Jack Hughes vs Kaapo Kakko

[scream_guy3]

 

[TimeZone]

Coin flip for me basically. I picked Kakko because I came away slightly more impressed with him in the Games I seen of both.

 

[1OApick]

If Devils ends up with Kakko and he turns to be the better player this would look pretty fun. And maybe we could have a case where Euros aren't discredited as much as they are at the moment. I recon Hughes as a skilled player but can't see him being that much better than Keller. I will gladly admit that i was wrong if Hughes turns out to be significantly better than Keller. I'm excpecting that Hughes will be better than Keller but not by good margin.

Feel free to disagree I can respect your opinion.

 

[Polar Bear]

I mean, I heavily disagree. I think Hughes certainly has more upside than Kakko offensively (Kakko likely has a much higher floor), but Kakko is in a different stratosphere than Pod. Not to mention that the latter might not even be able to come over for 2 years.

 

[AmericanDream]

agree with Button...maybe second time ever lol..

 

[EdJovanovski]

As someone who voted Hughes, this is an absolutely absurd statement. You can easily make an argument that Podkolzin isn’t even top 7.

 

[BB88]

So it's Button vs Sir Bob& NHL scouts.

Button could study Kakko a bit more.

 

[Polar Bear]

So it's Button vs Sir Bob& NHL scouts.

Button could study Kakko a bit more.

Even though he is wrong in my eyes, to be fair, he isn't saying Kakko isn't better, just the gap between him and Hughes is larger than him versus Pod. Like I said though, he's waaayyyyyy off and needs to watch more league games of Kakko and Pod, not just the tournaments.

 

[BB88]

Even though he is wrong in my eyes, to be fair, he isn't saying Kakko isn't better, just the gap between him and Hughes is larger than him versus Pod. Like I said though, he's waaayyyyyy off and needs to watch more league games of Kakko and Pod, not just the tournaments.

He just seems to like the record broken by Hughes a bit too much.

Bob& his scouts have been recently saying how deadly close these 2 are, and Button on the other hand is not close.

 

[Polar Bear]

He just seems to like the record broken by Hughes a bit too much.

Bob& his scouts have been recently saying how deadly close these 2 are, and Button on the other hand is not close.

I mean, you're not wrong. I still think Hughes has more potential, but the gap is a lot thinner than Button would make it out to be.

 

[AmericanDream]

He just seems to like the record broken by Hughes a bit too much.

Bob& his scouts have been recently saying how deadly close these 2 are, and Button on the other hand is not close.

That is not entirely accurate either - 10 out of 10 scouts STILL has Hughes ahead of Kakko - there are a few who said the gap has closed, but it was never stated how many out of the 10 scouts said it is close- as far as I could tell, 3 out of the 10 scouts said the lead is slim, not all 10. I am not in denial, I am sure the gap has closed, but who the hell knows with some of these scouts.

FYI, Button is typically pretty late or low on USA players, he rarely backs the US horses though of last past 2-3 years he has gotten better at ranking them.

Either way, Hughes and Kakko are the top 2 dogs, very few people that I talk with on here believe Pods is 3rd, too many factors weighing on him right now that makes team leery of the kid.

 

[azrok22]

That is not entirely accurate either - 10 out of 10 scouts STILL has Hughes ahead of Kakko - there are a few who said the gap has closed, but it was never stated how many out of the 10 scouts said it is close- as far as I could tell, 3 out of the 10 scouts said the lead is slim, not all 10. I am not in denial, I am sure the gap has closed, but who the hell knows with some of these scouts.

FYI, Button is typically pretty late or low on USA players, he rarely backs the US horses though of last past 2-3 years he has gotten better at ranking them.

Either way, Hughes and Kakko are the top 2 dogs, very few people that I talk with on here believe Pods is 3rd, too many factors weighing on him right now that makes team leery of the kid.

McKenzie's April 4th article (Headline: Hughes, Kakko in tight race for top spot) stated unequivocally that it was unanimous that Hughes vs. Kakko for #1 was "extremely close." He wrote:

"While Hughes at No. 1 was unanimous, so was the sentiment that a very wide gap to start the season has been closed considerably – to the point where it’s extremely close now.

That’s largely on the strength of Kakko’s strong play in the Finnish Elite League, but also a feeling amongst some scouts that perhaps Hughes hasn’t been as dominant as they thought he would be."

https://www.tsn.ca/hughes-kakko-in-tight-race-for-top-spot-1.1284470.

He only included quotes from a few of the scouts regarding the closeness, but made pretty clear that all of them had the two extremely close.

EDIT: 8 of the 10 scouts then had Podkolzin at #3, which was a significantly greater consensus than anyone after #3.

 

[AmericanDream]

McKenzie's April 4th article (Headline: Hughes, Kakko in tight race for top spot) stated unequivocally that it was unanimous that Hughes vs. Kakko for #1 was "extremely close." He wrote:

"While Hughes at No. 1 was unanimous, so was the sentiment that a very wide gap to start the season has been closed considerably – to the point where it’s extremely close now.

That’s largely on the strength of Kakko’s strong play in the Finnish Elite League, but also a feeling amongst some scouts that perhaps Hughes hasn’t been as dominant as they thought he would be."

https://www.tsn.ca/hughes-kakko-in-tight-race-for-top-spot-1.1284470.

He only included quotes from a few of the scouts regarding the closeness, but made pretty clear that all of them had the two extremely close.

EDIT: 8 of the 10 scouts then had Podkolzin at #3, which was a significantly greater consensus than anyone after #3.

again, you are not proving anything to debate what I said...I have read it myself, where does it state how many scouts feel that way?? they specifically name 3 scouts as saying this...I am sure the gap has closed, I said it myself, but 10 out of 10 scouts still have Hughes as #1...at least one of these guys would have Kakko if it was as truly as close as some claim...none of them do.

 

[FinlandPanther]

How is this anything but crying a river since you don't have any case to present whatsoever (as I'm sure if you had one it would've seen a day light a long time ago already)? That is unless you go on a record by saying Heponiemi did not steal minutes from his team mates. For a certain particular reason I'm quite certain you're not going to try that route right here. So what that that leaves you with? This doesn't differ from the real life all that much since the empty handed people really do try their best to make sure others don't get the hang of it and try to cover that poorness by any means at disposal, at least in most cultures. In your case, it looks like you're scrambling just to stay on the surface here.

To begin with the underlined. Seriously do you read like anything, anything at all, that's been said here? I'm not repeating myself so here:



"Knock knock, anyone there?"

Secondly it was Kakko who not only scored the golden goal and then later on defended that goal so that we'd reach the gold medal, not the other way around as you seem to be day-dreaming. Heponiemi played more than any other forward in the team and that's not even by a small margin as he abused the system. They finally put an end to his show at the finals and so the actual question we could ask here, would Finland have beaten USA in those finals had Hepo been doing whatever he pleased in the game that mattered the most? Luckily we'll never have to find out. Sorry to have to break it to you but he wasn't the guy who brought home the shiniest medal and I know this seems to eat you up inside. You'll just have to digest this and move on - rather sooner than later.

You’re acting like I’m against kakko or something because heponiemi is my prospect. I’d throw heponiemi in the garbage if I could replace him with kakko so I’m not understanding.

 

[glenwo2]

If Hughes was going to a traditional market this would be a run away. Because he's going to be a Devil people are ****ting on him. It really is that simple.

Nailed it.

the most "Devils fan" comment imaginable lol

But the most FACTUAL.

He’s trying to tank his value to avoid playing the trap in the swamps of Jersey. I hear he wants the bright lights, big city.

He's got that twinkle in his eye, Steve!

The Twinkle!!

Really disappointing performance by Hughes today. If his U18 tournament goes like this he wont even be a top-2 pick soon.

What did the stick of dynamite say to the building?


BOOM.



In 2017, Button was one of the very few who said the Devils would select Nico when almost everyone was on the Patrick train.

It's looking like it's Hughes all the freakin' way.

 

[BB88]

That is not entirely accurate either - 10 out of 10 scouts STILL has Hughes ahead of Kakko - there are a few who said the gap has closed, but it was never stated how many out of the 10 scouts said it is close- as far as I could tell, 3 out of the 10 scouts said the lead is slim, not all 10. I am not in denial, I am sure the gap has closed, but who the hell knows with some of these scouts.

FYI, Button is typically pretty late or low on USA players, he rarely backs the US horses though of last past 2-3 years he has gotten better at ranking them.

Either way, Hughes and Kakko are the top 2 dogs, very few people that I talk with on here believe Pods is 3rd, too many factors weighing on him right now that makes team leery of the kid.

It's very different to have someone ahead than one being superior, if someone runs 100M at 9.58 and the other 9.59 the one with 9.58 won the race but it wasn't AINEC.

Button right now is going against the majority pretty well here, and part of seems to be his hype for the record which was previously held by Keller. For sure Keller is a good player but he's not generational nor was he a franchise prospect at the time of the draft.

I'm set on Kakko going to Rangers but superior comments don't belong here, unless they are used when describing either their skating or physicality/puck protection.

 

[monkaS]

he also said this week that he thinks podkolzin is NHL ready next season...... button doesn't know much. i'll believe the people who know nhl scout opinions.

 

[azrok22]

again, you are not proving anything to debate what I said...I have read it myself, where does it state how many scouts feel that way?? they specifically name 3 scouts as saying this...I am sure the gap has closed, I said it myself, but 10 out of 10 scouts still have Hughes as #1...at least one of these guys would have Kakko if it was as truly as close as some claim...none of them do.

It literally says that it was a "unanimous" sentiment among the the scouts surveyed that Hughes and Kakko were "extremely close."

Unanimous

adjective

of one mind; in complete agreement; agreed.
characterized by or showing complete agreement:a unanimous vote
​

Since he spoke with 10 scouts, that means 10 scouts said it was "extremely close." He then quoted a few of those 10 with specific quotes about the closeness.

 

[Jetcetera]

Kakko does what he does again grown men, professional hockey players. Hes hands down better.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

He might have been ok if he stopped after "why not take the superior player". But once he added in Kakko is closer to Podkolzin he lost all credibility Literally nobody, not one single scout as said anything that even resembles that.

Button must be hurting for followers on his twitter.

 

[AmericanDream]

It's very different to have someone ahead than one being superior, if someone runs 100M at 9.58 and the other 9.59 the one with 9.58 won the race but it wasn't AINEC.

Button right now is going against the majority pretty well here, and part of seems to be his hype for the record which was previously held by Keller. For sure Keller is a good player but he's not generational nor was he a franchise prospect at the time of the draft.

I'm set on Kakko going to Rangers but superior comments don't belong here, unless they are used when describing either their skating or physicality/puck protection.

so you think Button is focusing on the record of Keller, and not the fact that Hughes has literally smoked every single one of these guys - Kane, Matthews, Eichel, Keller, Tkachuk X 2, Kessel, etc etc? It isn't just about Keller...

Now I agree, Button sometimes stands on a ledge by himself, he also over pimps International tournaments, but I do not think his view of a gap is based on a record that Hughes now holds. He is entitled to his opinion and you and I are entitled to debate it or agree. I personally think the gap is very close because these kids are great at different things/different styles...it is what makes it so much fun to project.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

He might have been ok if he stopped after "why not take the superior player". But once he added in Kakko is closer to Podkolzin he lost all credibility Literally nobody, not one single scout as said anything that even resembles that.

Button must be hurting for followers on his twitter.

Youd be wrong

Button called NJ taking Hischier and in fact knows a lot

Why make shit up?

 

[AmericanDream]

It literally says that it was a "unanimous" sentiment among the the scouts surveyed that Hughes and Kakko were "extremely close."

Unanimous

adjective

of one mind; in complete agreement; agreed.
characterized by or showing complete agreement:a unanimous vote
​

Since he spoke with 10 scouts, that means 10 scouts said it was "extremely close." He then quoted a few of those 10 with specific quotes about the closeness.

again, so yo want to believe that 10 out of 10 scouts think the difference is razor thin...but ALL STILL PICK HUGHES??? I am sorry, not buying whatever snake oil is trying to be sold here. I was always taught to read between the lines or read what isn't being said.. I am sure some think the gap has closed, I also think some think the gap is wider than others - this isn't a f***ing hive mind here lol...

 

[BB88]

so you think Button is focusing on the record of Keller, and not the fact that Hughes has literally smoked every single one of these guys - Kane, Matthews, Eichel, Keller, Tkachuk X 2, Kessel, etc etc? It isn't just about Keller...

Now I agree, Button sometimes stands on a ledge by himself, he also over pimps International tournaments, but I do not think his view of a gap is based on a record that Hughes now holds. He is entitled to his opinion and you and I are entitled to debate it or agree. I personally think the gap is very close because these kids are great at different things/different styles...it is what makes it so much fun to project.

Last time I checked his draft article for sure, and Matthews for example dominated mens league in Europe on his draft season.

Hughes and Kakko are completely different players, opposite players, and Hughes being C and known for years are ++'s for him over Kakko right now as well.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Youd be wrong

Button called NJ taking Hischier and in fact knows a lot

Why make **** up?

Make shit up? Please, post where scouts said Kakko is close to Podkolzin, i'll be waiting. It was just his terrible opinion that nobody shares.