RW Kaapo Kakko - TPS, Liiga (2019 Draft) Part 5

[FinPanda]

Let's continue talking about his incredible WHC tournament so far.

His Liiga season:


Hat trick against Slovakia at the WHC:

Isä ja ex-valmentajat kertovat: Tällainen on Leijonien nuoren supertähden Kaapo Kakon koko upea tarina - katso suloiset kuvat pikku-Kaaposta!

Some stuff about Kaapo from his parents and old coaches.

- He has always been better than others in his age group. He has been playing against older people from juniors

- When he was young, he build shooting area to his yard and was constantly shooting pucks in there.

- He has ring really close to him and you can find him there practically every night just playing around, skating and practising.

- He is very humble and plays for the team. He doesn't like that people praise him. He wants to win for team.

- There was moment last autumn, where TPS didn't have game at saturday night, so Kakko went to TPS A-juniors locker room and asked who wants to come play hockey around 9.00-10.00 p.m. while everyone else were ready to go have some Saturday night fun (probably drinking).

- He is much like Mikko Rantanen. You can say both to them: "Hey there is a game tomorrow, wanna come play?" And they both would go.

- He really really wants and likes to win. He is competitive as ****.

Previous threads:
1: RW Kaapo Kakko - TPS, Liiga (2019 Draft)
2: RW Kaapo Kakko - TPS, Liiga (2019 Draft) Part 2
3: RW Kaapo Kakko - TPS, Liiga (2019 Draft) Part 3
4: RW Kaapo Kakko - TPS, Liiga (2019 Draft) Part 4

Kaapo Kakko at eliteprospects.com

Click to read more...

 

[ijuka]

A pretty good player, with 5 goals in 2 games. All-time record for the age group is 7 goals in 10 games. So 3 more goals and he breaks Patrik Laine's record.

 

[AvsCOL]

I'll forever be upset with the draft lottery.

 

[6ix]

Does he go#1?

 

[Saekk]

Showing some strenght and balance on that emptynetter, Slovak just got swatted away.

 

[Polar Bear]

I'll forever be upset with the draft lottery.

Sorry, but take solace in already having your young, franchise cornerstone in MacKinnon. We haven't picked top 2 since we drafted Brad Park...

 

[Levitate]

Does he go#1?

Still think it'd take a really horrible showing by Hughes here and some other stuff to change it, plus we're only 2 games in (1 for Hughes). If Kakko doesn't put up any more points and Hughes goes on a tear, what will we be saying then?

Hughes is also a center which helps NJ immensely

Maybe they do pick Kakko, I can't see the future, but there's a long ways to go between now and then and there's a lot more scouting that has been done other than just 1 tournament. I tend to think the sports media loves this kind of thing though...they love to hype up the "who will actually go first overall???" kind of thing

 

[AvsCOL]

Sorry, but take solace in already having your young, franchise cornerstone in MacKinnon. We haven't picked top 2 since we drafted Brad Park...

Lol I'm not upset with the Rangers, I'm upset that the Avs have had the #1 slot twice in three years, and dropped to #4 both times.

Thanks Edmonton.

 

[Snowpants]

FUnniest thing will be if the Devils do go Kakko first watching their fans here turn around and run down Hughes after what will have been two plus months of the opposite...

 

[FireGerardGallant]

I'll forever be upset with the draft lottery.

I am forever grateful for the lottery

 

[Kevs Security]

That Hall - Hischier - Kakko line is going to be really good.

 

[Edmonton East]

He's so damn good.

Apologies for the overwhelming majority of Devs' fans constantly posting useless nonsense in these threads. To give you all an idea of how bad it is, all I did was post a Kakko prospect thread on our board post draft lotto (since we had 2 Hughes ones) and it actually got LOCKED. Pretty sad.

Edit: Here's the link to my thread. I just got attacked and continuously misquoted for simply saying I thought Kakko and Hughes were CLOSE.

Prospect Info: - Kaapo Kakko

 

[Rangers79]

He's so damn good.

Apologies for the overwhelming majority of Devs' fans constantly posting useless nonsense in these threads. To give you all an idea of how bad it is, all I did was post a Kakko prospect thread on our board post draft lotto (since we had 2 Hughes ones) and it actually got LOCKED. Pretty sad.

No idea why Devils fans seem upset about drafting Kakko over Hughes. Either one will be great for the team then the other lands in the rangers lap. Is it just the possibility of giving the rangers Hughes?

 

[FinPanda]

I just wish he will be a Ranger. This is not nice that he may make the Devils think twice.

 

[Ranksu]

Thank God Avs didn't win lottery. So happy

 

[Rangers79]

I just wish he will be a Ranger. This is not nice that he may make the Devils think twice.

At the same time, scouts have been going after these two for so long I'm not sure one tournament will change minds no matter how good one does.

 

[FinPanda]

At the same time, scouts have been going after these two for so long I'm not sure one tournament will change minds no matter how good one does.

I hope so. I still can't believe what Kakko did again.

 

[Rangers79]

I hope so. I still can't believe what Kakko did again.

It's great stuff. Hope to see him doing it for the Rangers soon

 

[FinnishSniper]

At the same time, scouts have been going after these two for so long I'm not sure one tournament will change minds no matter how good one does.

But Kakko has definitely been on par with Jack every time they’ve faced (and won two golds against him) and also this tournament is the first time both play against the same competition against men

 

[Ippenator]

At the same time, scouts have been going after these two for so long I'm not sure one tournament will change minds no matter how good one does.

They have to still realize that with young players you have to give a good emphasis on how they have developed during the last year or two. If they don’t do that they are in danger of making a huge mistake with their evaluations.

If the recent performances have been really good and on a steady enough basis, a scout is an idiot to not take into account recency quite strongly.

 

[FinPanda]

Absolutely amazing games these first two, but lets not say anything about him understanding the questions in the post game interview. He didn't say a word about his confidence even though question was how confident he is right now, but he said generic it's nice to score goals phrase. When he was asked about game vs Hughes on Monday he clearly misunderstood that the question was about draft after hearing his name saying that he needs to focus on what is going on now, even though the USA game is going to be next.

Don't take me wrong, it doesn't make any difference what his English is like when he playes like Jagr or Forsberg and I'm huge fan of his, but lets not say that his English is good when we have 0 indication that it would be the case. He can learn generic phrases and tbh that will be good enough for him in all the interviews he will ever do as a hockey player. I have not seen an interesting interview from a hockey player or any other sportsman aside of Zlatan ever, so I watch good conversations through different channels than sport conversations. Sorry for the bad English btw.

I don't care much what he does in the interviews as in the end that doesn't matter that much. It's more important to hear what he is on the locker room and how he understands what the coach is saying to him etc.

He goes to NA during the summer, he'll learn.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Lol I'm not upset with the Rangers, I'm upset that the Avs have had the #1 slot twice in three years, and dropped to #4 both times.

Thanks Edmonton.

Its NJ’s fault both times - Im sorry :/

 

[Novice]

I got this from reddit by user Sumdood88 but i felt its too accurate for Rangers fans not to share.

Kakko has really completely smashed the already very high expectations. Looking forward to the rest of the tournament!

 

[chauron]

Why was the previous was closed, didnt even reach 100 pages or so?

Anyhow, that a phenomenal star this guy will be. Stupid bias for north americans, if he was from canada we would be talking of a new Stamkos.

 

[Levitate]

But Kakko has definitely been on par with Jack every time they’ve faced (and won two golds against him) and also this tournament is the first time both play against the same competition against men

I think people feel Hughes has more to gain by maturing and growing than Kakko does. It's been kind of common knowledge that Kakko may be more NHL ready...he's bigger, he's been playing against men, etc. Hughes has still been considered 1st overall even so because people project that he wil have the bigger impact as he develops. He literally has all of the tools except great size which isn't a big barrier in the NHL any more, and even though he's 5'10 170 lbs. Entirely possible he could grow a bit more, and almost certain he will put on some more muscle.

In the end Hughes is viewed as the more complete package. He's a center and literally the only thing he lacks is a few inches in height