Can’t compare Kakko and Hughes without comparing their ice time in their first few seasons. I’ll never understand why Quinn played Kakko 14 mins a night when Hughes was getting 19 (they were putting up the same numbers at the time)
by Livid-Screen2880
31 Comments
The difference is that the Devils are more committed to rebuilding than the Rangers. I feel like the Rangers got caught half way when they made it to the ECF last year. They added a lot of veterans to push for the cup this year and thus the full rebuild is no longer. More and more assets will get traded to bring in outside players instead of building from within.
Cause Quinn was a horrible coach
Do people seriously think Kakko is the same player as Hughes? I donât think the Rangers did their kids any favors, but letâs not be deluded either.
idk how much quinns icetime and development played a difference between Jack Hughes and Kakko. Jack is just a superstar and it sucks he was the pick before us and that he went to the devils.
Even during a stated rebuild we hired coaches who cared more about winning than developing players đ¤Ś
Completely agree. Weâre not gonna find better wingers than Kane and Tarasenko and they didnât help at all so why not finally commit to the youth movement? Also still banging this same drum for Lafreniere but someoneâs gotta switch to RW.
Who did the Devils have ahead of Hughes on their roster during that time? Who would you have sat?
I think if you give chytil, lafrenier, and kakko the first line and pp1, then we would have the best line in the nhl within 3 years, these kids need the 20 minutes + per game, followed by kreider and Mika on line 2, and panarin and trocheck on line 3, all 3 of these guys could produce like Hughes if they get ice time like Hughes
Pastranak had very similar ice time to Kakko his first couple years in Boston a very talented roster. By his 3rd year he made it so no one could sit him anymore. There are ton of examples like this out there.
Hindsight is always 20/20…I have seen improvement from Kakko every year so far. Right now he lacks finishing ability, I would say the rest of his game is perfect or damn near it. If next season he learns to drive to the net front with his possession skills ….he will have the numbers to back the ice time. Or if he develops a great wrister over the summer. His biggest thing holding him back is confidence.
Does he have Jack’s speed no….but also Kakko is alot bigger than Jack and just has to learn to use that. Jack in his 3 years has learned to utilize his speed and has a coach and system to help him prosper with it. Kakko doesn’t.
We have development issues as a franchise. You don’t have as many top 10 pick flops as us and that not be the case.
I donât get fans. They would rather suck for 10 years like the devils to have a bright future than be bad for 4 years like we were and have a bright future. The devils are essentially a year behind the rangers in their rebuild and last year we went to the ECF. This year they only went to the 2nd round. The same fans will say window is closing (which it is not) because we didnât fully commit to a rebuild and sucked like other teams. But if you look at those other teams who committed to sucking like the devils like Buffalo like so many of the teams that do so we would be several years away from our window even opening.
There is no magic amount of ice time that wouldâve closed the gap between Kakko and Hughes.
Hughes scored more points this season than Kakko has in his entire career. Theyâre just two different planets of players.
Kakko just isn’t Hughes and probably never will be.
If you want to blame anyone, blame the FO. Don’t really think they made a bad decision drafting him but I dont think this falls on Quinn either.
convenient excuse you can always use to fall back on if kakko doesnt improve
kakko could play 60 mins a night and would never be jack hughes
if you watch hughes play you can tell hes going to be a top 5 forward in the nhl
he just has IT
Rangers didnât rebuild. Both coaches were told they had to win (signing Trouba, panarin, etc). Devils on the other hand were given the time and space to be horrible while allowing their kids to play. Two completely different philosophies. One will have long term success, the other has mostly failed.
Hughes came into a situation where he was expected to be âthe guyâ. Kakko (and Laf) were drafted to a team where they were not even a top 5 go-to player. Can we please stop comparing these two at this point?
Rangers had established players, devils didnât. End of debate on this.
Hughes is generational…lets not act like anything could be done to make Kakko Hughes.
Kakko is good though and thats fine.
If chytil can blow up in one season so can the other kids. Remember y’all wanted to trade him last season. I didn’t forget
After watching hockey for awhile it seems like as a prospect if you’re a good skater, you can be taught anything else in the game.
Hughes by far was the best skater in that draft. And it shows how he just improved on shooting and everything else kind of fell into place (his vision was pretty good to start as well).
Kakko skates ok. But if he improved to Hughes level he would easily be elite.
I just refuse to believe with 25% additional ice time Kakko would somehow become a 100 point scorer. 25% additional ice time @ a 40 point season translates to 50 points.
Kakko does some things really well but his finishing is shit. If he works on finishing I think he can get to 60-70 points even. But I dont think he will ever be a perennial PPG player like Hughes
Again with this shit. Anybody who thinks the difference between Hughes and Kakko is extra ice time in their 1st two seasons needs an eye and head examination.
The amount of time he got is really not that out of the ordinary. Very few 18 year olds play in the NHL. I would’ve liked to see him get a bit more in his second year. But Draisaitl, Pastrnak, Tkachuk, Cozens, etc. all played similar or less in their age 19 seasons. Plenty of stars don’t even crack the NHL until they’re the age he is now. Also, considering that he’s diabetic and has celiac’s, the acclimation to get suited to NHL-level fitness was probably a bit harder. Maybe it would’ve suited him better to spend a year in the AHL, but I’d wager everyone would’ve been mad about that too.
I’m more more bothered by the fact that in year 4, after he rounded out his game to be a solid two way player and didn’t have people clearly ahead of him in the depth chart all year, he’s added a whole extra minute per game from his age 18 rookie season. That’s usually where you’d expect the TOI to ramp up
WowâŚ. Just wow⌠đđđ
David Quinn had a âyah gotta earn itâ mentality, so if Kakko sneezed wrong he was benched. If I remember correctly one game Kakko had 2 goals and was stilled was benched for a shift. Also when the playoffs were out of reach in past seasons he shouldâve been getting regular Power Play Time.
Right now heâs a really good 2 way Top 6 RW. More time and PP time he has about 10-15 points.
I agree so much kakko should have been getting way more minutes its so crazy they stunted his development!
Kakko will never be Hughes. But he doesnt have to be.
For a comparison, just because Jack Hughes is Peyton Manning doesnt mean Kakko is Ryan Leaf.
Because Hughes doesn’t have panarin and zibanajed and kreider to play behind
I hate this team and how much self sabotage they commit every year. Sickening. And now weâre prob gonna have Joel âSweep it under the rugâ Quenneville as a coach
If you guys have time you should watch IIHF quarters Fin-Can. Kakko has looked like a step above everyone else on ice, even better than Rantanen and dominates every shift he plays. Makes Kapanen look like Pasta. The level ofc isnt Nhl standard but many of players there are those guys that play 3rd line minutes in nhl. For me just goes to show that he really has the superstar talent.
Kakko was undersized and not strong enough to compete at the time either. He should have been in the AHL his first season.
Because they signed Panarin and the team went from build to win overnight.