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Prospect Info: Niklas Kokko (Round 2, Pick #58, 2022 draft)

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Fistfullofbeer

Fistfullofbeer

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May 9, 2011
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Though a bit of a reach, he has a lot of time to develop and turn into a decent goalie. Small snippet:

It’s rare to watch a group of junior-level goaltenders who all play for the same coach in a way that makes it clear just how effectively that coach has taught them to master a style or technique – but for Niklas Kokko, it’s fairly obvious that he’s yet another promising product of the Ari Hilli Kärpät developmental system.
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This pick was puzzling. Was there some sort of hype on him that made Francis certain he wouldnt be available in the 3rd - or possibly 6th round?
 
Irie said:
This pick was puzzling. Was there some sort of hype on him that made Francis certain he wouldnt be available in the 3rd - or possibly 6th round?
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As usual, goaltending and scouting them is weird and my guess is that our scouts thought he was the guy to take.

Also, finnish goalies(and players) are usually trained very well and solid.
 
Irie said:
This pick was puzzling. Was there some sort of hype on him that made Francis certain he wouldnt be available in the 3rd - or possibly 6th round?
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When you have so many 2nd rd picks, sometime you just go after the player you want most regardless of rankings. At least it was a late 2nd instead of the 1st round pick like Arizona uses every draft, lol.

To me it would have made more sense to pick Goyette (ranked to go top 50) with this pick then used the last second rounder to go after a reach, but it worked out in the end so it's a wash.
 
Could be something here. After playing most of the year with Oulu in the Finnish junior league he is playing in Liiga for last-place SaiPa as the club's basically swapped goalies.

In six games his GAA (2.86) and save percentage (.908) are better than the numbers for any of the other three goalies who have played for the club this year.
 
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An organization can never have too many young goalies. Binnington and Levi were not projected to develop into NHLers, so you just never know.
This signing is great news from a depth standpoint.
 
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Great talent. I have been watching Kokko playing in my home town team Karpat and he has been one of the best goalies in the league already. Today he was able to get shutout (4-0 win) against the top team (Ilves) of the Liiga. He is calm, plays the puck with his stick well and just look great between the pipes. If everything goes well I can surely see him becoming a solid starter in the NHL one day.
edit: his stats are magnificent: GAA 1.63 and Sv% .937
 
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Biffy62 said:
Great talent. I have been watching Kokko playing in my home town team Karpat and he has been one of the best goalies in the league already. Today he was able to get shutout (4-0 win) against the top team (Ilves) of the Liiga. He is calm, plays the puck with his stick well and just look great between the pipes. If everything goes well I can surely see him becoming a solid starter in the NHL one day.
edit: his stats are magnificent: GAA 1.63 and Sv% .937
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Thanks for the info. When he got drafted we heard a lot about Ilves being a goalie factory and his good numbers were just a result of the system. Good to know that there is more to it than that.
 
This guy could be the Krakens starter in the future. The possibility is there. I saw some big potential in him today. Big but still very agile. Not a lot of younger goalies look that good with his size so early on.
 
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Wasn't overly impressed with young netminder Kokko against Canada Dec 26th,2023. He has pretty good/great size but plays too small going down much too often! Still he's 19-20 and has time to iron out some problem areas
 
Kokko didn't look great today in Finlands 4-3 loss to Germany.( :party: )

It was also the fist time Germany was able to beat Finland at the U-20's world juniors after going 0-25 before.
 
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Not entirely his fault but Kokko had a rough go of it in the bronze medal game today as Finland was leading Czechia 5-2, but ended up losing 8-5 with Kokko surrendering all eight goals

Nyman had a goal and an assist while Sale had an assist
 
Actually Kokko didn't surrender eight goals. Two goals were scored on empty net.
The thing with Finnish goalies is that they have really good coaching since they are small kids so their foundation is rock solid.
There is two things that make or break them in NHL. How they can deal with the mental issues that a long NHL career demands and how they gel with their goalie coaches. I have seen a lot of goalies change one way or the other when they get a new goalie coach and the change can be very significant in a short period of time.
 
Thanks for the correction, the original box score tagged Kokko for all eight goals. Still a rough outing but hopefully he can bounce back from it and be our goalie of the future
 
Cisse said:
Actually Kokko didn't surrender eight goals. Two goals were scored on empty net.
The thing with Finnish goalies is that they have really good coaching since they are small kids so their foundation is rock solid.
There is two things that make or break them in NHL. How they can deal with the mental issues that a long NHL career demands and how they gel with their goalie coaches. I have seen a lot of goalies change one way or the other when they get a new goalie coach and the change can be very significant in a short period of time.
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That's all good, and not trying to insult your national team...but I think it's a stretch to say that Kokko had a good WJC. At least a couple games stood out as "whoa" and not in a good way.
 
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