RW Kaapo Kakko - TPS, Liiga (2019 Draft) Part 3

[Daximus]

I was still referring to hockey when I mentioned that.

I would be fine with you saying there are better comparisons to Kakko than Forsberg but when you say they don't have any similarities in their games, you strike to me as someone who clearly hasn't watched enough Kakko to see those similarities.

You can find similarities in a lot of guys games to each other. A comparison should be the closest player they play like. The more I think about it I'm starting to lean towards Naslund as a close comparable in terms of playstyle.

This silly stuff about not watching a player is just silly. No different then saying you know nothing about Hughes because you're from Finland so you must not ever watch him. So your opinion on him is worth nothing. It's dumb. I'm guilty of it to but it's just childish.

 

[fr9dd9]

Not even close to Forsbergs. I question whether a lot of people here even watched Forsberg with how much his name gets thrown around recently to compare him to every other kid that comes through the draft. Were talking about the guy that Kronwalled Kronwall. The guy that would throw up arms and elbows whenever people would try to hit him, the guy that was the king of the reverse hit. he guy that Don Cherry called a backstabbing little weasel. Forsberg dominated an era where clutching and grabbing was at an all time high by just being purely stronger then everyone else. Trust me Kakko doesn't have that.

Did foppa really do all that as 17-18 year old? Wow.. Didnt know that
When it comed to Kakko being compared to Forsberg its not only finns that say that, Americans and Canadian do so aswell. Ive heard swedish experts even talking about it during the wjc.
And the verry first minutes of highlights i watched of kakko, before I even looked up hes hf page the first thing that came to my mind was that he looked a bit like forsberg. But just because of that I didnt have it in my mind that he would become the next forsberg?
And you know Håkan loob once said in an interview that foppa was tiny and did not play that physical untill last season in SHL. And to be honest it feels like you compare foppa in hes prime to 17-18 year old Kakko.

And for The Laine lemieux thing its the same, Ive heard experts saying things like that at the beggining of hes rookie season. So dont do this like its only finns doing it.

But after closer inspectations I think Kakko stylewise is like a copy of George Parros.

 

[tuozzi]

Also, more on topic, I for one think Forsberg is not a bad stylistic comparison at all. Granted, I didn't see a lot of him, since back in the day it was not easy to watch NHL in Finland, but I'm confident I saw enough.
Anyway, physically forcing your way through defenders, reverse hits and great stick-handling in tight spaces are all features of both players.

And since some people are a little simplistic, I guess I have to add some caveats here:
-They are not exactly the same
-Kakko is not as good as Forsberg
-There is a VERY good chance he will never be as good as Forsberg

 

[57special]

Does anyone see KK slipping below the #2 spot? Some team that needs a C, or Byram?

Remember the big debate about Puljujarvi was whether or not he or Laine would go 2nd. No one was predicting that he would go 4th. I also remember that Seth Jones going as low as 4th was considered a shocker.

 

[YWGinYYZ]

Just a reminder: this thread is about Kaapo Kakko - refrain from commenting on other posters, as that's off topic.

 

[StiffSquid]

Does anyone see KK slipping below the #2 spot? Some team that needs a C, or Byram?

Remember the big debate about Puljujarvi was whether or not he or Laine would go 2nd. No one was predicting that he would go 4th. I also remember that Seth Jones going as low as 4th was considered a shocker.

Everything is possible. Who knows he might not get picked at all

 

[bigdog16]

Does anyone see KK slipping below the #2 spot? Some team that needs a C, or Byram?

Remember the big debate about Puljujarvi was whether or not he or Laine would go 2nd. No one was predicting that he would go 4th. I also remember that Seth Jones going as low as 4th was considered a shocker.

No. Hughes and KK are in a class of their own. Jones was a bit of a shock going 4th, but it wasnt out of the realm of possibility that Drouin would go ahead of him. Theres no possibility of that this year

 

[LOFIN]

Then again he said Vesalainen's season was over after the playoff defeat so who knows. Would make sense though.

So in English, Kakko is pursuing the spot in WHC, not going to U18s.

 

[ijuka]

Then again he said Vesalainen's season was over after the playoff defeat so who knows. Would make sense though.

So in English, Kakko is pursuing the spot in WHC, not going to U18s.

Looks like speculation and not anything with a valid source to me. Judging by:

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Kakko better start conditioning himself to long seasons as soon as possible, so why not do U18 and WHC.

 

[BB88]

Kakko better start conditioning himself to long seasons as soon as possible, so why not do U18 and WHC.

Maybe he feels there's nothing to gain and wants the Worlds?

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Maybe he feels there's nothing to gain and wants the Worlds?

Dunno mate, you gotta call him and ask what his stance is. I'm not him so I've no clue.

 

[thomast]

Kakko has been playing a lot of hockey this year and there is plenty of travelling to do at summer. He has nothing to gain at U18 WC’s but risk to get injury and fatigue before WC’s and most important summer of his young career. It’s also important to give chance for unproven guys to play in key role at this event. It can can give spark of confidence for them like it did to Kakko last year. I’d rather see young ”unknown” stars to emerge.

 

[Newfoundland]

I think it's a good thing for him no to go to U18's. It gives a spot to a player fighting for it and he get time to rest for WC's.

 

[Nate070]

Kakko has been playing a lot of hockey this year and there is plenty of travelling to do at summer. He has nothing to gain at U18 WC’s but risk to get injury and fatigue before WC’s and most important summer of his young career. It’s also important to give chance for unproven guys to play in key role at this event. It can can give spark of confidence for them like it did to Kakko last year. I’d rather see young ”unknown” stars to emerge.

He has a shot at 3 Golds... Go for it Kaaaaapo!! Thing is that i want to see him play soon . hmm has anyone done it ever????

 

[ijuka]

Kakko has been playing a lot of hockey this year and there is plenty of travelling to do at summer. He has nothing to gain at U18 WC’s but risk to get injury and fatigue before WC’s and most important summer of his young career. It’s also important to give chance for unproven guys to play in key role at this event. It can can give spark of confidence for them like it did to Kakko last year. I’d rather see young ”unknown” stars to emerge.

Well, he'd risk injury at worlds camp as well. What he has to gain at U18 WJCs is another gold medal, better draft recognition as well as a gold medal for Finland if we assume that he's not only going there for selfish reasons. I still think it'd be useful to compete at a high level for his own age group in addition to adults, if only to help boost his confidence for worlds.

"Young unknown stars" can emerge just fine even if he plays.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Kumman Kaapo Kakko valitsee? 18-vuotias superlupaus tekee valinnan kahden maajoukkueen välillä - Pikkuleijonat jäämässä ilman maalitykkiä

The national team coach Jukka Jalonen says that they'll come to conclusion about what Kakko does in the spring soon. Nothing's been decided yet. He talked with Kaapo and decided to let him rest a couple of days first.

Basically the fact that Jalonen's already talking with him confirms what I've believed all this time: He really wants Kakko on the WHC team. This benefits him a lot, because building good relationships with these up and coming NHL players early on helps when they need them to join WHC teams in the future.

 

[BurntToast]

I think Kakko going to the U18s is pointless. I can understand why most of you would love to see him but it is redundant. Playing at worlds is the best way to show progression. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Plus, it’s a little unfair to have him play both tournaments .

 

[fr9dd9]

I imagine Kakko himself would not mind to play at u18 worlds, I can only think for myself. And I would have sayd yes in a heartbeat, The chance to play with my own peers one last time to defend the gold for Finland would be one of the things I would have looked forward to the most in the beggining of the season. But Im not Kakko and I would understand if he takes a more responsable decission and wants to rest for wc. I guess its verry safe to say hes promised a spot on the WC team if he doesent play u18. Cuz I imagine that would be the only reason he would not play u18.

 

[Ukkosenjumala]

There's always something to gain at the U18's, it's a high visibility platform as it's covered by TSN and such. Guys in Finland and the more hardcore draft followers know what Kakko is doing in Liiga (as well as certain scouts obviously) but the rest don't. These kinds of tournaments are always good to build up hype especially if you dominate because you'll get those rave reviews from the analysts who are covering it and at the end of the day, most people just remember someone dominating a competition not whether you were overqualified to be there to begin with.

If it comes down to choosing between U18 or WC then it's a no brainer. Any idea if Hughes will be in for USA?

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Nothing surprising if / when Kakko skips U18 WJC's.
Kakko's agent Petteri Lehto said in January after Finland's U20 WJC gold Kakko's goal this spring will be men's world championships in Slovakia not U18 WJC's.

Kakko is locked 2nd overall pick and nothing won't change that.
Finland will have good team in U18 WJC's even without Kakko.

And Finland's medal chances are good as well.
We ( Finns) probably won't compete for gold medal because USA will have excellent team in U18 WJC's but we ( Finns) have good chances to win silver or bronze.

Kakko is graduated from Finnish junior national teams.
So he doesn't need U18 WJC's to boost his draft stock anymore.

 

[Jussi]

Kakko has been playing a lot of hockey this year and there is plenty of travelling to do at summer. He has nothing to gain at U18 WC’s but risk to get injury and fatigue before WC’s and most important summer of his young career. It’s also important to give chance for unproven guys to play in key role at this event. It can can give spark of confidence for them like it did to Kakko last year. I’d rather see young ”unknown” stars to emerge.

He's been out injured a fair bit missing 15 games and is not even close to Laine and Puljujärvi numbers in their draft seasons.

 

[Jussi]

Nothing surprising if / when Kakko skips U18 WJC's.
Kakko's agent Petteri Lehto said in January after Finland's U20 WJC gold Kakko's goal this spring will be men's world championships in Slovakia not U18 WJC's.

Kakko is locked 2nd overall pick and nothing won't change that.
Finland will have good team in U18 WJC's even without Kakko.

And Finland's medal chances are good as well.
We ( Finns) probably won't compete for gold medal because USA will have excellent team in U18 WJC's but we ( Finns) have good chances to win silver or bronze.

Kakko is graduated from Finnish junior national teams.
So he doesn't need U18 WJC's to boost his draft stock anymore.

That was with the assumption that TPS would play in the Liiga finals: Kaapo Kakon agentti valaisi superlupauksen kevään maajoukkuesuunnitelmia – "Poikien kisat eivät mene ammattilaiskiekkoilun edelle"

 

[ijuka]

Nothing surprising if / when Kakko skips U18 WJC's.
Kakko's agent Petteri Lehto said in January after Finland's U20 WJC gold Kakko's goal this spring will be men's world championships in Slovakia not U18 WJC's.

Obviously it'd be the main goal? He hypothetically wouldn't be choosing between one or the other. Also, that's back when he didn't know that TPS would swiftly get eliminated in the playoffs.

Would Laine have gone to u-18s had he not been at playoffs? Even if Kakko participates at u-18s, it's still fewer games played during the draft season than Laine played during his.

That was with the assumption that TPS would play in the Liiga finals: Kaapo Kakon agentti valaisi superlupauksen kevään maajoukkuesuunnitelmia – "Poikien kisat eivät mene ammattilaiskiekkoilun edelle"

Ah, it even was said in such a manner. So that post I quoted earlier in this post was just Fake News(tm) and misleading quoting. Great.

 

[khf]

In my opinion Kakko has very little to gain on a personal level at the U18 WJC's. He has already proven himself on that level. If he participates, the expectations are going to be unrealistically high and nearly impossible to exceed. And he has played the whole season with men, and it might just be little difficult to adjust back to the U18 games.

The WC 's on the other hand are a whole new challenge to Kakko. With the experiences this year at Liiga, I'm sure he feels like he can make an immediate impact and truly exceed the expectations there.

I'm sure that Kakko will be a part of the final WC team. I doubt that he will participate the U18 WJC's. Too many games, too much time away and too little to gain.