Hughes every day and twice on Sunday

Hughes looked physically overmatched in the tournament, can’t imagine he will be NHL ready out of the draft. I’m taking Kakko 10/10 times

Sorry, can't hear you over the sound of Jack Hughes' stick tapping on the ice repeatedly.

I can't see Kakko being better than Hughes. He is more skilled, and he's a centre. Hughes had a better WJC than Kakko and by quite a bit tbh

What? All through the WJC it was pretty clear Kakko
was the better player. He totally outplayed Hughes in their head to head matchup, I think the WJC exposed some
serious flaws in Hughe’s game.

For sure. I just feel like out of Colorado, Philly and LAK, they take Hughes

I'd take Kakko but not because of the ****ty WJC sample size. Hughes should've played in Europe to increase his chances of going #1 IMO. At this point in time the safe bet is Kakko cause he produces against men

The one bad thing with Hughes, is the fact he is 5' tiny and 155 lbs.....He got hurt and overmatched in the WJC because of this....Wait until Byfuglien or someone hits him....He also wont be a center until he gets stronger.

There's definitely more than one bad thing about his game.

If the chatter regarding Hughes would be better suited as a winger in the NHL, then I go Kakko all the way. If Hughes really can play down the middle at an NHL level, then he's a clear-cut 1st overall.

I do think there are teams that would hold Kakko over Hughes. Edmonton comes to mind. Maybe Philadelphia.

I'm saying Hughes, though Kakko is definitely more ready for the NHL. Look at the bottom teams. Here's a look at the bottom ten teams and who they'd choose. Colorado (Ottawa) would probably take Kakko. They would rather immediate scoring over long term scoring as they aren't rebuilding. Philadelphia takes Kakko all day. They need a Voracek/Simmonds replacement and they are a more physical team. Plus, Patrick needs room to grow. LA takes Hughes. Luff, Brown, Toffoli, and Kovalchuk have the roster spots right now and Kakko wouldn't be able to get a top six role. Plus they just started a rebuild and Hughes should take Carter's role down the road. Vilardi-Hughes-Kopitar is a pretty good 1-2-3 punch. St. Louis takes Hughes IMO but it's debatable. Kyrou, Tarasenko, Bokk, and Kostin is better than O'Reilly, Thomas, Bozak, and Barbashev. St. Louis has zero good center prospects behind Thomas. Detroit takes Kakko. They have nobody behind Mantha for RW. Chicago takes Hughes. They're stacked on the wings and Strome isn't an ideal 2C yet. NJ is a mystery as they have no solid RW prospect but zero high A C prospect. I still think they take Kakko. Arizona takes Hughes. They have no legit centers IMO though they have a lot of talent up the middle. Neither player is ideal for Arizona, they need a LW or D prospect. NYR takes Kakko. They've got a ton of talent up the middle. Vancouver takes Hughes. I'd rather see Pettersson on the wing and Hughes could play LW too. Kakko could be good too, but the pull of Quinton is too much. It's split down the middle, but since Chicago and LA should have the highest chance of drafting first as Ottawa is slumping and should bounce back and Philly should rebound with Hart, I'm giving this to Hughes. It's too even to be dogmatic, but it really depends on who wins the lottery.

This was a cliffhanger - I'm all ears if you want to tell me what you don't like.

He's a bad skater, lacks awareness, calls for the puck far too often, meh defensively

Kakko is a center

Can be, though he's ideally a RW.

He’s played C all year in Liiga and has the ideal build and play style for an NHL top tier C.

Interesting. I've noticed in a lot of discussions that people who prefer Hughes will acknowledge that the gap between he and Kakko is small/narrowing. And people that prefer Kakko seem to give a scouting report for Hughes as a guy that shouldn't be drafted in the first round. Personally I think they're both on track to be franchise players of different styles. I don't think either team picking 1 or 2 will regret their selection.

Hughes is lacking in the points I stated, given that though, he's still a great player and will improve upon them I'd hope. The furthest he could drop is top 3 imo. His flaws were hugely shown in the WJC and my main doubt with him is his readiness

Kakko plays left wing in Liiga. He can also play right wing and center but he's been playing left wing in Liiga. He played RW at the WJC.

Yeah, I see the readiness argument for sure. But if I'm picking, it's gotta be based on the finished product. I don't think Hughes will get much taller, and that could be an issue especially at center, but I think as he fills out a little more, the physicality and strength will come and he will be a dominant offensive player. The question is do you want a guy that projects like a Hossa or like a slower McDavid. I hope we get some insider info after the draft to see where most teams had them slotted.

This guy just called Hughes a bad skater. He’ll step into the league and be a top 15 skater.

he has good high end speed and edge work but his high end agility and elusiveness are lacking.

That is just not true. He’s the best skater in the draft by a large margin

If you watch him play he loves to gain straight line speed through the NZ and overwhelm his opposition, hes really not that shifty or agile and when he tries to change directions and pivot he struggles. His avoidence comes from building up momentum and just going right past guys. He is very fast in a straight line but stuggles to pivot and cut.

I'm thinking of the highlight reel goal vs Green Bay. Pretty shifty/agile.