and Kane at the deadline gave us two more at least for the rest of this season. Looking at the numbers of our third line it's pretty much all about even strength scoring because none of them get a lot of power play time.

On the Rangers this is what even strength scoring looks like:

Panarin 79-19-36-55
Zibanejad 79-18-30-48
Trocheck 79-12-33-45
Chytil 71-19-21-40
Fox 79-11-29-40
Miller 76-9-28-37
Kakko 79-17-19-36
Lafreniere 78-13-22-35
Kane (with Chicago and the Rangers) 70-17-17-34
Tarasenko with St. Louis and the Rangers) 66-15-19-34
Kreider 76-23-9-32

There are advantages as well playing on the top two lines that Chytil, Kakko and Lafreniere don't often see though a counter argument could be they face weaker defensive pairing more often. Still they are 4, 5 and 6 of our forwards for even strength production.

Looking at some of their contemporaries around the league.

Jack Hughes is 75-33-31-64 at even strength. He became the Devils go to forward almost as soon as he was drafted.
Dawson Mercer is 79-25-21-46 at even strength---he's definitely top 6 on a good Devils team. Chytil's numbers are pretty close to him getting 3rd line minutes.
Tim Stutzle is 75-28-30-58 at even strength getting top line minutes.
Trevor Zegras is 77-18-27-45 on a weak Anaheim team where he is the go to forward.
Lucas Raymond is 70-12-13-25. A lot of his production this year has come on the power play.

 

[UnSandvich]

The Rangers have more offensive weapons than most teams....and adding Tarasenko and Kane at the deadline gave us two more at least for the rest of this season. Looking at the numbers of our third line it's pretty much all about even strength scoring because none of them get a lot of power play time.

On the Rangers this is what even strength scoring looks like:

Panarin 79-19-36-55
Zibanejad 79-18-30-48
Trocheck 79-12-33-45
Chytil 71-19-21-40
Fox 79-11-29-40
Miller 76-9-28-37
Kakko 79-17-19-36
Lafreniere 78-13-22-35
Kane (with Chicago and the Rangers) 70-17-17-34
Tarasenko with St. Louis and the Rangers) 66-15-19-34
Kreider 76-23-9-32

There are advantages as well playing on the top two lines that Chytil, Kakko and Lafreniere don't often see though a counter argument could be they face weaker defensive pairing more often. Still they are 4, 5 and 6 of our forwards for even strength production.

Looking at some of their contemporaries around the league.

Jack Hughes is 75-33-31-64 at even strength. He became the Devils go to forward almost as soon as he was drafted.
Dawson Mercer is 79-25-21-46 at even strength---he's definitely top 6 on a good Devils team. Chytil's numbers are pretty close to him getting 3rd line minutes.
Tim Stutzle is 75-28-30-58 at even strength getting top line minutes.
Trevor Zegras is 77-18-27-45 on a weak Anaheim team where he is the go to forward.
Lucas Raymond is 70-12-13-25. A lot of his production this year has come on the power play.

With regards to the bolded, that'd hold more weight if Gallant line matched. Which we've seen is something that tends not to happen. He prefers to roll 4 lines whenever possible

 

[JimmyG89]

Kakko is 1 point shy of 40, which would be a great number to get to considering it's almost all at ES. Hopefully tonight is one where he can bank a couple points.

The other thing is playing a full 82. He's suited up for every game in the regular season. While that may not seem like much, he's never done it. Missed time last year, shortened seasons the years prior to that. A lot of stops and starts in his NHL time.

He's also not slowing down with that grind of a full season. He's looked his best right now. The keys to postseason success I think lay on his line and how they can be better than the other teams 3rd lines.

 

[The New Russian Five]

Nice to see him finally shooting off the rush. He's hit the post twice and has a goal from shooting on the rush from the right circle. Hope he continues to use it.

 

[LionsHeart]

Kakko is at his best when he’s shooting the puck and going to the net, which is what he’s been doing the last 10 games. His even strength production is really impressive too.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Kakko is finally starting to trust his shot, that's a good sign. I wonder if adding Tarasenko gave him someone to model himself off of on this team, it certainly doesn't hurt to see how a player with similar skill sets plays a successful game.