If Nail Yakupov leaves for KHL=GOAT Bust?

[McRpro]

It's not even Yaks fault it's completely Dallas Eakins he ruined his career.

So sick of hearing this.......

 

[McRpro]

Daigle had Crosby and mcdavid hype, so him easily

No he didn't. He had residual Lindros hype.

 

[Lemmiwinks]

I can still vividly remember the 'Fail for Nail' refrain that took place on this forum for about a calendar year, if not more. Was that not the beginning of that tanking meme?

 

[VoluntaryDom]

This Stefan meme needs to die. If it wasn't for that horrific empty net blunder nobody would remember him. He wasn't even the worst bust in his draft class. That honor goes to Pavel Brendl.

Yes, Yakupov is the worst one.

His stats aren’t exactly blowing any minds, he was worse than Daigle statistically

 

[These Are The Days]

Yakupov isn't the worst bust at all. I don't understand how a guy who went through so much bad stuff such as a freak injury as soon as he starts to play better, going to another team who didn't even attempt to play him and another that got frustrated and said "f*** it" can be considered the worst bust of all time when guys picked in the top 5 like Alex Volchkov (4th overall) can play in 3 career NHL games with 0 points, Alex Svitov (3rd overall) a whopping 37 points in 179 and Jason Bonsignore (4th overall) with 16 points in 79 games are all but forgotten about because of how truly unremarkable they were.

 

[Lemmiwinks]

Yakupov isn't the worst bust at all. I don't understand how a guy who went through so much bad stuff such as a freak injury as soon as he starts to play better, going to another team who didn't even attempt to play him and another that got frustrated and said "**** it" can be considered the worst bust of all time when guys picked in the top 5 like Alex Volchkov (4th overall) can play in 3 career NHL games with 0 points, Alex Svitov (3rd overall) a whopping 37 points in 179 and Jason Bonsignore (4th overall) with 16 points in 79 games are all but forgotten about because of how truly unremarkable they were.

I think when you're talking about "biggest bust," the difference between being drafted 1OA and even 3OA becomes salient. Players who were considered to be the guy at the time of the draft fall a lot harder in the eyes of fans when a few years later they turn out to be duds.

 

[These Are The Days]

I think when you're talking about "biggest bust," the difference between being drafted 1OA and even 3OA becomes salient. Players who were considered to be the guy at the time of the draft fall a lot harder in the eyes of fans when a few years later they turn out to be duds.

Well even then if we're gonna use that as the measure then probably nothing will compare to Daigle. Yakupov on the other hand was gonna be the can't miss, big scoring franchise winger in a bad draft year. I wasn't there for the hype of those years, only a small child of 4 years old. But knowing what I know now and if Bob McKenzie said of Daigle as he walked to the podium "He falls in projection right now as a guy who could be the next Jeremy Roenick or Steve Yzerman or Joe Sakic or Pat LaFontaine with potential to take it up another notch" in the year 1993 then I cannot even begin to fathom what people thought of this kid.

 

[OilCanada92]

I can still vividly remember the 'Fail for Nail' refrain that took place on this forum for about a calendar year, if not more. Was that not the beginning of that tanking meme?

Fall for Hall was a thing said all the time too.

It's true though. People forget how hyped he was. The Oilers were drafting a 40-50 goal scorer with arguably a better one timer than Stamkos.

 

[Painful Quandary]

Fall for Hall was a thing said all the time too.

It's true though. People forget how hyped he was. The Oilers were drafting a 40-50 goal scorer with arguably a better one timer than Stamkos.

There were some talking heads who were over-hyping that draft comparing Nail to Ovechkin and Galchenyuk to Malkin, but that was likely due to the previous draft not having much hype and networks trying to get ratings. I will say that the tanking rhymes had to do with trying to sell tanking to other fans as a way to improve as people figured out that signing UFAs to not suck anymore was not viable in the cap era. Pretty much every draft had a rhyme for 1st OA and possibly the 2nd and 3rd OA as well.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

Yakupov isn't the worst 1OA and, as others have pointed out, there are players selected later in the draft who are arguably bigger busts...so I voted 'no'.

 

[David Suzuki]

Yes. Daigle had a lot of hype but was a better player.

 

[3074326]

I was and am still rooting for the guy, he seems like a good dude from every indication.

But as it stands, he's most certainly one of the bigger busts in my lifetime.

 

[heretik27]

Yes. Daigle had a lot of hype but was a better player.

His story as I remember it was one of a guy who had unbelievable talent but just didn't want to play hockey. I feel kinda bad for him if that's the actual case, but I'm not bored enough to go look it up.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

Rick DiPietro to me is the ultimate worst 1st overall bust of all time
the guy has a .902% career avg, which is something that you can easily pick up in the 6th - 7th round
then it's a debate between Daigle, Stefan, and Yakupov

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Wouldn’t “GOAT bust” imply that he’s the all-time best player out of all the busts?

 

[Kyndig]

Call me crazy but I think if he gets a proper chance next season I think he could have a lesser William Karlsson kind of season. He had 7 goals/3 assists in his first 20 games while playing 10-12minutes a night. After that his usage dropped to around 7-10 4th line duties and he fell off the planet.

If he however calls it quits and heads to the KHL then yes I think hes the biggest bust. My reasoning is the recency of the draft when supposedly the scouting and talent gets better each year making it harder to have a miss at #1.

 

[Drury_Sakic]

He is not until he also struggles in the KHL. If he goes to the KHL and has an OK career...then he earns being an OK player. Likewise if he goes to the KHL and actually finds his game again and becomes somewhat of an elite player in the league.

Hell, I could see him going to the KHL, becoming a star in the league for a few years, then attempting a comeback much like Radulov did in his late 20s. (not exactly the same situation or player types...but the comparison holds)

Yak outwardly at least did all the right things in Colorado. I actually liked flashes of what we saw of him and he at least looked like he was trying most of the time on the ice...just he never found a fit once Duchene went full trade mode and it was worse once Duchene was eventually traded.

Heck, if I am Ottawa, I would talk to him and see if he won't give being on Duchene's line another go.

At the least he was not disruptive in the Avs lockeroom and seemed to be a good guy. Part of me would not mind him signing another contract with the Avs -- as he was a decent depth player to have around. Though he clearly will be looking for a team where he can play regularly out of the gate of course...so that won't happen.

I think there is a right situation on the right team where he can be a decent NHLer....but the fact is once Colorado made the shift from being a 2 line team into a 1 line team after the Duchene trade, he was worthless. Yak needs to be on a line where someone else carries the load and he is third fiddle on the talented line. He will never drive a line in the NHL....nor can he be a part of a balanced line that works with 3 players of equal talent and ability working together. He needs to be carried to a certain extent, and thrives in that role.

 

[ps241]

That draft was pretty bad. It is not like Daigle who was one hyped more, and two taken ahead of Chris Pronger.

I mean, sure Edmonton would love to have Rielly, H. Lindholm, Trouba, Dumba, or Filip Forsberg, but its not like they passed on any Hall of Famers at the very top.

I was suprised Nail flopped......I remain shocked Ryan Murray flopped. I loved Murray in Juniors and I know he picked up some injuries but I am stunned at his career trajectory? He is probably the prospect I was most wrong about since 2011.

 

[Spirit of 67]

It's between Yak and Stefan.
Daigle was certainly more hyped but that really has nothing to do with anything. That's a product of the market they're heading to, the league they came from and the networks broadcasting the draft trying to get interest up.
As a player, Daigle had a decent, just another NHL'er, career. Certainly not the career of a 1OA and they hype but he was a serviceable player for a while.

I opted for yes. But it's debateable.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I think Tampa is his last only hope. Could take him for cheap, lots of Russian connections, competitive team, fits his style of game, if I were Yzerman I'd take a shot at his at $750K/2-year one-way deal. Also fits under their cap.

 

[beowulf]

He's up there with Alexandre Daigle.

Daigle is far from the top busts of all time. Patrik Stefan comes to mind.

Really depends on what you call a bust. Look at Daniel Doré taken 5th overall by Québec in 1988. He played all of 17 games picking up 5 points. Taken 7th to 10th in that draft? So really makes him look like a bust.

1	7	Los Angeles	Martin Gelinas	L	Hull Olympiques [QMJHL]	1273	309	351	660	820	2007-08
1	8	Chicago	Jeremy Roenick	C	Thayer Academy (Mass.)	1363	513	703	1216	1463	2008-09
1	9	St. Louis	Rod Brind'Amour	L	Notre Dame Academy (Sask.)	1484	452	732	1184	1100	2009-10
1	10	Winnipeg	Teemu Selanne	R	Jokerit Helsinki [SM-liiga]	1451	684	773	1457	660	2013-14

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[Meeqs]

He's definitely a bust, which is unfortunate because he really is an incredible human being and that shot is something else, but he isn't worse than Diagle or Stefan

 

[GlitchMarner]

He's definitely a bust, which is unfortunate because he really is an incredible human being and that shot is something else, but he isn't worse than Diagle or Stefan

He's definitely worse than Daigle. Daigle had three 50+ point seasons. Yak hasn't hit 40 points yet.

Neither was/is any good defensively.

 

[tony d]

Nope. He's up there for sure but guys like Daigle, Stefan, Lawton and Kluzak are worse. Also a guy named Greg Joly went #1 in the 70's and got 97 points in 365 career games.

 

[Daximus]

It's gotta be Daigle. The hype was train was chugging along a lot more with him then Nail. Yakupov was considered a weak 1OA the moment he was drafted. There was expectations but Daigle's were much higher.