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RW Kaapo Kakko - TPS, Liiga (2019 Draft)

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jalperi said:
New Matthews against Laine, of course especially Laine is different type compared to Kakko.
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If Finland gets a top 5 talent in 2019 draft i'll be really happy though.
 
Hokinaittii said:
I think Kakko was among the best from Finland in this tournament with Kotkaniemi.

Here is small montage from Kakko's line play in 5 nations. Kakko having his fair share of good plays.

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Thanks Hokinaittii, Great stuff. Kakko, seems to have good skating and high hockey iq, whilst mediocre finishing ability. Promising prosect for sure. Kotkaniemi looking like a very early pick, he was dominant.
 
I agree that at this Kakko seems to be a lot better at creating chances for others than actually finishing the plays himself. He is not bad in scoring but it doesn't excactly scream elite in that area. Of course, he is barely 17 and he can still improve a lot his finishing ability. On top of that, he drives the net a lot so you can expect some dirty area goals from him which should only help him to become a solid goalscorer in the future.
 
jalperi said:
New Matthews against Laine, of course especially Laine is different type compared to Kakko.
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Hockeyisl1fe said:
That is bit premature.
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Hughes is also nothing like Matthews. The only real commonality is they both play center and played for the USNTDP. One's big and stocky, and the other is slight and short, ones a playmaker, the other is shoot first, etc. Remember, it was originally, Matthews way ahead but being challenged by Puljujarvi and Chychrun.

Either way, 2019 is a long-way away, and the WHL kids are very strong, particularly Dach and Cozens who offer prototypical size for franchise centers. Byram is also thought of very highly. It will be interesting to see if they are at the u-18's, or if Canada will even send a team to Russia. If not, first big international events for them will be Hlinka.

Either way, Kakko was quite impressive for an underager at the event. Looks to be the top pure winger in the class.
 
FinPanda said:
Pronman ranks him 2nd for the 2019 draft at the moment. Really happy that a lot of people finally saw him play internationally.
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Happy to see him get the recognition. Should be interesting to follow up on how the other early lists will look like (if yet published) now after the 5 nation tournament. Anyway, does anyone have any idea if his growth has already stalled? 6"1 is already pretty good though but another inch or two would not certainly hurt. He's not the bulkiest guy out there, but then again what can you expect from a kid who's just turned 17.
 
Here are his 3 primary assists vs Sport some days ago. 5on5, shorthanded and PP.



0+6 in 2 games since coming back from U18 5 Nations tournament. That makes it 55 points in 37 U20 games. If he keeps the pace up, he is going to end up with some crazy numbers.

This is all-time season high from U-18 players
 
Hokinaittii said:
Here are his 3 primary assists vs Sport some days ago. 5on5, shorthanded and PP.



0+6 in 2 games since coming back from U18 5 Nations tournament. That makes it 55 points in 37 U20 games. If he keeps the pace up, he is going to end up with some crazy numbers.

This is all-time season high from U-18 players
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So how many games does he have left??
 
To be fair for others, due to the structure of the league, TPS has played constantly against bit more weaker opponents during this year than the other players on the list. The two last games have been against Sport and Jukurit which are one of the worst teams in the league.

Kakko's production has been impressive nevertheless and it was already like that when TPS played against the better opponents.

TPS has three more games left. Today against really bad Diskos and then games against Ilves and HIFK.
 
So five more points in three more games and he's at the very top of the U18 all time player list in JrA (U20)? Color me impressed.

Can't help to have some expectations next year when he enters FEL full time, unless something unexpected happens.
 
Looking good but when you know he is playing against weaker opponents in the league, I really don't know what to think. Hopefully he'll have an excellent U18 tournament.
 
Kakko played in 26 games and collected 32 points while TPS played also against the better competition before U20 league was split into better and worse half. Those numbers are still pretty impressive and clearly above point per game.

23 points in 11 games is also very impressive despite playing in against the "worse half" of the league. Kakko is the scoring leader in this phase after all even though he hasn't played all the games.

The combined stats of the whole season just aren't 100% comparable to the previous season.
 
Then again, Kakko has 15 more points in 6 less games than the next guy in his team. So he is basically playing with worse linemates than someone like Aho and a few others did. Only Lehkonen and Granlund brothers on that list were clearly outscoring their teammates by 10+ points.

But yeah, I wasn't really familiar with how the league worked so I guess his numbers aren't that comparable after all. It would just be interesting to see how Kakko's numbers would look like with a little better linemates to finish his feeds since IMO his best asset is his playmaking.
 
I was just watching the Finnish 2018 draft eligible players points in the U20 league and no one is even close to Kakko's points. Gyazo - 80dfa2feeab7620f2201daadfe1fc988.png so Kakko is #6 but the next is Nordgren #30. Of course best draft eligible players are playing with men but it is still incredible to look.

If you look PPG, only Nordgren is above him but the next is #53 (Killinen). Gyazo - c24b2bdc5388aa8f844614f714933e9d.png

Hard to not be very excited about Kakko.

Points for those interested, if you want you can look PPG list too: Eliteprospects.com - All-Time Stats and Leaders from Jr. A SM-liiga
 
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So since his U20 team didn't make the playoffs, he is now playing with U18. After 4 games he has 3+2. He also scored 2 goals (including GWG) in a shootout against Kärpät couple of days ago. Worth mentioning Kärpät only had 3 losses this season before facing Kakko's TPS.

From what I have watched, he is kind of toying with others in U18. He looks like a man amongst boys out there. At first you could see him playing a bit "cocky" since he was so much better than everyone else out there, so he was pretty much looking to create something every shift. But with Kakko, it wasn't like he was trying to score goals all by himself but rather him trying deke his way through opponents so that he could make that pass into open net for his teammates. After all, he is more of a playmaker than a goalscoring machine.

Interesting to see if he keeps playing with U18 for rest of the season. He would most likely do just fine in Mestis but I guess that's not an option for him.
 
FinPanda said:
I was just watching the Finnish 2018 draft eligible players points in the U20 league and no one is even close to Kakko's points. Gyazo - 80dfa2feeab7620f2201daadfe1fc988.png so Kakko is #6 but the next is Nordgren #30. Of course best draft eligible players are playing with men but it is still incredible to look.

If you look PPG, only Nordgren is above him but the next is #53 (Killinen). Gyazo - c24b2bdc5388aa8f844614f714933e9d.png

Hard to not be very excited about Kakko.

Points for those interested, if you want you can look PPG list too: Eliteprospects.com - All-Time Stats and Leaders from Jr. A SM-liiga
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Mh. That list makes it 50/50. Some garbage at the top, some NHL guys. Really hard to put any weight to these junior stats. Excited for next season though, as he should have a prominent role in TPS.
 
Can't wait to see him at the U18s. His stickhandling and shiftiness is so fun to watch, kind of like Armia in that regard.
 
Paul Maurice said:
Have you followed Kaapo Kakko? Can you tell anything about him and what kind of a prospect he might be?
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I have seen him play only in two or was it three Liiga games and I’m pretty excited about him on the basis of those games. Very good with the puck and seems to have also pretty nice playmaking skills. I would love it if he would become a world class playmaker whom could also score goals respectably.

I have pretty darn high hopes with him, but at the same I’m trying to remember that kids that are still only 16 year old’s can pretty much turn into anything. I think we should know much more about his potential already next season. I hope he will get to play regularly in Liiga already then, and even be quite succesful, because if he manages to do that as an only 17 year old, it starts to show already quite clearly very high potential. Definitely exited about him as a prospect already.

How does he project as? As a winger or a center? I think he played anyway as a winger in all the games I saw him play.
 
Ippenator said:
I have seen him play only in two or was it three Liiga games and I’m pretty excited about him on the basis of those games. Very good with the puck and seems to have also pretty nice playmaking skills. I would love it if he would become a world class playmaker whom could also score goals respectably.

I have pretty darn high hopes with him, but at the same I’m trying to remember that kids that are still only 16 year old’s can pretty much turn into anything. I think we should know much more about his potential already next year. I hope he will get to play regularly in Liiga already then, and even be quite succesful, because if he manages to do that as an only 17 year old, it starts to show already quite clearly very high potential. Definitely exited about him as a prospect already.

How does he project as? As a winger or a center? I think he played anyway as a winger in all the games I saw him play.
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Thanks for your input. Exciting Liiga season next year, with Honka, Kakko and maybe some other young players in the mix.
 
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Despite no points, I think he was one of the most noticeable players from Finland against Slovakia. I wish he would shoot more instead of looking for the pretty play though.

Starting to look more and more top-5 pick for the next years draft. A lot can happen in a year though.
 
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