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RW Kaapo Kakko - TPS, Liiga (2019 Draft)

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Seriously, why doesn't this kid play as a centerman? He has the size, skills and head for it. Jukka Jalonen asked the same question in a recent article. He'd bring so much more firepower to the national team that way.
 
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Koijari said:
Seriously, why doesn't this kid play as a centerman? He has the size, skills and head for it. Jukka Jalonen asked the same question in a recent article. He'd bring so much more firepower to the national team that way.
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I think that whatever organisation drafts him will try to play him as a center down the road.
 
behemolari said:
I think all Finns stop moaning ONCE they get their 1st pick, it's all about

Barkov vs MacKinnon
Laine vs Matthews
Kakko vs Hughes

Finnish player is never been picked first in the draft, while many feels they should/could have been
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Except these players are all inferior to their counterparts.
 
Josepho said:
I'll throw out some recognizable statistical comparables in their draft year (in at least somewhat recent memory) for Kakko.

Kaapo Kakko: 7/6 = 1.17 P/G
Mikael Granlund: 40/43 = 0.93 P/G
Alexander Barkov: 48/53 = 0.91 P/G
Patrik Laine: 33/46 = 0.72 P/G
Artturi Lehkonen: 30/45 = 0.67 P/G
Joel Armia: 29/48 = 0.6 P/G
Jesse Puljujärvi: 28/50 = 0.56 P/G
Jesperi Kotkaniemi: 29/57 = 0.51 P/G
Mikko Rantanen: 28/56 - 0.5 P/G
Teuvo Teräväinen: 18/40 = 0.45 P/G
Sebastian Aho: 13/30 = 0.43 P/G
Rasmus Kupari: 14/39 = 0.36 P/G
Kasperi Kapanen: 14/47 = 0.3 P/G

At this point it's foolish to suggest that Hughes is ahead of everyone by a mile, especially if he keeps up at this pace.
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Paul Maurice said:
Something not so positive about Kakko: He's pretty weak defensively. His defensive play reminds me of Laine. He just kinda sits there between the hash marks.



An opinion that probably wouldn't even exist without last season.
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Who cares about defense when your that good offensively.

Every player listed had their best seasons last year, so its moot.
 
I was at the game today and it was nice to see Kakko and Honka playing against. It was ridiculous how poised they both were, especially Kakko. He was very good in the offensive zone and only a little bit of bad luck kept him out of the scoreboard. I think his game reminds a lot of Mikko Rantanen's game. About his 200 foot game, it's true that he's quite bad in his own end. But it's easier to learn the defensive side of the game than to have that kind of spark and talent in the o-zone.
 
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Mrb1p said:
Except these players are all inferior to their counterparts.
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I'll give you Matthews over Laine and Hughes over Kakko, at least right now, things can change though. But Barkov and Mackinnon is certainly not that clearcut, if Mackinnon plays like last seaosn and barkov plays like last seaosn then mackinnon is better, but if barkov stays at 80p and mackinnon drops to being a 90p player I'd pick barkov any day of the week. And so far in their career Barkov has been the better player on average, 0,81 PPG for NM and 0,75 for AB, and AB's defensive game is miles ahead.

But as for Kakko and Hughes it's too early to tell to be honest, but for now Hughes is ahead, quite clearly.
 
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SaekkiPaelli said:
I'll give you Matthews over Laine and Hughes over Kakko, at least right now, things can change though. But Barkov and Mackinnon is certainly not that clearcut, if Mackinnon plays like last seaosn and barkov plays like last seaosn then mackinnon is better, but if barkov stays at 80p and mackinnon drops to being a 90p player I'd pick barkov any day of the week. And so far in their career Barkov has been the better player on average, 0,81 PPG for NM and 0,75 for AB, and AB's defensive game is miles ahead.

But as for Kakko and Hughes it's too early to tell to be honest, but for now Hughes is ahead, quite clearly.
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How exactly is he clearly ahead of Kakko? Kakko's playing against men and is way more physically mature than Hughes.
 
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What a name though... if the Canucks by miracle can get the first overall pick, it would be tough to decide between Kakko and Hughes... However the prospect of having the Hughes brothers for the next decade is very enticing.
 
Koijari said:
Would be awesome if he does and if other Finnish top C prospects become star players too (Kotkaniemi and Borgström). Finnish national team would be stacked.
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Finland's top-6 is going to be pretty good a couple of years from now. All we need now is a best-on-best tournament for the national team to play in. There might very well be at least a 10-year break in true best-on-best national team tournaments. The last one was in 2014 and there's no certainty of when the next one will take place.
 
Koijari said:
How exactly is he clearly ahead of Kakko? Kakko's playing against men and is way more physically mature than Hughes.
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The playing against men notion isn’t a factor at all. Being more physically mature isn’t really a positive either from a projection standpoint.
 
93LEAFS said:
Playing against men projection wise is really only a major factor floor wise. It obviously removes some volatility from the equation. Ceiling wise it's a limited factor. Although, I hate talking in those absolutist terms.
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"A factor at all" is what I was arguing against. Or are you agreeing with me? I'm confused.

Still, you have to consider that 2 players with identical floor and identical ceiling don't necessarily have the same projection. That's why that "floor ceiling" attitude is very simplistic and misleading.
 
ijuka said:
"A factor at all" is what I was arguing against. Or are you agreeing with me? I'm confused.

Still, you have to consider that 2 players with identical floor and identical ceiling don't necessarily have the same projection. That's why that "floor ceiling" attitude is very simplistic and misleading.
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I'm agreeing with you in the way I clarified. At the end of the day, we are talking about chances with a wide volume of outcomes. I personally think that playing with men removes volatility from the low-end. Its why projecting kids who play something like Minnesota high-school hockey is a nightmare.

To be honest, I hate floor/ceiling discussions on this site. 99% of players we talk about have a floor of a non-NHLer. And, we have cases where if I told people what Martin St. Louis, Jamie Benn and Gaudreau's ceiling is what they became, people would largely mock me. Using two of my favorite players as examples, Auston Matthews floor was prolly a 3rd line center and Mitch Marner's was a NLA player. Obviously, those are highly unlikely outcomes, but still potential ones.
 
Koijari said:
How exactly is he clearly ahead of Kakko? Kakko's playing against men and is way more physically mature than Hughes.
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It could actually be the other way around. Hughes may look younger than his actual age, but there's no guarantee that he will physically develop that much more, as different people physically mature at different rates and times.

Kakko on the other hand could physically develop a lot and gain 15-20lbs of muscle(which would put him in the weight range of most NHL players of his current height)...or not at all and stay at his current height/weight for the rest of his playing career.

In the end I don't think it matters that much. Hughes' most important asset is his brain and he's shown it to be superior to that of every draft eligible player.
 
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