Player Discussion Kaapo Kakko: Part V

[rangersfansince08]

Could say the same about a player like Dach, Chicago is ruining him.

But sadly you don't always get drafted in the organisation that allows you to succeed the most.

It's a miracle Kakko is still showing huge potential the way he's been juggled around and had his confidence killed 100 times. He will be fine, but Lafreniere may be ruined already, he's not supposed to be on a 3rd or 4th line. Should've sent him in the AHL to play 1st line minutes instead of asking him to hit and forget about his offense.

Agreed. I thought he would have been a 40 pt (without PP1 time) or 60 pt (with PP1) player by now. He looked good at the end of the season.

 

[SA16]

That's based on the assumption that Lundell and Zegras would play and develop the same way in this organisation.

The Ducks have not drafted/developed a top line forward prior to Zegras since Rakell. They have some other nice players but nobody top of the line. Why are they suddenly so good at developing players because one guy happens to look great? Terry may turn out to be another one.

Sometimes players work out. Sometimes they don't. But either way fans/media have to assign some sort of logic to it instead of just accepting randomness. Some teams are better at developing than others but there is no way you can actually know which is which based on the extremely small sample, large variance, and coaching staff/management often changing anyway.

 

[huerter]

When it comes to grooming young men, Kreiderman is definitely an expert.

 

[Clark Kellogg]

Laf worries me too. And if we hadn't won those lotteries we would have had Lundell and Zegras and been set at center for the next 10-15 years. Now we are stuck with Zibby and Strome for the foreseeable future. Could have traded Zibby for futures too and probably keep Buch as well.

Kreider-Zegras-Buch
Panarin-Lundell-Chytil/Strome/Kravstov

Oh well.

If we ever adopt a team motto it should definitely be “Oh Well”.

 

[n8]

Agreed. I thought he would have been a 40 pt (without PP1 time) or 60 pt (with PP1) player by now. He looked good at the end of the season.

How much of that was Chicago vs his terrible injury at the World Juniors? that was a really gnarly wrist injury.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

 

[Chaels Arms]

Enjoy it while it lasts because he'll soon be back to getting 15 second PP2 scraps.

 

[TominNC]

So I guess the Rangers never have played young guys on the PP

 

[SnowblindNYR]

That's such a random ass stat.

 

[MysticLeviathan]

what’s frustrating about him is he’s noticeable when he’s out there. he makes good plays. then he just doesn’t know what to do next. you see dominant possession, great board work, great footwork, and he’s shown some really high level vision and a fine touch. yet other times he just doesn’t know what to do and he just gives it up. it’s not like he looks useless out there, but he’s not quite there yet. and it doesn’t help when mika’s playing like total ass. I’d love for kakko to make an irrelevant pass to mika that mika just creates a play out of and scores on just to get kakko some points.

you see the talent and ability he has, but its like he’s hitting a road block and it’s so frustrating.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Kid gets put on that 1st PP unit because of Breads injury and they score 2 PP goals back to back, with him getting the second. Really wish they would take Strome off that unit for a few games and put Kakko in that spot. Adding Kakko to create more havoc around the net with Kreider would make it even more dangerous than it is. And Kakko is great at controlling the puck, esp when he has room.

 

[Rongomania]

what’s frustrating about him is he’s noticeable when he’s out there. he makes good plays. then he just doesn’t know what to do next. you see dominant possession, great board work, great footwork, and he’s shown some really high level vision and a fine touch. yet other times he just doesn’t know what to do and he just gives it up. it’s not like he looks useless out there, but he’s not quite there yet. and it doesn’t help when mika’s playing like total ass. I’d love for kakko to make an irrelevant pass to mika that mika just creates a play out of and scores on just to get kakko some points.

you see the talent and ability he has, but its like he’s hitting a road block and it’s so frustrating.

it's called being 20. kids gonna be a beast for us for a very long time.

 

[Trueblue30]

It’s really like watching a baby Marian hossa , it will come

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

That's such a random ass stat.

No, random would be: Kaapo Kakko is the youngest Ranger to score goals on all 7 days of the week, after getting his first goals on a Wednesday.

 

[ohbaby]

It’s really like watching a baby Marian hossa , it will come

Never happen. The difference being Hossa was one of the fastest skaters there was. This is Kakko's drawback. I like him, and think he will be productive. But he will never be known as a speedster. And lacking that speed, he will likely never net 500 goals. Hossa had that uncanny ability to separate himself from defenders.

 

[LionsHeart]

We forget that our young forwards don’t get a lot of PP time like others around the league. Kakko got the opportunity and took advantage of it in a big way.

 

[haveandare]

Am I crazy or was he way more animated after scoring last night? Big smiles, practically jumped onto Kreider. It was noticeable to me

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Something clicked on the play when he powered down the right side and took it around the net and back up to the point in the offensive zone. The whole sequence turned into a nothing perimeter play, but it was like it reminded Kakko “I’m actually pretty capable of making good plays”.

He went from having a pretty ugly first half of the game to a dominant second half.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

Who knows - maybe Gallant will keep him there. He's been known to foster the younger players. I dont expect it, but I wouldnt be shocked. I think we will definitely see him on PP1 as long as Panarin is out.

Either way, great to see him get two goals in a big spot where they needed him. He saw it and he elevated his game. I dont care how he scored the goals, he scored them. He also couldve had a couple of assists in this one.

He went to the net! That was missing from his game recently. It had to be touched upon with the coaching staff reviewing his tape, especially after he had only 12 minutes the other night.

Again, these are building blocks in a young players career.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

No, random would be: Kaapo Kakko is the youngest Ranger to score goals on all 7 days of the week, after getting his first goals on a Wednesday.

Yeah, but did he do that!?

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Yeah, but did he do that!?

I'd have to dive into the careers of 33 players to get that answer and I have better things to do today

 

[rangersfansince08]

This is Kakko's chance to became an HFboards hero by playing well on PP1 and getting Strome of it and maybe even off the roster. I hope he realizes how much of a hero he would be on here.

 

[mas0764]

what’s frustrating about him is he’s noticeable when he’s out there. he makes good plays. then he just doesn’t know what to do next. you see dominant possession, great board work, great footwork, and he’s shown some really high level vision and a fine touch. yet other times he just doesn’t know what to do and he just gives it up. it’s not like he looks useless out there, but he’s not quite there yet. and it doesn’t help when mika’s playing like total ass. I’d love for kakko to make an irrelevant pass to mika that mika just creates a play out of and scores on just to get kakko some points.

you see the talent and ability he has, but its like he’s hitting a road block and it’s so frustrating.

For both he and Lafreniere too many possessions end in turnovers or bad conversion attempts.

Combined with the fact that neither of them are explosive, physically/skating-wise, and that neither get power play time, that explains the low production numbers I think.

The question is what to do about it. Thinking the game better? Or does he need to be faster to make up for the uncertainty?

 

[mas0764]

This is Kakko's chance to became an HFboards hero by playing well on PP1 and getting Strome of it and maybe even off the roster. I hope he realizes how much of a hero he would be on here.

Lafreniere exploding into a star would be great and all but Kakko will always be our first love.

Kakko as an 80 point defensively responsible winger would be more popular than Panarin at 110 points.

 

[rangersfansince08]

For both he and Lafreniere too many possessions end in turnovers or bad conversion attempts.

Combined with the fact that neither of them are explosive, physically/skating-wise, and that neither get power play time, that explains the low production numbers I think.

The question is what to do about it. Thinking the game better? Or does he need to be faster to make up for the uncertainty?

Both. But the latter they can only improve so much. Laf was drafted 1st for his vision and Kakko for being a puck hound. Neither was expected to be fast.