As a lurker in the Devils forum because of Hischier who I am a fan of I firstly want to say I have nothing against that fanbase, in fact they are one of the more pleasant groups here on hfboards as far as I am concerned. I thought however that their constant mockery of the (true) narrative that Kakko proved himself "against men" was pretty annoying. I still think Huges has the greater upside uf the two. (His skating, vision and hands combo is something almost no other NHL prospect or Player has currently.) However I am not sure he will be able to compete against fully grown NHL competiton for 82 games on a brutal schedule next year. I only saw the game against Slovakia (at the WC i have seen him plenty at the WJC and the U18's) where he flashed his skill but got easily manhandeled a few times. I am also not sure if his goalscoring is going to translate to the NHL and how he will fare in the playoffs (some smaller players like Kane and St. Louis are still able to exceed in the postseason but others like Johnny Hockey have a rather bad track record.) Kakko seems like a much safer option to me overall.
In the end I don't know wich one will be the better player of the two, but I think the Devils should at least seriously consider both options instead of only consider Hughes because of markability and conections to his family...
