Prospect Kakko to skip NHL scouting mix
Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2-ranked prospect for the 2019 NHL draft, won’t be taking part within the NHL scouting mix this week in Buffalo, New York, the NHL confirmed Tuesday.
The league didn’t provide a purpose for his absence, however Kakko simply accomplished a gold medal run with Staff Finland on the IIHF Males’s World Championship in Slovakia on Sunday and took half within the group’s homecoming celebration Monday in Finland.
In Sunday’s gold medal recreation, Finland defeated Canada Three-1 to assert its third-ever gold medal on the senior degree in males’s hockey. Based on stories in Finnish media, 2.54 million individuals tuned in to the ultimate, representing almost half the inhabitants of the nation.
The group was feted by an estimated 50,000 followers at a downtown park in Helsinki on Monday after receiving a Finnish Air Pressure escort dwelling.
Kakko has made vital positive aspects this season on consensus No. 1 draft prospect Jack Hughes. On the current world championship, Kakko registered six targets and one help to file the second-highest level complete by a U18 participant in World Championship historical past.
It additionally marked Kakko’s third world championship in as many tries. He additionally helped Finland win the World Males’s Underneath-18 Championship in 2018 and the World Junior Championship in January. He’s the youngest participant in IIHF historical past to finish the trifecta.
Moreover, the Finnish phenom had top-of-the-line scoring seasons by a U18 participant in Finland’s prime professional league. Kakko posted 38 factors in 45 video games for TPS Turku in Liiga play. Solely Florida Panthers middle Aleksander Barkov and Nashville Predators winger Mikael Granlund had greater level totals on the identical age.
The NHL expects 103 prospects for the 2019 NHL draft to take part within the mix. NHL groups are already interviewing gamers in Buffalo, with the bodily testing portion of the mix to be held Saturday.
The New Jersey Devils maintain the No. 1 general decide, with the New York Rangers proudly owning the second decide within the 2019 NHL draft.