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RW Kaapo Kakko - TPS, Liiga (2019 Draft)

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3rd best prospect in the past 3 years easily. Only Dahlin and Hughes are better.

Edit: past 2 years + upcoming year. Not past 3 years (Matthews was a better prospect and Laine closer but a tad bit better.
 
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Ippenator said:
WTF seriously? I was not the one bringing Laine at all there in the first place now. Just commented to a Laine comparison. That is just taking part in the discussion, so just leave your bullcrap and discuss instead of whining like a pancy.

And no, Tappara wouldn’t have won Jackcrap the season when Laine was MVP, if they didn’t have him. A bit better than average team really without Laine that season. And yes, if Kakko is even close to as good as a prospect as the 17 year old Laine was, Kakko should be seriously able to substantially help his team TPS get very far in the playoffs, or even win it all. Some people here are calling TPS a weak team because of them playing badly in the pre-season. Tells me all about those people’s lack of understanding in hockey after all. TPS has a great team with loads of skill, and if Kakko is seriously as good as many of us are already expecting (me amongst them), then for sure TPS is going to be an absolute power house in Liiga this season. And I believe they will be that in the end of the season. And once again, I’m definitely not a fan of TPS (except love to watch them now that they have Kakko).

Why do you have to make something about being a fanboy? I just appreciate the kind of talent that Laine has, over anything else that Finnish players, others than Aho, can really provide at the moment. I have no other reason to like those two players. Not a fan of Tappara for sure (an Ilves fan for life in fact) and not a fan of Kärpät either (although I do like how Kärpät and Tappara both develop young talented players).

And for your information I’m a huge fan of Kakko so far. Just don’t want to get also disappointed with him, so I am holding very high standards before putting him to the Laine-category. I can sure see potential to even that, or maybe even better. But for me it will not be enough to start expecting him to become as good or better as Laine, if he just gets more regular season points than Laine did in his full Liiga season. As I said before, Laine’s regular season points dont tell the real truth about his talent, because he was still recovering most of that season from the knee operation. Only at the end of the season he started to be in pretty good shape.

And still before you start whining again, I absolutely hope that Kakko can become Laine’s class of a player or even better, but I will not lift him too easily as a prospect there. If he gets there it would be absolutely magnificent though.
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To be the playoffs MVP you have to play in the finals. There's not a single player in the world who can do that without a good team around him. So when you said that Kakko needs to be playoffs MVP to beat Laine as a individual you lost the debate. That was just a stupid thing to say. But I let that slide and I believe you that you can write reasonable stuff. Even behind those Laine/Aho glasses ;)
 
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Mrb1p said:
Dont sell Svechnikov short. Guy is close to being a generational player.
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Kakko is on another level I find. Better shot with better skating. Svech more flashy. But I feel like Kakko reminds me so much of Malkin whereas svech reminds me of hossa, both excellant players, mind you.
 
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Legend123 said:
Kakko is on another level I find. Better shot with better skating. Svech more flashy. But I feel like Kakko reminds me so much of Malkin whereas svech reminds me of hossa, both excellant players, mind you.
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I have a hard time believing that Kakko has a better shot. Svechnikovs shot is damn near one of the best I have ever seen. Not a ton of 17 years old put up a GPG in the OHL while coming off a wrist injury.
 
Mrb1p said:
I have a hard time believing that Kakko has a better shot. Svechnikovs shot is damn near one of the best I have ever seen. Not a ton of 17 years old put up a GPG in the OHL while coming off a wrist injury.
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Stats are stats. Kakko has a lethal release and controls the game better than svech. Every time I watch him I feel that superstar swag in him. Hes a beauty.
 
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Legend123 said:
Stats are stats. Kakko has a lethal release and controls the game better than svech. Every time I watch him I feel that superstar swag in him. Hes a beauty.
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Stats are stats, true, but those stats are pretty damn impressive, like, top. 005 percent of players impressive. Off the top of my head, stamkos(2x), Tavares(2x) and McDavid are the only one to achieve that in this millenium.

Thats exceptional territory.

Kakko's production is in line with guys like Lekhonen (Exceptional junior player TBH.), Aho, Puljujarvi. Not exactly bad company to be with, but not exactly Stamkos, Tavares and McDavid territory, agree ?
 
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Mrb1p said:
Stats are stats, true, but those stats are pretty damn impressive, like, top. 005 percent of players impressive. Off the top of my head, stamkos(2x), Tavares(2x) and McDavid are the only one to achieve that in this millenium.

Thats exceptional territory.

Kakko's production is in line with guys like Lekhonen (Exceptional junior player TBH.), Aho, Puljujarvi. Not exactly bad company to be with, but not exactly Stamkos, Tavares and McDavid territory, agree ?
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Nope cuz Kakko spends his pre nhl career seasons in leagues where young players dont typically do well or achieve impressive numbers. And most players (esp americans + canadians) all go thru junior, which is a highly unorganized and offensive league, making it easier to say "hes in company of players like McDavid, Crosby, etc"

What can we say about Kakko if he produces at more than a ppg in the Liiga? In company of players like Barkov?? Come on man... That logic is heavily flawed. Hell, Ovy scored 106 points in the NHL after scoring just 26 in 37 in Russia.

You are too focused on stats. Watch them play and compare. Always a more insightful method in evaluating talents instead of just saying he scored this so he could be as good as these players.
 
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Legend123 said:
Nope cuz Kakko spends his pre nhl career seasons in leagues where young players dont typically do well or achieve impressive numbers. And most players (esp americans + canadians) all go thru junior, which is a highly unorganized and offensive league, making it easier to say "hes in company of players like McDavid, Crosby, etc"

What can we say about Kakko if he produces at more than a ppg in the Liiga? In company of players like Barkov?? Come on man... That logic is heavily flawed. Hell, Ovy scored 106 points in the NHL after scoring just 26 in 37 in Russia.

You are too focused on stats. Watch them play and compare. Always a more insightful method in evaluating talents instead of just saying he scored this so he could be as good as these players.
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Are you telling me I haven't watched either of them ? Thats ridiculous. Don't doubt my viewings of those, because I can do the same to you and we go round and round, it's a shaky ground to stand on.

Anyway, it's ridiculous to suggest what Svechnikov did isn't special, he literally scored more than anyone else but three players, who are all exceptional++ players and one is probably the 2nd best goalscorer of the decade. Don't just dismiss those facts, it's dumb.

It's also not as if Svechnikov didn't show this level of production elsewhere, only Hughes, Vanek and Housley rank above him in U17 USHL PPG. And they all played significantly less games than he did.

All that, in leagues where he played only one year. His level of dominance is just below the likes of Hughes and Tavares. Now, maybe Kakko rises up to that status, maybe not, but that's not an insult to him.
 
Mrb1p said:
Are you telling me I haven't watched either of them ? Thats ridiculous. Don't doubt my viewings of those, because I can do the same to you and we go round and round, it's a shaky ground to stand on.

Anyway, it's ridiculous to suggest what Svechnikov did isn't special, he literally scored more than anyone else but three players, who are all exceptional++ players and one is probably the 2nd best goalscorer of the decade. Don't just dismiss those facts, it's dumb.

It's also not as if Svechnikov didn't show this level of production elsewhere, only Hughes, Vanek and Housley rank above him in U17 USHL PPG. And they all played significantly less games than he did.

All that, in leagues where he played only one year. His level of dominance is just below the likes of Hughes and Tavares. Now, maybe Kakko rises up to that status, maybe not, but that's not an insult to him.
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You fail to understand whats being argued here. We are trying to compare Svech to Kakko who play in the different leagues. So bringing up what kind of company he is in so IRRELEVANT to the discussion. Dont try to compare oranges with apples please. "its dumb"
As for that first comment. I was pertaining to your reply, which suggests you dont watch much of either player other than stats which is the basis of your argument.
 
Legend123 said:
You fail to understand whats being argued here. We are trying to compare Svech to Kakko who play in the different leagues. So bringing up what kind of company he is in so IRRELEVANT to the discussion. Dont try to compare oranges with apples please. "its dumb"
As for that first comment. I was pertaining to your reply, which suggests you dont watch much of either player other than stats which is the basis of your argument.
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It's not irrelevant, that's not how it works. There's a direct transferability from league to league, they're both playing hockey, in the same universe. Taking closest comparables in statistics is the most accurate evidence we have, the rest is subjective evidence that is a lot more prone to biases than statistics, especially at elite levels.

You really need to stop accusing me of things you have no evidence on, also.
 
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Mrb1p said:
It's not irrelevant, that's not how it works. There's a direct transferability from league to league, they're both playing hockey, in the same universe. Taking closest comparables in statistics is the most accurate evidence we have, the rest is subjective evidence that is a lot more prone to biases than statistics, especially at elite levels.

You really need to stop accusing me of things you have no evidence on, also.
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Lets leave it at this. I prefer discussing prospects vs others based on talent and ability, not stats. As long as you keep bringing up stats, I got no interest.
 
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Personally I'd rate Svechnikov and Kakko fairly close to each other in talent, but stylewise they are very different.

Svechnikov plays like a powerforward (Imo he is like Iginla), his shot and skating speed are better. Kakko on the other hand plays like grinder (Honestly he reminds me of modern day Crosby) who excels in agility and defensive game. Both of them are very strong on their feet and hard to knock of the puck.

Their stats were almost the same in u18 WJC in their draft -1 seasons, their only comparable competitions.
 
SM-liigan kiinnostavin pelaaja on vasta 17-vuotias – TPS:n tuorein timantti Kaapo Kakko on ensi kesän kärkivaraus, joka on ansainnut paikkansa turkulaisseuran ykkösketjussa

Very good article about Kakko in Finnish. Great to hear he really wants to train a lot. He is called "himohatjoittelija" means someone who work out a lot and keep improving his skills. He wants to keep training or skating after practises etc.

Will be fun to see who will get him. They will have a very special player.

So, I already translated the most important part, but here is:
- Kakko said his one big goal this season is to play a big role and have big responsibility
- His team, TPS was marketising the games with Kakko along with some other players
- His great performances has not been surprised for people in Turku and now the whole country and people all over the world can see it
- "Hockey players rarely show the belong to play with men since their first shift"
- "His hockey sense can be seen through everything on the ice, was the puck on his own stick, opponents stick or teammate."
- Kakko can read the play, anticipate and lead the game
- He doesn't have a big weaknesses
- He reminds Rantanen in many ways.
- It would take many other players to rise or Kakko to drop to fell out the top 10 pick.

If someone finds something I didn't say about that article, feel free to translate. I did my best.
 
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Malkin; Matthews; Crosby; Datsyuk; Hossa; Foppa; grinder - continue... Kakko must be a stylistic wizard with inexhaustible versatility in his game. Or then he just plays his own original style of hockey. -Has he mentioned any player after whom he modelled his game?
 
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"I don't need your Civil War" (as Guns 'N' Roses would 'ave it -91).

Especially not from nowaday Finland internet-warriors - who even keep "fighting" over who knows the best/most of one of Finland icehockey true superheroes to come. And how good/bad he will may be in the future to come. Kaapo Kakko.

Remember 1918, Finland boys ...

Time to get together and pick the right fights. We're on the same side, remember?

Kaapo Kakko plays in TPS Turku first line of fire with Illari Filppula and Zach Budish as his partners in the TPS-crime.
Illari Filppula is of course the elder brother to Valtteri Filppula, and with the same God given hockeyhands, and Zach Budish is a pure American monster (100 kg!).

As hockey isn't a one man game and show anymore - you always need good teammates to succeed.
And right about now and at the moment Kaapo Kakko is surrounded/protected by them in TPS!

But no way Kaapo Kakko is no pretty boy Floyd who can't handle himself; quite the opposite - but he is still only 17-yrs of age, remember.

But he will rather, what it seems anyway, easy carry the mantel Mikko Rantanen left in TPS!

 
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FEL prospect watcher said:
Personally I'd rate Svechnikov and Kakko fairly close to each other in talent, but stylewise they are very different.

Svechnikov plays like a powerforward (Imo he is like Iginla), his shot and skating speed are better. Kakko on the other hand plays like grinder (Honestly he reminds me of modern day Crosby) who excels in agility and defensive game. Both of them are very strong on their feet and hard to knock of the puck.

Their stats were almost the same in u18 WJC in their draft -1 seasons, their only comparable competitions.
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I agree. They should be ranked close, but Svechnikov should be ahead on basis of having one more development year.
 
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