i would totally include him in a jack eichel trade

At 7OA in a deep draft you'd hope he'd be good.

Dude he’s a leader. That’s someone they should build around. I see him as their future captain once Eichel is gone. Very impressed watching him.

One of the only players with the cajones to step up for his teammates. Very talented, I'm excited to watch him develop!

Man I wish we could take a mulligan on Kakko. Given our center situation, any of Zegras, Dach, Turcotte or Cozens would’ve been the perfect pick.

I think he’s gonna be fantastic long term.

Toronto fans be like ill you Kerfoot Dermott and a 3rd

You forgot Engvall and Hutchinson.

Yeah he’s definitely worth more.

I'd have taken Byram over him too tbh

yeah thats the joke lol

I mean defense isn’t a position of need with our prospect pool, but center would’ve been great. I guess hindsight is always 20/20 though, who’s to say we’d have gotten Laf if we didn’t take Kakko. But that does look like it’ll be a good draft.

I get that bud.

I think between Kakko and Puljujarvi, teams should start giving players taken out of Finland an extra year to develop regardless of where they're selected in the draft.

It's an equivalent league to the AHL, which immediately puts those kids a half step behind names coming out of the SHL or KHL. Kids coming out of the North American leagues come preset to the systems and rink sizes which gives them an inherent advantage: the skills and difficulty curve are essentially the same between either player, it's the language barriers and changes in rinks/systems that routinely seems to catch the Finns off guard.

For what it's worth, Kakko was the right choice at #2 on draft day, but sending him straight to the NHL probably wasn't, especially when the Rangers were committed to the whole rebuild schtick at that point. There'd have been pandamonium had the Rangers passed on him for Dach - who went higher than most suspected anyways.

Oh for sure. You said it perfectly, we committed to a rebuild giving him an extra year would’ve helped a lot I think. At least to acclimate and get his bearings sorted on North American ice. Definitely right about people losing their mind if we didn’t take him.

And like Fox, Zegras grew up in their backyard as a Ranger fan

Yeah its pretty sad that hes the only one willing to drop the gloves though. Not really a position id want him in often

I said this a year ago and went player by player over the last 5-6 years. The Finnish league is weak, definitely weaker than Sweden. Finnish players get way overhyped

Yeah, definitely isn’t ideal, but it’s gotta be a great sight to see on the bench to see him so enthusiastic and passionate for the team.

I love cozens, he was one of my favourite prospects and I think he’ll be great one day soon. In the 2019 draft I figured 3-5 would be some combination of cozens/dach/byram and my bet for #3 was cozens, I was super suprised he slipped to 7th.

Got a good one. Too bad we couldn’t find value at 7th overall with Lias Anderson.

Don't think ANYONE in the hockey world was predicting anything other than Hughes and Kakko as the top 2- so not sure JG would even have a job if he picked someone other than Kakko...trading down I guess would have been nice- but doubt any team would have given the required ransom. That all said, Kakko does look like he's developing into a good NHL player...sure a C would have filled a need...and who could know they'd win the lottery the next year...but Kakko is really becoming a beast along the boards, a relentless back checker, and tough to get off the puck. May never have the gaudy numbers- but maybe that's a "good" thing as it keeps future contracts within reason.

I agree with everything you said there. The numbers are going to come for him though, I've watched every ranger game this year and it's only a matter a time for him. His all around game is outstanding. When he learns to get to the middle of the ice more, and take more shots we are going to see a true monster reveal himself.

He seems to really be a lot more assertive on the puck. I think it was the other night I stopped and thought once he gets that finishing ability he’s gonna be a damn good player. Dare I say Quinn might actually be doing a decent job with our young guys in terms of trying to develop them into complete players.