Nail Yakupov

[Agalloch1986]

Nail Yakupov has to be the worst first round draft pick that I've seen since Alexandre Daigle. I think Edmonton got ripped off to be honest. He has been absolutely useless every time I have seen him play on TV. I had the pleasure of seeing Yakupov play once during the SSS and he is exactly as shown on TV boring, listless, lazy, and most of all selfish. He has no concept of what a team is and it seems to be always him against the other 9 players on the ice. You would note the only goal he scored against Germany was when actually utilized his linemate Khokhlachyov (I think even he was surprised!) who shot the puck on net and Yakupov got the rebound and scored. Varnakov should've benched Yakupov or at least moved Zharkov up to play with Khokhlachyov and Sigarev who Yakupov seemed to find more of a nuisance instead of seeing them as gifted hockey players. Yakupov should strip himself of the captaincy since he doesn't deserve it.

Thankfully, Grigorenko and Kucherov kept Russia from being embarrased too badly. Yarullin also stepped up admirably in Naumenkov's absence. Russia was hurting badly from the loss of Naumenkov he was the best player for both Russia and WHL in the SSS game I saw. Nichushkin shows promise, but needs to find his own style instead of trying to fashion himself as a bigger Yakupov.

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[Dynamo81]

Yakupov was doing fine in the KHL playing in an actual system with line mates who knew how to utilize him. At 19 years of age he seems to have done not too badly in the KHL.

Not going to write him off or rip on him, he is 19. Think he will do fine at Edmonton.

 

[Agalloch1986]

So in Russia is Yakupov being lauded as a gifted, wondrous player right now? All I'm saying is I don't get the hype all I see is a selfish, immature player who gave away the puck over and over and over again.

 

[Dynamo81]

So in Russia is Yakupov being lauded as a gifted, wondrous player right now? All I'm saying is I don't get the hype all I see is a selfish, immature player who gave away the puck over and over and over again.

He has been blasted but it is the coaching that has copped criticism from day one of the tournament.

My point is that you are basing it off this tournament and SSS, no one knows what will happen but I think on the right line (Which he should be at Edmonton) he will probably do fine, based on what I saw of him in the KHL (Which is the highest level he has played at). Even when his performance in the KHL dropped off (He went into a big slump which has carried over into WJC), he still did not look as bad as he did in the WJC.

He was not selfish last year at the WJC playing on the same line with Kuznetsov.

I think he is Yakupov is over rated but I don't think he will have a bad career. Larionov continuously comparing him to Bure increased his stock, we both know the comparison is insulting to Bure.

 

[Suxnet]

Nail Yakupov has to be the worst first round draft pick that I've seen since Alexandre Daigle. I think Edmonton got ripped off to be honest. He has been absolutely useless every time I have seen him play on TV. I had the pleasure of seeing Yakupov play once during the SSS and he is exactly as shown on TV boring, listless, lazy, and most of all selfish. He has no concept of what a team is and it seems to be always him against the other 9 players on the ice. You would note the only goal he scored against Germany was when actually utilized his linemate Khokhlachyov (I think even he was surprised!) who shot the puck on net and Yakupov got the rebound and scored. Varnakov should've benched Yakupov or at least moved Zharkov up to play with Khokhlachyov and Sigarev who Yakupov seemed to find more of a nuisance instead of seeing them as gifted hockey players. Yakupov should strip himself of the captaincy since he doesn't deserve it.

Thankfully, Grigorenko and Kucherov kept Russia from being embarrased too badly. Yarullin also stepped up admirably in Naumenkov's absence. Russia was hurting badly from the loss of Naumenkov he was the best player for both Russia and WHL in the SSS game I saw. Nichushkin shows promise, but needs to find his own style instead of trying to fashion himself as a bigger Yakupov.

You lost all credibility with that first sentence. Have you watched his KHL or OHL games? No? That's what I thought.

 

[malkinfan]

Nail Yakupov has to be the worst first round draft pick that I've seen since Alexandre Daigle. I think Edmonton got ripped off to be honest. He has been absolutely useless every time I have seen him play on TV.

I somewhat agree. While I don't think he'll end up as bad as Daig did, he looked that bad... I also watched him from the Summer Series on, which is about 18 games and he has been miserable in all but 2 or 3 games. He is like a broken record, tries to go end to end everytime he gets the puck, or cuts in at the blueline and fires a shot. In the shootout he is even more predictable, goes five hole 90% of the time. It's ridiculous how many times he turned over the puck at the world juniors and 1 goal (against Germany) in 14 WJC games is pathetic. I am calling this now, Grigo will have a better career than Nail.

He will probably be better suited to the smaller ice because he has a good release, he will likely get a lot of PP points and maybe a highlight goal 1 in 20 tries and thats about it.

 

[MaxV]

Guys,

You are overeacting.

Obviously, he was pressing in this tournament, wanting to make highlight reel goals every time he touched the puck. He plays differently then this on Club level.

He isn't a selfish player. He uses his teammates.

 

[Botta]

Guys,

You are overeacting.

Obviously, he was pressing in this tournament, wanting to make highlight reel goals every time he touched the puck. He plays differently then this on Club level.

He isn't a selfish player. He uses his teammates.

I agree.He tried way TOO much in this tournamentbecause he was supposed to be the big star of the russian team.With teammates on his level and better he will be fine.then he doesn`t have to overdo everything.Be patient with him, he is 19

 

[Siberian]

Yakupov doesn't have the size. He is too small for this type of style. He seriously duplicates Ovechkin's game but Ovy has may be 5 inches on him. I am surprised how NHL scouts can be this dumb. The whole draft related to the Russians was a gong show. There should have been no way that a talented center with such size should have slipped to 11th pick where top pick Yakupov should have been a second or may be late first round pick considering the risk that smallish players barely make it big in the NHL.

 

[Suxnet]

Yakupov doesn't have the size. He is too small for this type of style. He seriously duplicates Ovechkin's game but Ovy has may be 5 inches on him. I am surprised how NHL scouts can be this dumb. The whole draft related to the Russians was a gong show. There should have been no way that a talented center with such size should have slipped to 11th pick where top pick Yakupov should have been a second or may be late first round pick considering the risk that smallish players barely make it big in the NHL.

This has to be a joke. Eberle is 5'11 and just scored 76 points in the NHL and Yak is more talented than him. I really liked Grigorenko and thought he should have went in the top 5-8 in the draft but coming up to such ridiculous conclusions after so few games is asinine. The question isn't whether Yakupov makes the NHL, it's whether he can score 50 goals there.

 

[Siberian]

This has to be a joke. Eberle is 5'11 and just scored 76 points in the NHL and Yak is more talented than him. I really liked Grigorenko and thought he should have went in the top 5-8 in the draft but coming up to such ridiculous conclusions after so few games is asinine. The question isn't whether Yakupov makes the NHL, it's whether he can score 50 goals there.

Sorry, it's laughable. Can't even compare such different players. For Eberle the size is 5 times less important than for Yakupov.

 

[Agalloch1986]

Russia needed a player to step up and be a leader. Yakupov didn't provide that so Grigorenko and Kucherov stepped up instead. Grigorenko has a great future ahead of him Buffalo got an absolute steal 12th overall! Vasilevski and Makarov were both brilliant and gave Russia a chance to win every game.

Yakupov is just a one trick pony all he does is the end to end rush and after it didn't work the first 783 times he tries it again at the end of the game against Sweden. A truly skilled player would try something different such as utilizing Sigarev who is very talented as he showed in the SSS it is too bad he got hurt against Canada.

 

[cska78]

http://www.allhockey.ru/news/139448/

that's what his Nizhnekamsk coach had to say about him

 

[lakai17]

Wait til he gets NHL line-mates!

 

[McPuritania]

HF at its finest.

Yak has a bad tourney and he is the worst pick since Daigle. When he starts to light the lamp in the NHL the same dissenters will be praising him as the next big thing.

You people need to stop reacting so much to the small sample highs and lows, and take into consideration the large sample from the OHL and KHL. It's hilarious how the OP came to this conclusion by watching a few games on tv.

Don't ever change HF.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Yakupov doesn't have the size. He is too small for this type of style. He seriously duplicates Ovechkin's game but Ovy has may be 5 inches on him. I am surprised how NHL scouts can be this dumb. The whole draft related to the Russians was a gong show. There should have been no way that a talented center with such size should have slipped to 11th pick where top pick Yakupov should have been a second or may be late first round pick considering the risk that smallish players barely make it big in the NHL.

Second/late first round You have no clue what you are talking about. Or maybe you are a superb troll because I don't think there could exist such a clueless person.

 

[JoeyBeans]

Nail Yakupov beaver taps his stick more then any player I have watched.

 

[Atas2000]

HF at its finest.

Yak has a bad tourney and he is the worst pick since Daigle. When he starts to light the lamp in the NHL the same dissenters will be praising him as the next big thing.

You people need to stop reacting so much to the small sample highs and lows, and take into consideration the large sample from the OHL and KHL. It's hilarious how the OP came to this conclusion by watching a few games on tv.

Don't ever change HF.

He scored two today against Canada. We gotta enthrone him as a hockey deity right away!

You are so right. It's HF at it's very finest.

 

[Agalloch1986]

Yes, Yakupov had a very good game and played well against Canada. You will see that he changed his entire style of play instead of the end to end rushes he utilized his teammates and found some open space and made himself available. Instead of hurting his team and trying to do it all himself he helped his team win the bronze. He had two weak WJHC, but ended very strongly. I hope it will be a learning experience for Yakupov!

As a side note I just found out yesterday that Grigorenko is still only 18! That bodes well next year for Russia in Sweden!

 

[Fantomas]

Yakupov was a major annoyance to my eyes at WJC. But it was nothing I didn't already know.

- He's not captain material
- He is not the sharpest knife in the drawer

But this won't prevent him from being a first line player in the future. He will be fine. He is not the next Makarov though.

 

[Dynamo81]

As expected he is doing fine, slowly adapting and still learning. Looking more and more comfortable game by game. 2 goals in his last two games, 2 goals in his first 3 NHL games is not a bad start.

Loved his celebration to tie the game against the Kings with 5 seconds left.

 

[MaxV]

That was an awesome celebration.

Shows just how fast he is on skates. Teammates were to trying to catch and hug him, no chance.

 

[cska78]

where was that at the WJC for his country?

 

[Dynamo81]

where was that at the WJC for his country?

Tatarstan did not play at the WJC

He was very disappointing at the WJC but I never questioned his effort, I just think he was trying far too much and Varnakov was clueless. Don't think Yakupov is a leader, he can be a game changer but not a leader. We both saw in the KHL if he is playing for a team that has some sort of game plan he can play hockey with men.

I hope he makes a real big improvement in the next year and his game does a lot of maturing. The more Russians hitting form approaching Sochi 2014 the better. I never even considered him to make the team especially under Bil but I hope he starts knocking on the door, the more players in the mix for selection the better.

 

[Muscle Bob]

As expected he is doing fine, slowly adapting and still learning. Looking more and more comfortable game by game. 2 goals in his last two games, 2 goals in his first 3 NHL games is not a bad start.

Loved his celebration to tie the game against the Kings with 5 seconds left.

Wow he's a *******! Should have celebrated like this: