RW Kaapo Kakko - TPS, Liiga (2019 Draft) Part 2

[StiffSquid]

Ok. To me it seems that many of these are just plain bad picks. Paajarvi, Yakubov etc.


Team might have failed many times but career graveyard certainly not.

Team management have failed in drafting, expecially latter pics that are important as hell when you build after that top unit.

And sadly Chia has failed miserably.
Again, seems that they saw Puljujärvi and Lucic as sure bets... funny as many people said other.

But. No career graveyard is kinda harsh as many people have left Oilers and continued playing good hockey.
Not like their careers ended.

Yeah it was kind of harsh. I'm just extremely disappointed in how Puljujärvi is turning out , hopefully things get better for him and the team.I think Kakko is very "bust-proof" though , and the idea of him playing with McDavid is exciting.

Kakko seems to be a great two way prospect , who is strong along the boards and who has a strong hockey iq , so I think you can slot him anywhere in the lineup , and he can be successful. This doesn't seem to be the case with Puljujärvi , and it's extremely frustrating. Puljujärvi can be such an amazing player when he's on. Way better than Pääjärvi or Yakupov , so I don't know what his problem is

 

[CLW]

Confidence and not being accepted.

Puljujärvi strikes me as a typical NHL player in that he is not the sharpest tool in the box. He needs to have fun on the ice, play his game at a very high tempo and create chaos and mayhem in the offensive zone so pucks can bounce around and end up in the net. Try to make him play a restricted north south game and make him a peg in a system and you'll strangle his game, which is what is happening I suspect.

Also if he is not accepted in the dressing room because he comes off as goofy due to his poor English then that does not help.

 

[FinPanda]

Just scored a beauty top shelf goal.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Oops, i did it again

Kakko's game starting to heat up just in time for the World Juniors.

 

[FinPanda]

It was a very nice goal.

 

[93LEAFS]

Confidence and not being accepted.

Puljujärvi strikes me as a typical NHL player in that he is not the sharpest tool in the box. He needs to have fun on the ice, play his game at a very high tempo and create chaos and mayhem in the offensive zone so pucks can bounce around and end up in the net. Try to make him play a restricted north south game and make him a peg in a system and you'll strangle his game, which is what is happening I suspect.

Also if he is not accepted in the dressing room because he comes off as goofy due to his poor English then that does not help.

Everything I've heard from ex-NHLers is that they love the quirky foreign guys. They find them absolutely hilarious.

 

[LoveHateLeafs]

It was a very nice goal.

Goals like that are where Kakko is at his best in my opinion because it plays to his strengths.

1) Move the puck into the other teams zone and get a shot of from a fairly dangerous part of the ice.
2) Skate around with the puck in the attacking zone by all means, but do it with a purpose(i.e. to get himself in a good position to score, to give the puck to someone in a better position or to make a hole in their coverage).
3) When he doesn't have the puck he gets himself to a dangerous part of the ice where the puck carrier can also get him the puck.
4) Get a shot off quickly, before the defence can react.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Kakko Koal, Kakko scores another goal, 3 game goal streak, keep 'em coming.

 

[ookhaab]

I love how Filppula always looks like a proud father everytime Kakko scores a goal.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Kakko x 2

 

[FinPanda]

That 2nd goal was incredibly smart play. 7+9 now, quickly catching up his assists total.

 

[FinPanda]

Added one assist too, so 7+10 in 22 games. Impressive. Already passed the guys like Rasmus Kupari, Kasperi Kapanen and one point away from Teräväinen with 18 less games played in U18 scoring.

 

[kelsier]

Can't frigging stand these commentators. In about every single TPS home game whenever they're talking about Filppula he's being referred as "virtuoso", "magician" or whatever, and they're talking about a guy who literally would probably miss an empty netter in front of him. For a first line center his shot is horribly bad, like it's not even funny. No idea how much more points Kakko would have this season even this guy didn't blow every single chance he's had. Even in today's game he got a punch of really good scoring chances and blew them away one after another. It wouldn't even annoy me so much if the commentators wouldn't praise him one way or the other all the fk*in time.

As for Kakko, apart from the goals it wasn't even particularly impressive game. He was as good as he usually is, meaning being a lot of better than other players on ice. I'm just glad he's finally realised he needs to focus on the goal scoring aspect itself, especially while playing with Filppula - as opposed to trying to set someone up all the time. At least this way guys like the formerly mentioned won't be in away of him getting on the stat sheet.

 

[FinPanda]

Found this great tweet:

 

[BlueGreen]

Kakko needs to be a Canuck

 

[stampedingviking]

Kakko needs to be a Canuck

Yes please

 

[BB88]

Pettersson- Kakko- Boeser- Horvat doesn't look bad on paper atleast.

 

[Hansen]

Pettersson- Kakko- Boeser- Horvat doesn't look bad on paper atleast.

Add Hughes and you have a great 1PP

I dont think the Canucks would ever win the draft lottery but if there were ever a year to throw the team a bone its this year with the draft in Vancouver

 

[LOFIN]

Can't frigging stand these commentators. In about every single TPS home game whenever they're talking about Filppula he's being referred as "virtuoso", "magician" or whatever

Filppula is none of those things. He isn't even a hockey player, he's a living and moving piece of art. Sure, he has some bad qualities but belive me, he makes up for them in other ways.

 

[Hokinaittii]

Just got to watch yesterday's game. It was probably Kakko's best overall game, 2+1 and 11 shots (not all on goal). He even could have had couple more points in that game.

Also it seemed like Kakko was back on the 1st PP in playmaker role. Hopefully he will also stay on that spot in future games.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

I truly hope that this will be a line for the WJC -> Heponiemi-Kupari-Kakko
- all three can make the play, shoot the puck and Kakko top of everything...
Kaapo can push players off of him with his pro level puck possession skills
+ create space for both Kupari and Hepo.

That line would have so much of everything.
- Kaapo Kakko would so shine playing with likes of Hepo&Koopa

No reason to use Kakko as a center anymore,
because, Kupari, Lundell, Talvitie and Virtanen will create a strong center 4-some.

 

[LoveHateLeafs]

I truly hope that this will be a line for the WJC -> Heponiemi-Kupari-Kakko
- all three can make the play, shoot the puck and Kakko top of everything...
Kaapo can push players off of him with his pro level puck possession skills
+ create space for both Kupari and Hepo.

That line would have so much of everything.
- Kaapo Kakko would so shine playing with likes of Hepo&Koopa

No reason to use Kakko as a center anymore,
because, Kupari, Lundell, Talvitie and Virtanen will create a strong center 4-some.

Exactly. Finland has decent centre depth with the emergence of Lundell. Kakko has no experience playing centre at a high level. He's probably going to be nervous enough about going into the WJC's during his draft year with the expectation that he'll be one of his team's top producers. That's a lot for a kid yet to turn 18, especially when he has little or no experience playing on North American ice. Rather than trying to force a square peg into a round hole, his coaches should let him succeed by doing what he does best.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

I love how Filppula always looks like a proud father everytime Kakko scores a goal.

Reminds me of Ville Nieminen with Barkov

 

[kelsier]

Filppula is none of those things. He isn't even a hockey player, he's a living and moving piece of art. Sure, he has some bad qualities but belive me, he makes up for them in other ways.

I wasn't judging him as a character or saying he's a bad player. I did make a statement involving his finishing ability being below the par for someone of his stature however. Meanwhile the entire post was mostly aimed at the laughable consistent takes from the commentators. Filppula isn't a bad player and he does some things really well, but he does waste tons of grade A scoring opportunities at the same time which can be extremely frustrating to watch. With that said, he's heck of a lot better center/line mate some other young talented players ever had playing their respective D seasons (Laine for instance).

Exactly. Finland has decent centre depth with the emergence of Lundell. Kakko has no experience playing centre at a high level. He's probably going to be nervous enough about going into the WJC's during his draft year with the expectation that he'll be one of his team's top producers. That's a lot for a kid yet to turn 18, especially when he has little or no experience playing on North American ice. Rather than trying to force a square peg into a round hole, his coaches should let him succeed by doing what he does best.

While I agree on Lundell carrying the torch for the next best center coming out of the country should Kakko choose another route, at the same time I disagree on the sentiment of him preferably not being used as a center if that is something he himself desires. Of course at the moment his main strengths at FEL level are in the offensive zone and his team is trying to make most out of his abilities to create offence by playing him on the wing. Kakko not having any experience of playing in the center at higher level isn't even true. He's played in the middle at the CHL this year for instance and I believe he's played center earlier in the jr level as well. Meanwhile he has all the attributes one is looking for from an elite center and if it's his own wish of one day becoming one of the leading C's in the NHL, I think they should honor his wishes and continue letting him build on that at the WJC. He should have enough support cast to pull it off too while not being the sole forward in the line that'd do the heavy lifting in the D-zone. Let alone considering the fact that he can at times bulldoze grown up men, it shouldn't be too hard against players of his age (or couple of years older). The country can never have enough players in that position, who can quite easily be converted on the wing if there happens to be a logjam in the middle looking forward to future Olympics & World Cups. Nevermind about forgetting the fact that it might not take more than 1 or 2 injuries to really screw things over. After all right now the only two sure things we have are Barkov and Aho.

In any case Kakko could really turn the deck upside down at the WJC with a superior performance. For some reason the scouts still don't seem to fully comprehend or recognize the challenges that 17 (or 18) year old rookies face day to day while playing their first full seasons at the pro level in the league (which should carry more weight than any junior tournament). With that said, he really has the chance to tear up the tournament especially if we get either Vesalainen or Tolvanen, if not both on the board. One more month and we're there!

 

[Huokaus]

Seems Kakko has bulked up a bit. In the materials distributed in a press conference today (Leijonalounas), he was marked as being 187 cm (6'1 ½) and 86 kg (~190 lbs). In Eliteprospects and Liiga website he's still listed as being 82 kg (~181 lbs). (At least I'm assuming that the information in the player lists given today is more up to date).