Kaapo Kakko made significant strides during his sophomore season, and completed quite a turnaround relative to a rookie campaign that was one of the worst in recent memory. This growth and development, particularly in his defensive game, gave fans some confidence that Kakko’s early struggles might have just been a blip that was fueled by such a busy stretch of hockey from his pre draft and draft year. The goal was for him to remain a defensive menace, but also started showing elements of the player who turned heads internationally for Team Finland.
There was also hope that a new coach would allow Kakko to play with a little more confidence offensively, because a lot of the things that made him successful in Finland weren’t encouraged by David Quinn, someone who wanted his players to play simple hockey.