CanadianSuperPromise
Registered User
- Aug 21, 2012
- 2,584
- 15
Yakupov is soft now?
Making things up as we go I see.
Why not ? Eberle produces no matter who he plays with . Yak not so much but he does produces playing with McDavid . Therefore it makes sense to get him going either to trade him or to keep him . A confident Yak that is producing only helps the team .
He's not exactly a guy you want on your third line. That was the point.
Can't say I disagree. Yak's skillset belongs in the top-6, and nowhere else.
Sigh. I'm just going to make one post that I'm sure will get construed as 'why do you defend yak!!!!!!!111" as it always does, but to repeat the point made by others:
Why is attempting to spread out the scoring a bad idea? We know RNH-Ebs has worked very well in the past. Why is it a bad idea to start that as a pair and see if McDavid can get Yak or Pulju (an unproven rookie lol) going? We can always switch it up if it's not working, but I'd rather attempt to have 2 good scoring lines over just one. Throwing Lucic-McDavid-Eberle together really concentrates our scoring on one line and then we're stuck with a whole lot of maybes on the others: maybe RNH can find his rookie form finally and carry a line, maybe Draisaitl takes the next step without Hall, maybe Yak does finally put it together, and maybe Pulju is the second coming of Selanne. It just makes more sense to me to spread out our chips to try and maximize scoring potential if we can.
You don't sacrifice team performance in attempt to inflate the value of a single player. That alienates the entire team. It's in Chiarelli's interest to build the best TEAM possible not try to save Yakupov's career from bust territory.
The reason Yakupov can't be moved is because no team wants him. I'm willing to bet Chiarelli has tried everything in his power to bring back value for him already.
Signing Vermette moves Draisaitl to the wing and leaves Yakupov in the press box where he belongs. At this point i'd rather have the cap space then see Yakupov back for another season.
If Yak is not playing with McDavid then you have 2 scoring lines.
With ConYak, you have 3 scoring lines. Now ask yourself how Pittsburgh won the cup this year.
He's not exactly a guy you want on your third line. That was the point.
Can't say I disagree. Yak's skillset belongs in the top-6, and nowhere else.
He's not exactly a guy you want on your third line. That was the point.
Can't say I disagree. Yak's skillset belongs in the top-6, and nowhere else.
Still many teams in the west rolling 3rd line checking lines which are still a challenge to play against. Although if you spread out Lucic, Maroon, Kassian and Hendricks it will spread the diversity through the lines.
If Yak is not playing with McDavid then you have 2 scoring lines.
With ConYak, you have 3 scoring lines. Now ask yourself how Pittsburgh won the cup this year.
If the Pou-RNH-Ebs line from 1.5 years ago shows up along with ConYak+Lucic from early last season. That's a lot of fire power for any team to handle. Not to mention Maroon-Drai-Pulju will be very dangerous as well.
Having that 3 line scoring threat is not realistic at all. It's kind of a video game way of looking at it. It could only work if you have equal faith in all three lines to get the goal you need, or to stop the other team from scoring. Pittsburgh did it with three lines of strong experienced players, particularly at center. We don't have that resource. Our players are far too young. We should be sheltering them a bit still. Even RNH got too much checking assignments last year for my liking. At his age he shouldn't be absorbing those tough assignments. It's a waste of his offensive potential. I sure wouldn't want Eberle in that checking role, which would hurt him and the team's ability to score. And that's what it would be. The McDavid line will get an offensive push no matter what, not a balanced one, and even Draisaitl showed that he struggles a lot with tougher assignments, but explodes with sheltering. So no, Yak is not the only player we have that needs a push, and he will not get special treatment.
If Yak is not playing with McDavid then you have 2 scoring lines.
With ConYak, you have 3 scoring lines. Now ask yourself how Pittsburgh won the cup this year.
From what I understood from what you wrote is that, neither RNH, McDavid or Drai are ready for tough assignments. Then which C on the team is ready?
You can say Yak is a bust 1st overall, and he sucks. At this point it's old news and yes the team is cudding him with McDavid. But it works in our favor. The Oilers are in a position to ice 3 scoring lines to make up for the lack of offense on the backend. It balances out.
Why cant Pouliot-Draisaitl-Yakupov be a 3rd scoring line?
(Maroon-RNH-Puljujarvi being 2nd)
Its pretty much a toss up between the wingers and C.. All we can really bank on in top 9 is that McDavid is #1C. Any of the 3 LWer can be playing on one side and any of the 3 RWers can be playing on the right side..
Maroon-McDavid-Pu;jujarvi would still be a "1st line". Yak doesnt have to be on McD's line to have 3 scoring lines
Having that 3 line scoring threat is not realistic. It's kind of a video game way of looking at it.
Too many unknowns versus what's is proven. We know what line and "duo" works.
scoring depth is actually the new NHL. Crosby, Kessel and Malkin each had their own line. Sharks had 3 scoring lines.
I don't want him anywhere near the team. The guy is too content with losing and just cashing in his cheque.
What I'm saying is that the coach will not give tough assignments to McDavid and Draisaitl, and so RNH will get a standard 3rd line checking usage, and won't get the true scoring line push that you're talking about. If you want a true 3 line scoring threat, you need to have extreme faith in Draisaitl to play against a guy like Thornton, in the defensive zone, with the game on the line. You will have to not always put McDavid in those prime scoring opportunities because he will have to have his fair share of time in the defensive zone.
It just seems way more realistic to say that McDavid and Draisaitl will get sheltered compared to how Malkin and Crosby were used. Our guys just aren't ready for a truly balanced offensive set up
I think I'm leaning towards
Lucic-mcd-pulju
Pou-rnh-drai
Maroon-lander-kassian
Hendo-stu-pak