New Jersey Devils: Kaapo Kakko Is Not Even Relevant In Jack Hughes Conversation

New Jersey Devils fans are riding high this week. The team won four out of five games since the end of the Christmas break. The team has had some bad news with the loss of Dougie Hamilton to a broken jaw and multiple players out of the lineup due to COVID, but the good times roll as Jack Hughes was the catalyst for the Devils beating the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.

Hughes has been amazing this season. He has 12 points in his last five games, and now he’s averaging more than a point per game on the season. He was looking a little lost before the break, but Hughes is back to superstar status. With that, the Devils fans would obviously jump to our biggest rival the New York Rangers.

The Rangers had the second pick in the NHL Draft that season, and they took Kaapo Kakko. There was talk he was going to have a much faster start to his career than Hughes because of his ability to play against men right off the bat. Rangers fans were brutal about it, continuing to bring up how much better Kakko was going to be.

That’s clearly out the door now. Kakko has 12 points this season. Hughes has 12 points in the past five games. They are connected by draft pick only, and that’s no longer even a relevant argument on the Rangers’ side.

Bringing up Kakko looks petty from the Devils’ side. It’s grasping at straws at best. The Rangers are one of the best teams in the Metropolitan Division this season, and they are doing it without much contribution from Kakko or Alexis Lafreniere. They were handed Adam Fox (thanks to Fox demanding a trade there) and he’s now one of the best defensemen in the league. Igor Shesterkin is basically going to win the Vezina barring something crazy happening. The Rangers have everything going right.

Yet, they will still jump into these conversations comparing Hughes and Kakko. Some might still hold hope that Kakko will end up being better. They are both still 20 years old, but Hughes and the Devils fans should have higher hopes. Hughes wants to be compared with the best in the business. He wants to get on another level. Comparing him with a bottom-six player just because they were taken in the same draft is counterproductive.

This is why you rarely hear people bring up Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick anymore. The Devils clearly made the right decision. The same goes with the 2019 NHL Draft. The Devils got themselves a superstar. Hughes is going to be the pillar to the Devils for a full decade. It doesn’t matter who went behind him.

Even with players like Trevor Zegras and Mortiz Seider having themselves great seasons, they aren’t the talent that is Jack Hughes. The Ducks and Red Wings would trade Zegras and Seider for Hughes in an instant. The same goes for Kakko with the Rangers. This Devils team is winning because of Hughes. That is hard to find in today’s NHL. Devils fans should take the win without bringing someone who is irrelevant like Kakko into the conversation.