Player Discussion Kaapo Kakko

[will1066]

Nice photoshopping job.

Little tip: Use the clone tool or healing brush to patch up the mis-matched arena background

Please, Hammer, don't hurt him.

 

[will1066]

Read the first sentence w/o seeing who posted it first, but correctly deduced it was sir avgard.

Thank you, sir.

From now on the Ducks will be known as the Latvian Beerclub Team @Leonardo87

Of course silence from @Leonardo87 . His beloved Ducks

 

[Leonardo87]

Of course silence from @Leonardo87 . His beloved Ducks

 

[80shockeywasbuns]

Subtle but Insane pass

 

[will1066]

Subtle but Insane pass

That was a great play, indeed.

 

[JMan74]

Casual nose chug. I kid, but I knew a guy who snorted shots like a weirdo.

I was there....the girl is shorter than him so the angle needed to pour the can in his mouth was hitting his glasses.

 

[mas0764]

Subtle but Insane pass

Yeah that should have been a goal.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

That line has been kinda quiet, but good.

They have been finding each other with some pretty unique passing. Throwing it into spaces where they know one of them will be. They need to stick with these lines.

Its inevitable Mika will get a hot stick and hopefully Kakko will be on the scoresheet more because of it

 

[UnSandvich]

Through 6 games, Kakko has the second best xGF% at 5v5 on the team at 68.42%. The entire line is 68% or above. Which is wild. Probably a case of small sample size too, but regardless...

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Through 6 games, Kakko has the second best xGF% at 5v5 on the team at 68.42%. The entire line is 68% or above. Which is wild. Probably a case of small sample size too, but regardless...

When can we cash in all those expected goals? Or do the players actually have to finish their high quality chances? Lol. The top 9 has been good minus Wheeler though, but unless Kakko turns a corner in the goal scoring department and Mika starts hitting the net the expected goals will just be that, expected but not actually on the scoresheet.

 

[mas0764]

Well the thing about expected goals is that yes, eventually they start actually going in.

Way better than being lucky and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

[JCProdigy]

When can we cash in all those expected goals? Or do the players actually have to finish their high quality chances? Lol. The top 9 has been good minus Wheeler though, but unless Kakko turns a corner in the goal scoring department and Mika starts hitting the net the expected goals will just be that, expected but not actually on the scoresheet.

UnSandvich is talking about xGF% not just xGF. I'm guessing from Natural Stat Trick. xGF% is a measure of both sides of the puck. It's a measure of expected goal differential/ratio.

From NST: The Kreider-ZBad-Kakko line has an expected goals for (xGF) of 2.54 and an expected goals against (xGA) of 1.28. Their xGF% as a line is 66.45%
You want the actual numbers. They've been on ice for 2 GF and 1 GA so 66.66%.

Last year they played 220 min TOI together. Their xGF% was 59.18% their GF% was 62.5%. More importantly for Kakko was his xGF% and GF% were better with the two of them than without.

 

[Levitate]

Yeah that should have been a goal.

yeah was so frustrated when that didn't go in, lol
The touch on that pass was so good, he wasn't trying to go all the way across to Zibanejad, he just fed it right down the seem to where Kreider skates to it. Helluva pass, sad it didn't result in a goal.

That line has been kinda quiet, but good.

They have been finding each other with some pretty unique passing. Throwing it into spaces where they know one of them will be. They need to stick with these lines.

Its inevitable Mika will get a hot stick and hopefully Kakko will be on the scoresheet more because of it

Yeah said in the GDT I think that Zibanejad is a streaky scorer and the line probably will go by how he starts finishing his chances. They're good right now and getting chances so leave them together, it's all you can ask at this point...

If Zibanejad can't score at ES though I want Kakko to start being the guy setup for goals on that line!

To me the important thing to look at is what they're generating. If they were just chucking pucks at the net and doing pretty good on defense then maybe I'd want to shake it up, but they are creating some quality chances out there and it just hasn't gone in for them yet. Those are the times I think you have some patience and let it shake out. It'd be bizarre if they went a whole season generating those chances but not finishing, but if they did it probably wouldn't be Kakko's fault that Zibanejad couldn't finish...

 

[LeetchisGod]

I'm concerned about this guy. Seems to be getting worse by the game.

 

[Kovalev27]

I told you you’d get to around game 10 and he’d have 1 or two goals and be battling confidence issues.

He’s right on schedule

Try and think about the last time u saw this guy have a really good look at net. It was in the preseason

 

[inranger94]

He is close to breaking out....in 2035 in Finish League.

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

He is close to breaking out....in 2035 in Finish League.

breaking out the fishing rod to catch 50-100 fish a day to have them fried up. by 2040 he will be in the finnish edition of my 600 kg life.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

At this point my expectations for him are bigger more talented Fast. I'm not expecting a superstar. Mika and Kreider shouldn't need a superstar on their line.

 

[Rongomania]

Vincent trocheck should not be on the pp in place of him. Big mistake #1 by lavi for me. We drafted this kid 2nd overall to give him PP1 time his rookie year then basically never again.

Trocheck is ass and by the footage I've seen from last night almost lost that game for us in OT when he blew coverage.

Troch gets to be on pp1 because Kreids / bread / Zibs / fox score regularly. The f*ck does he do?

 

[LOFIN]

I told you you’d get to around game 10 and he’d have 1 or two goals and be battling confidence issues.

He’s right on schedule

Try and think about the last time u saw this guy have a really good look at net. It was in the preseason

I wonder why you don't say the same for Kreider and Zibanejad, they have been missing good chances. They will eventually start going in. The line has been decent.

I still maintain that as long as we're winning games, don't mess with the lineup. Let it figure itself out. Because if we now try to do a quick fix a la swapping Wheeler or Vesey to the 1st line with Zibanejad and Kreider, that would be a huge mistake. It might give a boost to their scoring because they play rush hockey, but in the big picture this is going to be an issue. You are going to have limited chances with that style of play in the playoffs, and you will be a problem defensively. It's much more imperative that Kreider and Zibanejad learn to play a cycling game, because that might actually work come springtime. If it takes 5 or 10 more games to do then so be it, as long as we keep winning games we should. We can afford this type of "experimentation".

 

[dangsLITE]

I've generally tried to be a fan of KK and he does a lot of nice things - as he has since at least his D+3. But IMO nothing has changed this season offensively, and Zib and Kreider aren't fully to blame for his lack of production - to me, it's becoming more and more clear that he does not have the offensive tool box to be a consistent threat in this league.

He flat out just does not know what he wants to do with the puck most of the time and still rarely even tries to get to dangerous areas. It's pretty hard to score just skating around the perimeter with the puck and making the lowest risk play - which is all he does on most nights. Confidence is a factor sure, but I think his hockey IQ when it comes to offensive at least, is going to preclude him from being much more than the ~40-50pt player he already is. He adds value elsewhere, but I'm really not seeing any indication that he's going to break out.

Hope he proves me wrong though.

 

[LOFIN]

Confidence is a factor sure, but I think his hockey IQ when it comes to offensive at least, is going to preclude him from being much more than the ~40-50pt player he already is. He adds value elsewhere, but I'm really not seeing any indication that he's going to break out.

Massively disagree with this, because he showed plenty of that hockey IQ before the draft. Yes, Finnish Liiga is not the NHL but he also played on the international stage and always shined. He was assertive, aggressive, and creative with the puck. That skill doesn't just go away, just need to find a way to unlock it.

I do wonder, if he's ever going to be a top-6 player because he just defers to other players. He needs to be "the guy" on a line, but refuses to take that role when he's with top players.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Massively disagree with this, because he showed plenty of that hockey IQ before the draft. Yes, Finnish Liiga is not the NHL but he also played on the international stage and always shined. He was assertive, aggressive, and creative with the puck. That skill doesn't just go away, just need to find a way to unlock it.

I do wonder, if he's ever going to be a top-6 player because he just defers to other players. He needs to be "the guy" on a line, but refuses to take that role when he's with top players.

Just like with Laf, KK will either make it happen or he won't. Its on them. They are both on top lines with all star linemates.

 

[Cuckoo4Kakko]

Maybe I’m seeing something different, but to me a few times every game he miraculously keeps possession in the ozone, passes to Mika or (usually) Kreider and they immediately turn it over.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Maybe I’m seeing something different, but to me a few times every game he miraculously keeps possession in the ozone, passes to Mika or (usually) Kreider and they immediately turn it over.

That's pretty much accurate.

Mika and Kreider have been pretty awful at ES in the offensively zone. They can get into the zone pretty easily, but once they get in there it's like they cant do anything when they have the puck and quickly give it away or get off a wide shot.