3 goals in 5 games and we get this thread?
First there is no way at the draft we would have taken Galchenyuk. I'm willing to bet that literally all 30 teams would have taken Yakupov 1st overall if you forced them to pick. You simply couldn't justify taking a player that missed his entire draft year with a significant injury over a guy that was breaking Stamkos' records. Galchenyuk looks very good and his game at present is more suited to the NHL - Yak is still learning what he can and cannot get away with which is much different than what it was at junior. I have no doubt that he'll be fine. The size issue has already been pointed out as well - Galchenyuk has an inch and change on Yakupov but in the HF world Galchenyuk's the prototypical big center and Yakupov is the small, skilled winger. In a redraft I think we'd see Yakupov-Galchenyuk at 1-2 in that order. Maybe if Galchenyuk played last year it would have been different but it's way too early to jump to these conclusions.
First there is no way at the draft we would have taken Galchenyuk. I'm willing to bet that literally all 30 teams would have taken Yakupov 1st overall if you forced them to pick. You simply couldn't justify taking a player that missed his entire draft year with a significant injury over a guy that was breaking Stamkos' records. Galchenyuk looks very good and his game at present is more suited to the NHL - Yak is still learning what he can and cannot get away with which is much different than what it was at junior. I have no doubt that he'll be fine. The size issue has already been pointed out as well - Galchenyuk has an inch and change on Yakupov but in the HF world Galchenyuk's the prototypical big center and Yakupov is the small, skilled winger. In a redraft I think we'd see Yakupov-Galchenyuk at 1-2 in that order. Maybe if Galchenyuk played last year it would have been different but it's way too early to jump to these conclusions.