Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
The same things I saw with Laf when I was arguing we should trade for him last season Summer he broke out, while people were saying he’s a bust.
We don’t want Kakko for what he’s done in poor circumstances, we want him for the potential upside if we can get him out of those poor circumstances.
It’s exactly what Florida got in the Bennett move after we screwed the pooch with him here.
I’d hope Conroy could pull Kakko from NYR for something like Coleman though, rather than Pospisil.
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Bennett at the time of the trade is probably a good comparison for Kakko.
Top 4 pick, Bennett was 7 years post draft and 24 at the time of the trade, Kakko is 6 years post draft and turns 24 in February.
3 years prior to the trade:
Bennett: GP: 161, G: 25, P: 51, Shooting %: 9.5%, xGF%: 51.9%, GF%: 44.4%, PDO: .981
Kakko: GP: 171, G: 35, P: 73, Shooting %: 13.5%, xGF%: 50.2%, GF%: 56.9%, PDO: 1.016
So similar enough numbers, with Kakko having better counting stats and Bennett having better underlying numbers.
Which is actually a bit of my worry with Kakko. With Bennett the underlying numbers showed a player who had good underlying stats, but had abysmal actual on-ice results, which indicated some potential for upside.
With Kakko it's actually the opposite...his on-ice results, PDO, and individual shooting percentage are actually quite strong, with his underlying numbers actually being worse, which indicate that he's kind of producing what you'd expect from him.
At the right price (2nd round pick) I'd still take a flyer on him, but I would be cautious of overpaying for him for sure because him being a 2nd overall pick is pretty irrelevant at this point 6 years post draft.
Edit: Funny part is if we traded for Lafreniere I think a lot of people would actually be unhappy, especially those that are clamoring for a scorched earth re-build like yourself...
If the Flames traded a bundle of assets for him (let's hypothecially say Zary + 1st which is probably actually conservative to what it would have cost in the 2023 offseason to acquire him), then after that trade he had a 57 point season last season, and we paid him $7.45M on an extension, and he was on pace for another 57 point season this year. I think people would actually be pissed off we traded Zary + 1st and $7.5M of cap room for a guy who is a 55-60 point player right now.