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

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@Hokinaittii, our defense sucks. You aren't wrong about that. Thats the biggest area where we need to improve in the upcoming years. We have a lot of depth there. Between Skjei, DeAngelo, Pionk, Miller, Lundkvist Hajek, Rykov, Reunanen, Keane, Lindgren, we have a lot of players who project as bottom 4 defensemen. Some will hit, others will miss, but we should be able to fill out a pretty good bottom 4 with those 10 names. What we lack is the likely top pairing defensemen, which I assume will be the main focus in acquiring in the next year. We could have an extra three first round picks this year, and we might be bad for another year, and have the opportunity to pick a defensemen in the top 5-10 next year.

Goalie is definitely not an issue though. Lundqvist isn't even the best goalie on the team anymore. He was outplayed this season by Georgiyev. Shestyorkin, who is the best goalie prospect in hockey, is supposed to join the team for next season. We might not ever have a goalie as good as Lundqvist, but goalie won't be a problem.

I actually think though that Kakko isn't going to struggle to put up points as much as it might appear. One of the reasons why we struggled offensively is that we had very few top six forwards. The current team only has Zibanejad, Kreider and Buchnevich as top 6 forwards. We probably don't even have a really good 3rd line forward, what I'd consider a 7th forward. We had a lot of average 3rd line forwards like Howden, Chytil, Lemieux, Vesey, Namestnikov, Fast, but there was definitely a big separation between the top-end of our forward group and the bottom end. It also didn't help that we don't have any really elite forwards, what I'd consider a 1F. And for the first half of the season, we also had Zuccarello and Hayes in that category.

That could change though because we are one of the main contenders to sign Panarin. A lot of free agents are usually rumored to sign with the Rangers because it drives the price up to attach the Rangers name to a free agent, but it appears like Gorton is going to enter this bidding war instead of sitting it out. Our forward core is also going to continue improving. If we add Kakko and Panarin, we are pretty set with the forward core because we are also adding Kravtsov to that group of forwards, and we have a trio of young forwards already on the team with Chytil, Howden and Andersson who should get better. Running a forward group like this would be among the top 1/3 of the league.

Panarin-Kakko-Kravtsov
Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich
Andersson-Howden-Chytil
Lemieux-?-Fast
 
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i don’t think he developes much on skating anymore. He isn’t raw skater in my eyes like Barkov was for example. Barkov was like 210-220 lbs and had growing spurt at 16-17 so his technique was bad. He was deceptively suprisingly fast despite of his horrible stride. I doubt Kakko is ever going to be a speedster. I think he will be 3.5/5 speed, 4/5 accerelation, 4.5/5 balance and agility type of skater. His technique is already good and he isn’t heavy. He is still quite lanky despite of his incredible natural core strength. He could work on his leg strength but he needs to fill out too so he needs to move bigger mass. I think his skating potential is about similar what we saw with Barkov and that is more than good with that strength and frame. Not elite but tier below.
 
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ijuka said:
How about Leon Draisaitl? I'd say that Kakko's a lot closer to him than either Kopitar or Barkov in style, and Draisaitl's excelled on the wing with his big, physical yet very skilled style of play, though he can play C as well. And yet another reminder that Kakko's better than these players were at skating at his age.

I'm very aware that Kakko needs to have some improvement in his skating, but unlike you, I don't think that improving one's skating in general is an issue. If Dylan Strome can skate well enough to score at a PPG pace in NHL, so can Kakko. I guess that's where the way we think differs. In general, I feel safe expecting bigger players to have a significant improvement in skating post-draft, so much so that it barely ever is a concern unless the skating is truly terrible(think Laine pre-draft).

Considering Saku Koivu's comments about Kakko's attitude towards training and considering the physical properties of other TPS products / summer training partners such as Mikko Rantanen and Rasmus Ristolainen, that's a good starting point also. Also, slower players can play the wing as well. Matthew Tkachuk for example has been extremely successful in NHL. In fact, there are some similarities between him and Kakko as well.


In short, I guess what I'm saying is that Kakko's very capable of becoming at least a Barkov / Draisaitl-level skater, and when he does, he's going to have absolutely no issues tearing the league up in my eyes.
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Did you read what I wrote? I don't think Kakko needs major improvement in his skating. We hear a lot about how some players end up improving their skating a lot, but most players do not improve their skating much from when they are drafted to their prime. Most of them work on strengthening their strengths and lessening their weaknesses instead of making a weakness or the weakest part of their game into a big strength.

To be honest, I'm not as well versed in the fine details of Draisaitl's game as Kopitar or Barkov. I haven't watched enough of Edmonton, and when I do, McDavid is the player on the other team who I concentrate more on. From what I gather, Draisaitl is more of a natural scorer than players such as Barkov or Kopitar, while not being as much of a physical or defensive presence. Draisaitl also had pretty weak skating when he was drafted, if I'm remembering correctly. He is a good example of a player who improved his skating a lot, but I think comparing his skating to Kakko does Kakko a big disservice. Kakko has average acceleration. I believe the discussion surrounding Draisaitl when he was drafted was that he was a bad skater in multiple regards.

Strome is another player who skates worse than Kakko, so I'm not sure he deserves to be compared to him, although I understand the point. Tkachuk is much more of an agitator, and I think he's a way worse skater than Kakko. He's barely improved his skating. As I mentioned in my last post on this discussion, I think bad skaters should play on the wing and average skaters belong at center, as long as the rest of their skill-set works well at that position. I think Tkachuk would struggle to keep up with the play if he was tasked with playing goal-line to goal-line.

The best modern-day comparison for Kakko may be a player such as Tavares. He was never a bad skater, but didn't have the standout speed that players such as Crosby or McDavid had. He was very talented offensively, well rounded offensively with excellent puck protection and good strength, along with the potential to be a good or better defensive player, despite not being a natural Selke caliber defensive forward.
 
NYR94 said:
What is the meaning of the blue helmet he wears? Rookie?
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Best U20 scorer on his roster. Kinda similar to the golden helmet, which is worn by the top point producer of each team.

The blue helmet is a brand new thing actually. Just before the beginning of the 18-19 season, Liiga announced a massive sponsorship/collaboration deal with Red Bull, the focus of which would be on Liiga's young up-and-comers. They call it the Breakthrough program -- there's the blue helmets (Red Bull colors and logos, obviously), special interviews, a documentary-style video series, etc.
 
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Hokinaittii said:
I don't see any problems with Kakko in Rangers other than he isn't as likely going to win Calder as a player like Laine who got drafted 2nd into a team that could have competed for the Stanley Cup already that season or the next. I know Kakko competing for the Calder is very irrevelant in a big picture but for a small Kakko fanboy like me this situtation isn't ideal. :thumbu:

Rangers definately have a great prospect pool but I don't see them having #1 goalie anymore in couple of years when Ludqvist retires and Shattenkirk doesn't strike me as the greatest possible #1 D to have. I guess I'd prefer if the Rangers already had replacements for those players in their system instead of me having to wait and see them draft or trade for those players.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sure the Rangers will look great in a few years but it's probably going to be a bumpy road for the next season or two for Kakko and his team.
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Teams like Jets shouldn't be picking top2, it took a lot of luck to happen, and good part thanks to Kakko Rangers could be a top10 team in 2-3 years time.

You take a look at the standings, bottom this time, what team is going to give Kakko a better future?
Devils? They look abysmal even after adding Hughes, LA? Their future looks absolutely terrible, Detroit? They need to rebuild the entire blueline/net, Buffalo? Edmonton of the East management wise and so on.

Colorado& the Rangers were the top2 options for Kakko, not putting him in a abysmal situation while building a pretty nice looking future, I much rather wath Kakko in the playoffs for the next 10 years with a credible team vs him chasing Calder as the go to guy of his team, and what exactly suggests Hughes has the advantage over Kakko in Calder race?

I admit I don't know a whole lot, but I would expect the Rangers try to create as good of an enviroment for Kakko as possible, giving him all the support he needs.
 
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Devilsfan118 said:
Clearly.

Jab aside - very interesting how personally invested so many of you are in this guy's development.
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I do apologize that I can't get excited about that roster, and if it makes it any better I've been pretty tough on the Bruins on their re-tool years.

Finland is a hockey country 100%.
 
Can Kakko play LW as good as he plays RW and to a lesser extent C? I've seen him play RW and C and he's impressed me there but I haven't seen him at LW. Would be easier for NYR as we now might have Kakko, Kravtsov, and Buch at RW; all offhand. Buchnevich has played LW before but he's not nearly as good there as he is at RW. Kravtsov has played a bit of C this year but again, he won't be one long term and his style of play is perfect for RW, not so much LW. We really need RHS forwards for the future now with all 3 I mentioned being LHS along with Chytil, Andersson, and Howden
 
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Lays said:
Can Kakko play LW as good as he plays RW and to a lesser extent C? I've seen him play RW and C and he's impressed me there but I haven't seen him at LW. Would be easier for NYR as we now might have Kakko, Kravtsov, and Buch at RW; all offhand. Buchnevich has played LW before but he's not nearly as good there as he is at RW. Kravtsov has played a bit of C this year but again, he won't be one long term and his style of play is perfect for RW, not so much LW. We really need RHS forwards for the future now with all 3 I mentioned being LHS along with Chytil, Andersson, and Howden
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I don't know the excact numbers but Kakko played pretty much his last 10-15 games in Liiga as LW. So I don't see him being any worse on the LW than he is on RW since he was able to keep his crazy points pace and actually even improve upon it in the last games.
 
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Lays said:
Can Kakko play LW as good as he plays RW and to a lesser extent C? I've seen him play RW and C and he's impressed me there but I haven't seen him at LW. Would be easier for NYR as we now might have Kakko, Kravtsov, and Buch at RW; all offhand. Buchnevich has played LW before but he's not nearly as good there as he is at RW. Kravtsov has played a bit of C this year but again, he won't be one long term and his style of play is perfect for RW, not so much LW. We really need RHS forwards for the future now with all 3 I mentioned being LHS along with Chytil, Andersson, and Howden
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He can play all foward position but i believe he needs 1-2 seasons at wing before moving to C. He is equally good LW or RW not big difference.

I think i have to count his points because they seem to be incorrect.

He has good chance to make into WC team playing against Canada (may 10th) and USA (May 13th). If there is Kakko hungry fans it might be good opportunity to get first look of him against actual NHL players.
 
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thomast said:
i don’t think he developes much on skating anymore. He isn’t raw skater in my eyes like Barkov was for example. Barkov was like 210-220 lbs and had growing spurt at 16-17 so his technique was bad. He was deceptively suprisingly fast despite of his horrible stride. I doubt Kakko is ever going to be a speedster. I think he will be 3.5/5 speed, 4/5 accerelation, 4.5/5 balance and agility type of skater. His technique is already good and he isn’t heavy. He is still quite lanky despite of his incredible natural core strength. He could work on his leg strength but he needs to fill out too so he needs to move bigger mass. I think his skating potential is about similar what we saw with Barkov and that is more than good with that strength and frame. Not elite but tier below.
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You're probably right about how he has less room to improve than Barkov and Rantanen. I still think he can improve quite a bit though
 
thomast said:
i don’t think he developes much on skating anymore. He isn’t raw skater in my eyes like Barkov was for example. Barkov was like 210-220 lbs and had growing spurt at 16-17 so his technique was bad. He was deceptively suprisingly fast despite of his horrible stride. I doubt Kakko is ever going to be a speedster. I think he will be 3.5/5 speed, 4/5 accerelation, 4.5/5 balance and agility type of skater. His technique is already good and he isn’t heavy. He is still quite lanky despite of his incredible natural core strength. He could work on his leg strength but he needs to fill out too so he needs to move bigger mass. I think his skating potential is about similar what we saw with Barkov and that is more than good with that strength and frame. Not elite but tier below.
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Kakko's technique is quite good, but it's about his leg strength, which is where it's easiest to make gains for skating, and no Kakko isn't fully developed at all. Barkov was significantly more developed physically at the same age, he was a true man child.
 
Another reason why I think Kakko would do better with the Rangers than Devils is that the Rangers are building a heavily-Euorpean roster. We don’t have any other Finnish players, but there won’t be a big language barrier. All those guys speak English and some of them speak multiple other languages.

What I have read in interviews from European players is that they tend to get along better with other European players than North Americans, regardless if that European player is from the same country as them. It makes sense that Canadians and Americans would be a main clique in a team and Europeans would be another major clique.

By my count, we have Zibanejad, Buchnevich, Chytil, Fast, Kravtsov, Andersson, Shestyorkin, Georgiyev, Hajek, Rykov among the young European core. There’s also the older Lundqvist and one or two other older players like Namestnikov and Claesson who are European. If Kakko needs to speak Finnish, Zibanejad and Georgiyev both speak the language. I also would not be surprised if Reunanen was on the NHL roster within 2-3 seasons. I think he’s going to be good and there’s also Kakko’s current club teammate, Pajuniemi, who has a chance to make the NHL. It also might not be a terrible idea to sign a UFA Finnish player towards the bottom of the roster to help ease Kakko’s transition.
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
Another reason why I think Kakko would do better with the Rangers than Devils is that the Rangers are building a heavily-Euorpean roster. We don’t have any other Finnish players, but there won’t be a big language barrier. All those guys speak English and some of them speak multiple other languages.

What I have read in interviews from European players is that they tend to get along better with other European players than North Americans, regardless if that European player is from the same country as them. It makes sense that Canadians and Americans would be a main clique in a team and Europeans would be another major clique.

By my count, we have Zibanejad, Buchnevich, Chytil, Fast, Kravtsov, Andersson, Shestyorkin, Georgiyev, Hajek, Rykov among the young European core. There’s also the older Lundqvist and one or two other older players like Namestnikov and Claesson who are European. If Kakko needs to speak Finnish, Zibanejad and Georgiyev both speak the language. I also would not be surprised if Reunanen was on the NHL roster within 2-3 seasons. I think he’s going to be good and there’s also Kakko’s current club teammate, Pajuniemi, who has a chance to make the NHL. It also might not be a terrible idea to sign a UFA Finnish player towards the bottom of the roster to help ease Kakko’s transition.
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The only reason I have any worry about Kakko is that Turku is a small city and Lauri Korpikoski, also from Turku, didn't seem to like it here. Everyone is different, though, and Kakko seems like a good professional, maybe he will love NYC. Antti Raanta is from nearby Rauma, which is much smaller still, and he seemed to love being a Ranger.

If the Rangers do draft him (they will, right?), maybe I can ask my mother if Kakko can billet at her apartment...

(Edited: sorry, I missed the part where you mentioned Zibby speaking Finnish. Does Georgiev really speak Finnish? That's impressive, even with 3 years at TPS.)
 
007 said:
(Edited: sorry, I missed the part where you mentioned Zibby speaking Finnish. Does Georgiev really speak Finnish? That's impressive, even with 3 years at TPS.)
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He trains in Finland during the summer or at least has in the past during his time with the Rangers. I haven’t looked back to find interviews where he’s speaking Finnish, but I’d be shocked if he didn’t. He speaks very good English for a kid who was raised in Russia. I suspect he picked up on Finnish quickly.
 
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