If you're not from the New York City area, there is a thing you should know about its sports fans:
Fans of rival local teams -- across all sports -- love to mock each other.
When you put three hockey teams, two NFL teams, two MLB teams, and two NBA teams in the same market, the pro-sports overload is well-distributed. In many cases, choosing a team to support also means choosing a group of fellow New Yorkers to alienate. It's especially true in hockey, where all three teams compete in the same division. Hatred is the right word for describing the animosity between many people wearing Rangers, Islanders, and Devils jerseys.
The 2019 NHL Entry Draft will linger in the New York sports consciousness for many years to come. That's because the Devils pick first, and the Rangers go second. In this bragging-rights situation, Rangers fans hold all the cards, because if the Devils make the wrong choice, they will be haunted by it every time they face the Rangers for the next dozen years at least. Rangers fans, however, have nothing to lose here in terms of pride. They are going to get a great player without having to look over their shoulders while making the pick. Not only that, but if the Devils make a mistake, the Rangers fans can sit back and gloat. And there's no doubt they will savor all that gloating.
But here's the good news for everyone involved. Barring injuries, both teams will land a future Hall of Famer out of the 2019 draft. Jack Hughes for New Jersey and Broadway-bound Kaapo Kakko are both too good not to find their way to hockey immortality. Forget Stamkos and Doughty, Tavares and Hedman, Hall and Seguin, McDavid and Eichel, Matthews and Laine. Forget them because these guys are easily the best top-two talents in the draft since Ovechkin and Malkin in 2004. In fact, they are both so good that everyone else in their draft pool pales in comparison.
Hughes is a center who makes everyone around him better. His hockey IQ is off the charts, and his competitiveness is right there with it. The Devils really don't have to make a choice, because this type of talent is a no-brainer, as he is close to a generational prospect and is already that in terms of USA Hockey. He was part of a great program in the U.S. NTDP Under-18 Team, where he broke all of the major scoring records.
Kakko is a prolific scorer who will easily reach 50 goals multiple times in his NHL career. His hands are among the best anyone has ever seen in and 18-year-old, and he is a highly-focused player who does nothing but win. His performances against men in both the Finnish Liiga and IIHF World Championship were stunning. He will continue where he left off when he jumps up to the NHL in the fall.
With such an abundance of riches, it's all good for the Devils and Rangers right now. The only questions are how great will each player become and how will they look when compared to each other by the end of their careers? Perhaps the best way to answer those questions is by looking back at a very similar draft year when the future Hall of Famers were also an American center and a Finnish wing.
In 1988, it was already clear that Prince Albert Raiders center Mike Modano was the best American draft-eligible center in history. People who saw Modano's rise through Michigan youth hockey knew how remarkable he was, and he went to the WHL at a time when very few U.S.-born players were making a name for themselves in major-junior hockey. Modano did not disappoint. He amazed Western Canada with his skills and became a no-brainer No. 1 choice -- very similar to the situation Hughes is in now.
The first European drafted in 1988 was also bound for stardom, despite lasting until the 10th pick. Finland's Teemu Selanne was special, but Europe wasn't as well-scouted then as it is today. The Winnipeg Jets recognized his greatness, and their selection of Selanne was a very high pick for Europeans in that era. Prior to Selanne, only one European -- Petr Svoboda at No. 5 in 1984 -- had been taken in the draft's top 10. No Scandinavian and no European forward had ever gone higher than Selanne. Given these scouting limitations, Selanne's situation was very similar to what Kakko's is now. At the time, many scouts believed that if he had played in North America, Selanne would have been tye No. 2 pick.
These two great careers call for a tale of the tape, so here it is:
NHL Statistic
Modano
Selanne
Total Seasons
21
23
Career Games
1,499
1,451
Career Playoff Games
176
130
Career Goals
561
684
Career Assists
813
773
Career Points
1,374
1,457
Career Playoff Goals
58
44
Career Playoff Assists
88
44
Career Playoff Points
146
88
50-Goal Seasons
1
3
40-Goal Seasons
1
6
30-Goal Seasons
9
9
20-Goal Seasons
16
17
100-Point Seasons
0
3
90-Point Seasons
2
5
80-Point Seasons
8
8
NHL Statistic
Modano
Selanne
All-Star Games
7
10
All-Star First Team
1
2
All-Star Second Team
1
2
Major On-Ice Trophies
0
2
League Leader, Goals
0
3
League Leader, Assists
0
0
League Leader, Points
0
0
Playoffs Leader, Goals
0
0
Playoffs Leader, Assists
2
0
Playoffs Leader, Points
0
0
Olympics (NHL-related)
3
5
Stanley Cup Final
3
1
Stanley Cups Won
1
1
A quick glance at the table above shows that these two careers were remarkably similar in terms of games played and offensive production, although Modano had more overall playoff success. The big difference between the two players was that Modano went to the NHL in 1988-89, but Selanne did not come over to North America until the 1992-93 season. Both had immediate impacts, making the All-Rookie Team. Selanne's 76 goals as a rookie remain the standard for first-year players, but he had the advantage of starting at an older age.
Basically, any decision between Modano and Selanne in 1988 would have been a wash. You can't say one player was a much better choice than the other. They were both great, and a similar outcome is likely for Hughes and Selanne.
To view the Modano-Selanne comparison without the benefit of hindsight, however, it's important to look at what was said about each player heading into the draft and compare it to what is being said about Hughes and Kakko today. For consistency's sake across 31 years, let's see what
The Hockey News Draft Preview issue said about each player.
Start with Hughes. If readers knew nothing about this player in advance,
The Hockey News Draft Preview would tell them the following:
Jack Hughes - 2019 profile
No. 1-ranked prospect
U.S. NTDP record-setter for career points
Not considered generational like a Crosby or McDavid
Could one day be force behind a championship team
Huge potential upside
Elite skater
Elite hockey IQ -- makes great decisions at high speed
Elite skills
A bit undersized at 5-foot-10
Not afraid to get physical if he must
Now let's see what this same publication said about Modano 31 years ago.
Mike Modano - 1988 profile
No. 1-ranked prospect
Most highly-skilled player in 1988 draft
Offensive wizard and gifted play-maker
Elite skater
Elite hockey IQ -- particularly when playing puck
Elite skills
Elite shooter
Avoids physical play
Skill outweighs lack of toughness
Scouts saw these players in quite similar ways. Modano wasn't as comfortable with physical play, but he was three inches taller than Hughes. Modano grew into his frame as an NHL player and had no problem going into tough areas of the ice. Scouts note that Hughes' size is not a concern in the modern NHL, so these negatives are relatively minor. The main takeaway is that both players had elite skill, even if they weren't already clear-cut superstars. Can't-miss prospects are pretty easy to spot.
This is not to say that Hughes will be just like Modano, but just like Minnesota in 1988, New Jersey would be foolish to pass him up. If the North Stars had gone with Trevor Linden -- who was the clear No. 2 at the time -- they would not have drafted a Hall of Famer, and it's entirely possible that Dallas would still be looking for its first Stanley Cup. You just don't risk passing up draft prospects like this, even when there is a very desirable No. 2 guy who is a wing (Linden) rather than a natural center (Modano).
Turning now to the Selanne-Kakko comparison, we'll begin with Kakko's current
Hockey News profile. If readers nothing else about
him, after reading it they would know:
Kaapo Kakko - 2019 profile
No. 2-ranked prospect (very close to No. 1)
Finnish Liiga record-setter for goals by an under-18 player
Likely the greatest draft prospect ever to come out of Finland
Offensive wizard with huge NHL upside
Elite skills
Plays both sides of puck extremely well
NHL ready from Day 1
Strong for his age. Not afraid of getting physical.
Needs to become a faster skater
Minor health issues (diabetes and celiac disease)
It's obvious that scouts in Finland have never seen a prospect like Kakko before, but what about
Selanne? Here's what we would have learned from The Hockey News in his draft year:
Teemu Selanne - 1988 profile
No. 9-ranked prospect
Played only five games in Liiga, scoring one goal
Would have been top-3 prospect if he played in North America
Potentially the best player in draft. Possibly the next Jari Kurri
Likely the greatest draft prospect ever to come out of Finland
Offensive wizard versatile enough to star at all forward positions
Elite shooter. The best goal-scorer in the 1988 draft
Would not be NHL-ready for three years
A bit undersized by NHL standards (of that era)
Not afraid of physical play, but not particularly strong
Since both Selanne and Kakko were widely viewed as the best prospects ever to come out of Finland, it's fair to view them as comparable talents. If Europe had been better scouted -- and Selanne did not have to serve in the Finnish military -- he would have been the No. 2 prospect in the 1988 draft behind Modano. The advantage Kakko has over Selanne is that he spent his entire draft year playing against men, rather than junior players. Not only that, but he starred in the World Championship tournament. So, at this point, Kakko is far more NHL-ready than Selanne was at the same age, and we all know how good Selanne turned out to be.
These parallels between Modano-Selanne and Hughes-Kakko are striking enough that it's not crazy to say that the Hughes-Kakko choice for the Devils is like choosing between Modano and Selanne with a Hall of Fame consolation prize.
If it were 1988 all over again, and the Minnesota North Stars could see the future and know exactly the players that Modano and Selanne's would be, would they have passed on Modano to get Selanne? It would have been a tougher decision, but every Dallas Stars fan today would still be comfortable with taking Modano again. Hughes has to be viewed in that light, because he will also be a great player like Modano.
This is why New Jersey fans won't need to feel haunted by whatever greatness Kakko enjoys across the Hudson River. Simply put, this is a win-win for both the Rangers and Devils.
