Five games into the IIHF World Championships, Kakko Kaapo has generated a ton of buzz in the hockey world.
A simple search of social media will return numerous videos, GIFs, and tweets about the 18-year-old Finnish winger's dominating performance on the international stage, as he leads Finland with 6 goals in 5 games played. The hype around Kaapo's game as even creating some steam about the possibility of New Jersey Devils drafting first overall at the upcoming NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver.
Kaapo brings a rare bread of skill, size, speed and vision, making him a future scoring winger, or potential centre, that could make an immediate impact at the NHL level.
One of the secrets in Kakko's game is that he uses an extremely small stick for his size, based on the height and the stick flex.
In an interview with Finnish publication Iltalehti, Kakko explained his reasoning as to why his CCM Ribcor Trigger 3D stick is so much shorter than the average players, via Google Translate.
"I'm so accustomed to a short stick, it just feels good, who's stick comes in 25 CM shorter than Finnish teammate Marko Anttila.
Kakko uses a 65-flex, which is considered to be in the intermediate category, despite him just under 6-foot-3 and weighing 190-pounds.
The reason why Kakko excels with the shorter, whippier stick is because it allows him to keep the puck close to his body in traffic, while being an immediate threat for a quick shot or pass with a simple touch, something that would be much harder if the stick was longer and stiffer.
On Thursday, video surfaced of Kakko bouncing his stick off the ice before grabbing it and scoring during practice.
While this isn't exactly uncommon, it's interesting to see a player of Kakko's stature go against conventional wisdom and use an undersized stick.
Kakko has experimented with a longer and stronger flex, but didn't like the feel, and based off his production at the Worlds, you can't fault him for sticking with what works, especially if he ends up going first overall.
(h/t Iltalehti's Pekka Jalonen)
