Seattle just acquired a former 2nd overall pick for basically nothing and it might have been the best acquisition in franchise history.
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I don’t know who actually reads this deep into the description but I appreciate you more than most for actually doing that. You’re just hella academic and one could say you’re a bit of a book worm.
#nhl #hockey #kakko
25 Comments
I’d love to see a video on Slafkovsky see what you think about his playstyle and archetype
His style is more suited to a bigger body. To make it work, needs more speed.
Is Erik Haula really a "relative slower skater"? I admit that I really don't watch that much hockey anymore but I remember him being mostly this fast skater with two-way abilities, something like Hagman or Korpikoski back in their days. Or do you mean that his hockey IQ and decision making don't match his feet?
Other than calling Haula slow, good video.
I just discovered your channel. Probably one of the best in the whole Hockeydom. Well done!
Ea should make rosters by these videos
Do a podcast! Id listen !!
Never watched hockey before this is pretty interesting though 👍
Great video, good work
To be fair, he got screwed in the 4 nations tournament. Got benched in round 1, had a minor role in round 2 were he was still impactful, just inches away from an important goal (it was deflected directly after he deflected it). Round 3 was against Canada and he only had 11:27 of playing time, but was never on the ice for Canada's 5 goals. For what opportunities he had in the 4 nations, he didn't do bad at all…
Good stuff! I was just thinking about covering his post-trade performance. As a truly terrible skater, it's no coincidence that he looks better with high-motor linemates (Beniers and Schwartz). Can't remember if I mentioned this in my write-up, but Nino with more playmaking does feel like an accurate comp. Big-body, puck-protecting and hopefully all-situations winger.
would love to see you do a video on Mackie Samoskevich, hes the 2nd line winger for florida right now and hes been a joy to watch develop, hes fast and tenacious while also being a great play maker, itll be interesting to see how his career goes as hes already broken into that 2nd line on a cup contending team
40 points is his best season…. In 7 years… I guess he's no Yakapov but that's not what you'd want from the 2nd overall pick so ya kind of a bust
Lmao at the fact that people actually think you know what you’re talking about . Hey guys there is 6 years of evidence that back up he can’t process information fast enough at the highest level to be elite , but yea let’s look at his 10 games on a new team where their is zero pressure because their is zero fan base and a non existent level of media coverage . You guys have no idea the difference in cortisol you have flowing in your brain playing in one situation compared to another …kakko has not showed me anything resembling the ability to be an elite player , he’s got extremely good hands but his head is constantly down so it’s a double edged sword , he needs to be puck dominant to be an effective player he needs to have the puck on his stick to create but he can’t make decisions fast enough to be the level of playmaker he was pegged to be , I’m not impressed with his get off. For not being a big guy he lumbers a lot , and his release is not even division one college level it’s slow , there’s no snap on his shot , unless he can release it from a stationary position which is less then 10% of the time because he’s never going to be primary one or primary 2 on the power play and have plays schemed open for him to step into something that he can uncork on his strong side . Dont care about your response I’ve played a higher level of hockey then all of you and am telling you guys how it is not playing pretend and making videos to trick casual fans into thinking you’ve ever even sniffed a d1 college locker room and have even the smallest inkling of what constitutes “big brain “ hockey .. getting so sick of dudes playing pretend expert on YouTube , notice how every comment starts with “I’ve never really followed hockey “ kid you’re conning people who don’t know better that’s a scumbag move it really is ..and every comment I’ve seen from someone who has a clue starts with “couldn’t be more wrong “ ..if you think coaching at the nhl level makes even the slightest fuck of difference in skill building you’re outta your mind ..these coaches implement their systems what breaks outs they like , what forechecking packages they like to run everything is possession driven in thr league now almost nobody is running a dump two high , so kakko played in a possession system that he should of succeeded in , he just doesn’t have the skill and lacks the mental makeup to play at a high level in a major market ..not rocket science , you can pretend you understand advanced analytics or that the sample size is even measurable at this point , but all of those ideals would be extremely wrong
1- Spend all summer power skating will help him.
2- Spend all summer shooting the puck.
3- Screw the PK and become successful on the PP.
The reason why people can dominate in the liiga at 18yrs old is because the league is so slow and defense heavy, so need to take those players with a grain of salt and not immediately think that they would be able to do the same in the NHL. The trade to seattle definitely did save Kakkos career trajectory.
He is still a bust.
I think Kakko was massively mismanaged in The Rangers. At least now in Seattle he is in the first line and they're giving him more minutes on the ice. I think there's definitely hunger and potential in there.
He sounds like the kinda player the Sabres could use.
Worst thing that happened to Kakko was that he was drafted by Rangers. Not as a knock to Rangers, but they were always in "win now" mode when he was there. He got to play with 2 notoriously unconsistant players like Kreider and Mika and puck just werent going in. So while he could develop his game a bit, that shot his confidence and then coaching demoted him to defensive role. Where he stayed for the remainder.
Now should we expect him to be better in Seattle than he is? No not really. He hasn't gotten the practice needed to be offensively great. He has had 0 off seasons to build on his game in the new system, so it's understandable he won't be lights out instantly when he was dragged through mud and never really was relied on offensively at all in NY. Sadly Rangers system just weren't made very good to fit him rather they tried to make him like they wanted to and that backfired. It's same Laf is going through but he at least got some more play time and now is getting some results out of that. But honestly if Laf got traded he would probs light it up soon in other team as well.
Good video. Nicely illustrated with relevant video clips and cute illustrations! I’ll watch more like this!
Brian Leetch is the only young player and/or draft the rangers have succeeded as a player in 40 years, rangers has basically been just a tourist attraction with greatest big players gretzky, jagr, lindros ans so on, in ny you go to theathre, statue of liberty, times square, empire state builing and madison square. Nyr is not a place for young players.
The archetype I always thought about regarding Kakko is Jagr (the older, slower version). What do I mean by this? It's about how they both turn their back/hip towards the opposing player and then uses their stick handle to make it almost impossible to take away the puck from them (Kakko's very short sticks helps here a lot).
So sure, skating speed is always nice, good if Kakko could get some of that… But I'd love to see him develop even more core strength and make what he already excel at – to a superstar level of skill (body-stick handling protect the puck). Also, a better (shot) release would be nice, but will he ever get really good at it? Probably not – just pair him up with a sniper.
Lastly, Kakko looked pretty good at the Four Nations, despite limited playing time. And yes, it is hard to look bad when playing together with Barkov – but Rantanen managed to do just that, wheras Kakko not so much (Kakko played together with Barkov and Rantanen). Barkov and Granlund looked like absolute studs for Finland, while Rantanen and Aho looked like bums, and Kakko was something in between I suppose.
I'm a big fan of Kaapo and I hope the absolute best for him
That IQ is something that you cannot teach. Shot, skating and other physical attritubes can and will be developed over time. I'll think he'll pan out as a legit top-6 option in few years.
10:12 You mean makes plays from the LTIR? 😀