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

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Kakko can't be knocked off the puck. Hughes is so easily knocked off the puck.
Along the boards, Kakko is a beast. Hughes is a bunny. So long as you can catch him, he's easy prey.
Kakko is making crisp passes and plays from out of nothing. Hughes passes are ok. Some of them feel rushed.
I'll note that Hughes seems to make a lot of plays at the offensive blue line, key takeaways but on the flip side, this can lead to odd man breaks going the other way.
Kakko's stickhandling is pretty bonkers. Hughes is more of dipsy doodler when it comes to puck play.
Organizationally, I think we need a franchise center but Kakko is also the better player right now.
Either way, we are gonna be happy, me thinks!



 
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Miz said:
Being from the US, I lean 1oo% towards North American prospects. I was all in on Hughes since the end of the 2018 draft. Still was, until I actually got to watch Kakko play. And holy hell am I pumped NJD are taking Hughes over Kakko. Chumps.
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Seeing them play against each other was quite interesting.
 
n8 said:
Kakko can't be knocked off the puck. Hughes is so easily knocked off the puck.
Along the boards, Kakko is a beast. Hughes is a bunny. So long as you can catch him, he's easy prey.
Kakko is making crisp passes and plays from out of nothing. Hughes passes are ok. Some of them feel rushed.
I'll note that Hughes seems to make a lot of plays at the offensive blue line, key takeaways but on the flip side, this can lead to odd man breaks going the other way.
Kakko's stickhandling is pretty bonkers. Hughes is more of dipsy doodler when it comes to puck play.
Organizationally, I think we need a franchise center but Kakko is also the better player right now.
Either way, we are gonna be happy, me thinks!



Click to expand...


Yeap, well said. Although perhaps Hughes was not just as prepared for the quality of this competition as Kakko was which lead into some errors he wouldn't usually commit. I'd like to think so anyway. Nonetheless it was an extremely valuable experience especially considering the timing prior to the D season and to get a taste of what these games require mentally and physically - even for Kakko who hadn't faced NHL players before.

Until this year and perhaps even almost till end of the WJC Kakko was mostly considered as playmaking winger. Pass first, shoot second. Most of the fans who'd have been eyeing on him since 17-18 and beyond, including myself, weren't sure if he had even an average shooting ability and his finishing presented question marks, cause he was always looking for open lanes and team mates. Now this has been discussed many times over in the Kakko thread @ HFProspects, but when last season began he was paired up with Filppula who almost literally cannot score to save his life. At some stage of the late first half of the season he realized that he was going to have to rely on himself to get things done in order to be efficient. So Kakko transformed his game from pass first to shoot first and what happened? We all (or at least most of us) know he finished the second half of the regular season scoring with near GPG pace which was absolutely ridiculous. At least to me for a draft eligible prospect to be able to adapt and alter his game this way is as important observation as it is a promising quality. A sign of a high understanding of the game mechanics and sign of a high hockey IQ. Laine makes a fine example. He wasn't all too ready to be play NHL at his first year (wasn't physically there yet despite the frame), but he displayed extremely unique adaptability, hockey IQ and these combined with world class shooting traits enabled him to score 36 goals in 73 games. No 18 year old rookie had ever finished top five in GPG until then.

Kakko indeed has a good to great shooting arsenal as well (not world class but nonetheless) - a lethal wrister with fast release, excellent one-timer and it seems like even his slap shot isn't too shabby. Just look at one of the goal scored at the Worlds' where he just blasts it from far out. The biggest underlying factor to his shooting/finishing arsenal is extremely accurately placed shots. He can pick corners and he's aware when he can go five hole. He could have more power but I think this is were the length of his stick backfires and it's not as easy to get enough momentum with a shorter stick compared to a longer one. Nonetheless, it's obvious he can score in multiple ways, although when ever possible it really seems like he mostly enjoys to go around the keeper and tap the puck into an open net.

I'm certain he will start using his line mates more in the NHL cause he'll know most of those crispy passes won't go in vain like most of them did in the FEL and even in the WHC. My biggest hope is that they really dig into his past and fully understand the versatility he brings into the game, thus continue his transition to a center because he has all the traits to become a franchise player in the league and has pretty unordinary strength as it is already. So once customed and more seasoned he could be a tremendous two-way player. Also his puck distribution could be placed in a better use with more ice to cover. He played four regular season games as a C along with some CHL games this year and has played C in the juniors. Despite the small sample size this year the track-record from those games is impressive. Aho did not play C full time in the NHL until his 3rd season and Kotkaniemi for instance played less games as a center @ FEL than Kakko did. Just to bring out a few examples. Anyway, I'm sure they'll know what's best for him and the team in the long run so will just have to go with that.
 
Leetch3 said:
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This reminds me of the Rangers-Islanders situation last year. Whichever player the Rangers were taking at 9, they were always going to leave some good prospects on the board for the Islanders at 11 and 12. And people were going to complain either way.

This is similar. Devils should just go with whoever they think is the best prospect. You cannot draft both.

Part of taking J̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶H̶u̶g̶h̶e̶s̶ Kaapo Kakko first overall has to be about not leaving J̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶H̶u̶g̶h̶e̶s̶ Kaapo Kakko for the @NYRangers at #2.
 
kelsier said:
Yeap, well said. Although perhaps Hughes was not just as prepared for the quality of this competition as Kakko was which lead into some errors he wouldn't usually commit. I'd like to think so anyway. Nonetheless it was an extremely valuable experience especially considering the timing prior to the D season and to get a taste of what these games require mentally and physically - even for Kakko who hadn't faced NHL players before.

Until this year and perhaps even almost till end of the WJC Kakko was mostly considered as playmaking winger. Pass first, shoot second. Most of the fans who'd have been eyeing on him since 17-18 and beyond, including myself, weren't sure if he had even an average shooting ability
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Kakko has practiced his shot quite a bit more than people would maybe think. He also had some killer highlights in Liiga but he was mostly creating opportunities for others with his tremendous possession so it wasn't really taken note of. While his slapshot is pretty good considering his stick, the wrister is his real bread and butter. He said he likens it to Matthews's wrister, another guy who plays with a short stick and a similiar flex. I think you're gonna see some similiar goals from him next season.
 
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Ukkosenjumala said:
Kakko has practiced his shot quite a bit more than people would maybe think. He also had some killer highlights in Liiga but he was mostly creating opportunities for others with his tremendous possession so it wasn't really taken note of. While his slapshot is pretty good considering his stick, the wrister is his real bread and butter. He said he likens it to Matthews's wrister, another guy who plays with a short stick and a similiar flex. I think you're gonna see some similiar goals from him next season.
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I have no doubt about it. He built a little arena in the backyard when he was really young just to train and shoot pucks. Other than that, he's had an exceptional determination to play hockey and a thrive to be the best he can be. Kakko moved to live with his grandparents only because the hockey arena was closer and he's worked really hard to get where he is today. His coaches have really emphasized this in particular and complimented how he's always been willing to do the extra work and how he's always been team first type of a player as opposed to caring more about his own success. I would guess it's hard to find much characteristic flaws.

He has played against few years older competition throughout his career. Right up until 2016-17 when he begun playing guys five years older players than him and a year later he already made an entrance to professional rinks at age 16, facing guys twice his age. Despite of dominating every age class it seems almost as if they intentionally kept him in the dark and away from the public eye to avoid distractions (who knows). The organization (TPS) realized he was going to be even more special than they originally though of approximately two years ago and a short while later his name started coming up in hockey related articles. Now we know why.

I'm glad they gave him almost every opportunity to thrive this year unlike how they used Rantanen back in his respective draft year. Of course Kakko was never by default at the top of the pecking order with veterans and "star players" in the team. Then again he practically immediately showed in game 1 why he belonged in the top lines this past season and every minute he was on the ice was well warranted.
 
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Wasn’t aware of Kakko’s health issues before the other day. Do they make anyone else a bit uncomfortable?
 
Dactyl said:
Wasn’t aware of Kakko’s health issues before the other day. Do they make anyone else a bit uncomfortable?
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When I first saw them, they did. But I trust the medical staff to mean it when they say his issues although rare, do not pose any threat to him being an athlete.

He has to watch his diet, that's pretty much it.
 
NYRFANMANI said:
When I first saw them, they did. But I trust the medical staff to mean it when they say his issues although rare, do not pose any threat to him being an athlete.

He has to watch his diet, that's pretty much it.
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Yea I’m not worried about them managing his DM1 or celiac, more that he has two autoimmune diseases already. They have high comorbidity rates, so there’s a higher than average chance of him developing RA or SLE or some other disease going forward.
 
Dactyl said:
Wasn’t aware of Kakko’s health issues before the other day. Do they make anyone else a bit uncomfortable?
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Nope. He has been playing with those medical issues and it has not held him back at all so far. And there are also examples of others like Bobby Clark and Max Domi who have played top level hockey without it affecting them.
 
Dactyl said:
Wasn’t aware of Kakko’s health issues before the other day. Do they make anyone else a bit uncomfortable?
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Not even slightly at #2. Maybe if we had the first pick and had to decide between kakko and Hughes it would be something you weigh along with many other factors but for us it doesn’t matter
 
Leetch3 said:
millard's comment about not wanting to leave hughes for the rangers is just his opinion and not really the important point. the tweet he is responding to is a link to this NY post article that says the devils have made up their mind and will take hughes (as expected)

https://nypost.com/2019/05/31/devils-mind-seen-as-made-up-on-jack-hughes-kaapo-kakko-pick/
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Not to be picky, but these things tend to get legs, and the article say no such thing. Ie that NJD have made up their minds about taking Hughes. NYP has ‘polled’ a bunch of scouts and most speculate on that NJD will take Hughes.
 
Dactyl said:
Yea I’m not worried about them managing his DM1 or celiac, more that he has two autoimmune diseases already. They have high comorbidity rates, so there’s a higher than average chance of him developing RA or SLE or some other disease going forward.
Click to expand...

Could be something lost in translation, but he don’t have DM1 does he? He is diabetic, but DM1 is a genetic decease somewhat common in the areas Kakko is from (but still rare, maybe 20/100,000). You get weak hands, bad coordination etc. Not a good decease to have as a hockey player... ;)
 
Ola said:
Could be something lost in translation, but he don’t have DM1 does he? He is diabetic, but DM1 is a genetic decease somewhat common in the areas Kakko is from (but still rare, maybe 20/100,000). You get weak hands, bad coordination etc. Not a good decease to have as a hockey player... ;)
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Probably meant diabetes mellitus type-1
 
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