Prospect Info: The Second Overall Pick Thread: Part I (Kakko/Hughes Talk)

[KirkAlbuquerque]

That’s Winnipeg territory.

Winnipeg has 6 guys at 6’5” or taller , including Buff 6’6” and Myers 6’8”. There will never be a team that big again lol.

 

[Edge]

No, they wouldn't. They'd give up their #16 maybe, but even that isn't certain. I bet if you propose #16 for Kreider on the Trade board, most Avs fans will angrily reject it.

In fairness, that board would angrily reject most anything, while entering into another decade where they can't find talent outside the first round, and are still struggling to make the playoffs despite a plethora of picks in the top 12 of various drafts.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Yeah, Im starting to do some more research now that this is real. Seems like Kakko has all the tools to step in right away and make an impact. Very exciting.

The Rangers got the #2 pick in a draft where there are two consensus generational players at the top of the board. This just doesn't happen. It has immeasurably sped up the rebuild

There are zero generational players in this draft, and there have been zero in any draft since 2015 when there was one. I really wish people would stop throwing that term around like it means nothing.

 

[Trxjw]

I totally admit I'm greedy and want Zegras too.

Love having 3 or possibly 4 first round picks. But I'd move those extra firsts in a heartbeat if my end result was Kakko and Zegras.

There's my potential franchise player, and there's my potential playmaking center.

2020 is still an option, and I cross that bridge when I get to it, but if Kakko and Zegras are our haul from 2019, and we find a gem or two in the later rounds, THAT is the type of draft I've been waiting for.

I'm there with you. I'd rather walk away from this draft with two talents like that than make 5 picks in the top 61. I think we need to key in on some premium talents now that the pool is stocked pretty well with the guys you surround those premium talents with.

I think that a draft like that puts you in a position where you can start identifying organizational needs and you free up assets for trade in order to fill those holes.

Said it in the roster thread but my plan would be Kakko and Zegras in June and then let the roster marinate for a year. Look for good trade opportunities. Then hopefully your 2020 pick is a cherry on top.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Kakko becomes Mika’s running mate on RW. Mika becomes an 80 point player.

If we don’t trade Zucc Mika is a already an 80 point player this season

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I'm there with you. I'd rather walk away from this draft with two talents like that than make 5 picks in the top 61. I think we need to key in on some premium talents now that the pool is stocked pretty well with the guys you surround those premium talents with.

I think that a draft like that puts you in a position where you can start identifying organizational needs and you free up assets for trade in order to fill those holes.

Said it in the roster thread but my plan would be Kakko and Zegras in June and then let the roster marinate for a year. Look for good trade opportunities. Then hopefully your 2020 pick is a cherry on top.

 

[NYRFANMANI]

 

[Beacon]

I want to hear one poster admit we would have been screwed for tanking had we ended up in the bottom 3 and that playing the season straight now looks sooooo much better than Tanking.

We got lucky, that's it. But normally your odds at a top-2 pick are better if you finish last than 12th. In 2000, we got a much better goalie in the 7th round than the Isles got at 1 overall. That doesn't mean that we should be rebuilding with 7th rounders instead of top picks.

 

[Fitzy]

Winnipeg has 6 guys at 6’5” or taller , including Buff 6’6” and Myers 6’8”. There will never be a team that big again lol.

Says you. Once gene editing goes mainstream we're going to be living in a world where no one is less than 6'6"

 

[Beacon]

It accelerates the rebuild, but we’re not a playoff team yet. Honestly we’re probably not close still.

Yup. A first year Kakko is unlikely to be better than Zuccarello or Hayes, probably worse. Kravtsov is likely worse too. If we weren't even close to the playoffs with MZA+Hayes, why are we in the playoffs with teenage rookies Kakko and Kravtsov? Others may improve. Maybe, maybe not. But we were not even close this year. I don't see how we make it next year.

Trade Kreider, get another lottery ticket to try to grab a high risk, high reward prospect. Trade Vesey, Fast, Names at the deadline for second or third rounders, depending on how their season goes.

 

[apoptygma]

Kakko would instantly be the best prospect the Rangers have had since maybe McDonagh, no?

Been some yers, but not sure McDonagh was considered that good of a prospect. Feel like that his rookie season was compareable to Skjei's. But McD just kept on taking steps forward for years after getting to the NHL. Skjei never did take those additional steps.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I want to hear one poster admit we would have been screwed for tanking had we ended up in the bottom 3 and that playing the season straight now looks sooooo much better than Tanking. We played a honest season and came out with a better pick than most were allowing themselves to hope for

So how about alil objectivity and crow eating and humble pie and just remembering going forward that maybe these guys in the FO are doing things the right way.

Maybe?
All of us armchair GMs and the ‘used to be scouts and writers’ who are now just posting here with the rest of the common folk.

That's not how any of this works. Everyone knows that having the worst record doesn't guarantee you the worst pick. And if we weren't the Ranger or Hawks, but played it straight and had non-playoff mediocre record we'd still have a shitty pick.

 

[Fireonk]

Really not sure how McDonagh is being spoken about in the same breath compared to Kakko in terms of how much potential they had when drafted/traded to us. McDonagh was picked 12th and never showed any offensive game until his 5th year post draft. We got him for a guy a lot of us were hoping we could trade for free due to his contract.

Kappo (or Hughes) is in a different league, potential wise. Now he needs to keep getting better to realize that potential. McDonagh maximized his in my opinion.

 

[apoptygma]

Yeah, even if you trade Zibanejad for the 4th pick and that player becomes a better player than Zib, you're only barely ahead of where you started.

The ideal is a one-two punch of Zibanejad and a comparable talent to Zibanejad.

Zibanejad/Kakko
Zegras or Dach/Kravtsov

Almost doesn't matter who the LWs are at that point. Whew.

We may even have Kravtsovs running mate in house already. Chytil, Andersson and Howden are all still so young that 1 of them might be atleast a Brassard type center when they reach 24. our 2- line center don't have to be Malkin. A Brassard, Kreicji, Turris type
should be enough to support Kravtsov however good he will be. Then we can have Buch feast on the 3. parings like we had had the Pouliot, Brass, Zucc line in 13/14. But this time we will have some real stars on top of that, nit a broken down Richards, a aging Nash, a broken down Callahan and stone hands Hagelin.

 

[Off Sides]

I think the top 10 or so picks are unattainable without an even bigger overpay than I'd be willing to make. I think those teams are going to love where they are and who is still on board.

Yet if there is a prospect past that who should have gone in the top 10 sitting there, whether that is because there are that many good prospects in this draft, or if some other teams do stuff which pushed them down, I'd be calling with a slighter yet still an overpay offer for that spot.

Not trying to win that one specific deal, more so trying to line things up so the odds of the whole rebuild working go up, trying to push the possible top of the bell curve up a bit more.

 

[Edge]

That's not how any of this works. Everyone knows that having the worst record doesn't guarantee you the worst pick. And if we weren't the Ranger or Hawks, but played it straight and had non-playoff mediocre record we'd still have a ****ty pick.

I feel like it's debating whether wearing a seat belt is more likely to save your life.

Yes, you can be the person who doesn't wear a seat belt, gets ejected from your car instead of being trapped in it, and who walks away with relatively minor injuries.

But would you take those odds against the possibility of going face-first through your windshield?

The odds say you're better off wearing the damn belt.

So I say, let's continue to celebrate our good fortune, recognize the odds were longer, and hope that we don't have to rely on that again.

 

[Polar Bear]

How does Kakko compare to Eichel as a talent entering the draft?

 

[Beacon]

Agree. Hughes and Hirsch is scary but they look very top heavy.

Nor is this pair on par with Cindy and Malkin or Toews and Kane. I'm not worried about multiple parades in a Newark parking lot.

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

Nor is this pair on par with Cindy and Malkin or Toews and Kane. I'm not worried about multiple parades in a Newark parking lot.

Yup.

Hughes can be a Kane like player, but Hirsch isn't in that tier of centers like Crosby, Malkin, Kane, Toews, etc.

 

[Thirty One]

The days after the draft lottery are always "My team was really bad so this is what I deserve." It's pretty pathetic.

 

[Beacon]

Unless they, for some reason, take somebody else, the Rangers will be getting their best prospect since Brian Leetch.

We know how Leetch turned out, but an 18 year old Leetch is worse tha Kakko. We are about to grab the best prospect in team history. He may not become the best player ever, but he's certainly the best 18 year old we ever had.

 

[Machinehead]

@EpicDing your avatar is amazing but you spelled Kaapo wrong

 

[patnyrnyg]

Forget a top 10 pick next year. This team is going all in for the playoffs now imo. This accelerates the rebuild big time.

Screw that. Everything I have seen is that next year's top-10 is loaded. Tank one more season.

 

[blueshirtbolt]

Imagine a pp unit with mika on one side and kakko on the other...

 

[Fitzy]

How does Kakko compare to Eichel as a talent entering the draft?

Hughes and Kakko at one and two have been compared to MacKinnon and Barkov in terms of talent.