Player Discussion Kaapo Kakko

[romba]

I'm not so sure i'd say buch has had a "great" start. He's been pretty average.

I think some had a very low bar for him. I agree with you though, he's been pretty average considering who his linemates have been. Still gets pushed off the puck too easily.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

he had some really slick moves last night, and his puck control was nice. Not really getting any chances to shoot or space to work with, thats just his line not having possession. But i think he's growing in confidence , that between the legs deke was so smoothe. I don't even mind keeping him on the 2nd (for now) but at least put him on PP1.

 

[FireGerardGallant]

I'm not so sure i'd say buch has had a "great" start. He's been pretty average.

3 in 4 is a pretty good start, tho a lot of that comes from being on the 1st line

 

[aufheben]

I'll stick by my statement from couple of months back, which was: He's the best player on this team already.

Panarin had a real dog **** day against the Debs; Mika is cleary ahead. But by the end of this year Kakko is our best player.

I don't agree with that. I think it's obvious so far that spending the entire summer salivating has birthed unrealistic expectations. For an 18-year-old, he looks incredible, but for a top-6 forward there's a lot of left to figure out. He doesn't have the puck often, and there's a huge adjustment still left in terms of pace, puck control, taking on defenders, and winning corner battles. I think any predictions for his timeline of figuring these things out are only a guess at this point. Obviously he has been playing with below-average centers and the empty husk of Chris Kreider which hasn't helped. Panarin is probably a top-5 player at his position; Kakko becoming better than that at ANY point in his career is a huge expectation.

 

[007]

I don't agree with that. I think it's obvious so far that spending the entire summer salivating has birthed unrealistic expectations. For an 18-year-old, he looks incredible, but for a top-6 forward there's a lot of left to figure out. He doesn't have the puck often, and there's a huge adjustment still left in terms of pace, puck control, taking on defenders, and winning corner battles. I think any predictions for his timeline of figuring these things out are only a guess at this point. Obviously he has been playing with below-average centers and the empty husk of Chris Kreider which hasn't helped. Panarin is probably a top-5 player at his position; Kakko becoming better than that at ANY point in his career is a huge expectation.

I'm not expecting much from him at this point, but I'm hoping for a really great second half of the season.

 

[aufheben]

I'm not expecting much from him at this point, but I'm hoping for a really great second half of the season.

Hopefully. I think things generally start to settle in the NHL around 20 games.

 

[Hockeyplayer99]

Kakko needs to be sent down to the AHL for a 2 week stint to try to build up some confidence. He has looked basically useless in every game this year including pre-season. At least Hughes was making some good plays for the Devils, might not have the results but he looked engage every time he was on the ice, nice passes and shots

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

Kakko needs to be sent down to the AHL for a 2 week stint to try to build up some confidence. He has looked basically useless in every game this year including pre-season. At least Hughes was making some good plays for the Devils, might not have the results but he looked engage every time he was on the ice, nice passes and shots

lol

 

[CasusBelli]

Kakko needs to be sent down to the AHL for a 2 week stint to try to build up some confidence. He has looked basically useless in every game this year including pre-season. At least Hughes was making some good plays for the Devils, might not have the results but he looked engage every time he was on the ice, nice passes and shots

Kakko, unlike Hughes, has yet to adjust to the pace of the NHL. Jack can skate with the best of them; KK can barely keep up with line mates — and seems prone to fatigue. He needs to work on skating and conditioning above all else.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

how long before "Why don't the Rangers send down Kakko to save ELC year" revenge thread on the main boards?

 

[Inferno]

Kakko needs to be sent down to the AHL for a 2 week stint to try to build up some confidence. He has looked basically useless in every game this year including pre-season. At least Hughes was making some good plays for the Devils, might not have the results but he looked engage every time he was on the ice, nice passes and shots

I honestly have no idea what you're watching out there.

 

[JimmyG89]

Was Kakko good tonight? Not really. Was he bad? No way.

He looks like a 3rd liner right now, playing on the 2nd line, while playing with predominantly bottom 6 players. He can't be the best player on a 2nd line right now and that is perfectly fine for an 18 year old #2 pick.

Get him into some good spots with offensive players. Right now, he's adjusting to the league. Revolving linemates does not help.

 

[Seele]

Kaapo's game reminds me of when the Finnish national team was preparing for World Championships. He was hanging in there but it seemed that things didn't come naturally. That he had to think about what he should do next, instead of just doing it instinctively.

Wouldn't be surprised to see it take 10 - 15 games to get to a point where he doesn't need to think that much on ice when playing. That's when he can better utilize his strengths, besides the good moves he is already able to do here and there.

That all being said, I wouldn't either mind Kaapo being sent to AHL for the whole season with Kravtsov and Chytil. It seems this season will be a tough one for Rangers and it makes you wonder which is better in the end from the development point of view for Kaapo (and Chytil & Kravtsov for that matter) - Mikko Rantanen type of route would not be a bad one. They would be able to play as much pp & 5-on-5 time there as they want.

 

[SnowFort]

"He needs to understand that the game that got him here isn't the game he's gotta play here."

If this isn’t a horrifying thing to hear from the coach that is currently coaching your uberskilled 2nd overall draft pick, I don’t know what is. He was 2nd overall for a reason, don’t you dare suppress what got him there.

 

[usekakkorightquinn]

What he needs is his stupid coach to remember this is a rebuild. Not a scrub playing farm. He needs his stupid coach to realize that Kakko, not Buchnevich is a cornerstone piece of this teams future and to do everything they can to develop him. That means playing him on the 1st line and 1st PP unit all year as long as the effort is there. That means putting the 7th pick in the draft who is a big part of this teams future in Andersson, who outplays Strome and Howden every game with limited minutes, on the second line with a Kreider and Buchnevich. That means sending Staal down to the minors if they can't trade him and playing Lindgren who is exactly the type of tough, stay at home defenseman we badly need on the left side. That means not playing Haley and McKegg. Try playing a Lettieri who I thought finally had the game slow down for him at the NHL level the last few games. Our coach came back this season and forgot to do his job which was to develop young players.

 

[BL92]

Why do Finnish players keep getting f***ed by inept coaches? Infuriating.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

Why do Finnish players keep getting ****ed by inept coaches? Infuriating.

Get over it

 

[BL92]

Get over it

Meh, I've grown to accept it by now.

 

[BB88]

It's pretty sad to watch one of the kids play with superstars and the other play with bottom6 guys.

The main board threads will be brutal.

 

[Anzi]

I think a lot of us would like to see Kakko play the game he's been playing that got him picked #2 and figure out for himself what works and what doesn't work in the NHL. Instead we seem to be forcing him to play the way we want to play without any regard to using his strengths. We seem to insist that we're a playoff team and that if you're not defensively responsible, you're not going to play. I think part of the reason Kravtsov got sent down to the AHL and got scratched that one game is because he was still trying to make fancy plays with his skill rather than just dumping it in like the coaching staff has asked. Kakko has been more compliant and has noted as such in interviews that its been a huge point of emphasis with the coaching staff.

 

[Kaapo di tutti capi]

What he needs is his stupid coach to remember this is a rebuild. Not a scrub playing farm. He needs his stupid coach to realize that Kakko, not Buchnevich is a cornerstone piece of this teams future and to do everything they can to develop him. That means playing him on the 1st line and 1st PP unit all year as long as the effort is there. That means putting the 7th pick in the draft who is a big part of this teams future in Andersson, who outplays Strome and Howden every game with limited minutes, on the second line with a Kreider and Buchnevich. That means sending Staal down to the minors if they can't trade him and playing Lindgren who is exactly the type of tough, stay at home defenseman we badly need on the left side. That means not playing Haley and McKegg. Try playing a Lettieri who I thought finally had the game slow down for him at the NHL level the last few games. Our coach came back this season and forgot to do his job which was to develop young players.

Staal has a NMC - it's either play him, pay him to sit in the press box, or buy him out.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

"He needs to understand that the game that got him here isn't the game he's gotta play here."

If this isn’t a horrifying thing to hear from the coach that is currently coaching your uberskilled 2nd overall draft pick, I don’t know what is. He was 2nd overall for a reason, don’t you dare suppress what got him there.

They want him to forecheck, dump the puck etc. The NHL has moved on to a more hybrid type of hockey. Why do some coaches refuse to adapt?

It's time for some fresh blood in the NHL when it comes to coaching. For a league that pretends to be inclusive, they sure fail at that in the coaching department. When was the last time the NHL had a European coach? I cannot even remember.

 

[YoSoyLalo]

They want him to forecheck, dump the puck etc. The NHL has moved on to a more hybrid type of hockey. Why do some coaches refuse to adapt?

It's time for some fresh blood in the NHL when it comes to coaching. For a league that pretends to be inclusive, they sure fail at that in the coaching department. When was the last time the NHL had a European coach? I cannot even remember.

Does Ralph Krueger count

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

They want him to forecheck, dump the puck etc. The NHL has moved on to a more hybrid type of hockey. Why do some coaches refuse to adapt?

It's time for some fresh blood in the NHL when it comes to coaching. For a league that pretends to be inclusive, they sure fail at that in the coaching department. When was the last time the NHL had a European coach? I cannot even remember.

They refuse to adapt because the playoffs are a huge trap fest and the way to get past that is dumping and chasing and forechecking

 

[GAGLine]

"He needs to understand that the game that got him here isn't the game he's gotta play here."

If this isn’t a horrifying thing to hear from the coach that is currently coaching your uberskilled 2nd overall draft pick, I don’t know what is. He was 2nd overall for a reason, don’t you dare suppress what got him there.

The bolded is true of every rookie, ever. You're reading too much into it. Quinn isn't trying to suppress his skill. He's trying to get Kakko to understand that some of the things that worked in Liiga won't work in the NHL, at least not right now, and he has to adapt. He isn't going to out-muscle most NHL players at 18 years old. He isn't going to be able to bull his way through 3 players at a time and maintain puck possession.