Player Discussion Six Years Later

[Stoneman89]

Hey it’s July. It’s fun to look back at the ‘future stars’ who didn’t actually become stars and a few who outperformed. As Bangers said, his predictions don’t matter, this is more of a reality check of how we saw/see prospects. Thankfully Bangers is good with playing slong with this. Maybe you can too. Cheers.

Do you have any predictions of your own from the past, that you'd like to share with us?

 

[A91]

I was convinced Yakupov was Ovechkin-lite
Thought Schultz would be what Barrie is now... and he pretty much is, just not for us.
Always knew that the 76 point season was the peak for Eberle, I wanted to trade him after that, nobody agreed.
Always knew Hallsy had Hart potential. Always stood by my stance and still do that he is the best player from the 2010 draft.

 

[Stoneman89]

I was convinced Yakupov was Ovechkin-lite
Thought Schultz would be what Barrie is now... and he pretty much is, just not for us.
Always knew that the 76 point season was the peak for Eberle, I wanted to trade him after that, nobody agreed.
Always knew Hallsy had Hart potential. Always stood by my stance and still do that he is the best player from the 2010 draft.

I bought into the hype about Yak. Thought he would be a consistent 40 goal man for us. Hard to blame the Oil for drafting him, as he was ranked #1 in most polls, the fans in general bought into the hype and everyone was pretty jacked when we got him. Just bad luck that we had the #1 pick in that draft and not one of the other drafts.
I thought Schulz was going to be really good, and he seemed on his way that first shortened year with Kruger as his coach. But once Eakins entered, he fell off the map, lost his confidence, and never got it back until he arrived in Pittsburgh.
I thought Eberle could hit 80 + points at least a couple times, but no go. However, if he continues to play with Barzal, you never know.
And I too thought Hall would be a thoroughbred. Just from watching him take over in the Memorial Cup two years in a row made me believe this guy would be something special if he ever got the chance to go to the dance. In hindsight, I prefer Seguin. Not dissing Hall, but I like what Seguin brings to the skill table. Has a lethal shot and a great playmaker, and a centre to boot.

 

[ManofSteel55]

The sad thing isn't the evaluations, its that all those loser players were considered our "Good" prospects.

 

[KCC]

View attachment 128151
Bangers projections from June 2012.
Thoughts?

Ah yes, when fans kept having hope after getting draft pick after draft pick. lol

 

[Speedo]

Do you have any predictions of your own from the past, that you'd like to share with us?

I don’t have any in writing but I’m sure they were more optimistic than this, which of course means I was further off base on most players. I’ve become a little more guarded/jaded in assessing the prospects going forward.

 

[KarmaPolice]

50 goals from Yakupov? Wow. Well my prediction for him was much better: only a 30-40 goal winger.

Okay we both missed that one badly...

 

[Austerlitz]

I remember thinking that a Hall-RNH-Eberle line would on day be like having a (prime) Iginla-Datsyuk-Parise line.

 

[tsnTpoint]

Pool Party reminds me a bit of MPS. Lets hope I am wrong.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Frick man, Yakupov and Schultz actually had good years too. Dallas Eakins can go jump off a cliff.

 

[The Panther]

Wow, that's a head-spinner. Almost reminds me of that thread last summer with all the "high"lights of the decade of darkness. (That was the best thread, ever.)

I have to give myself some credit, here. With Hall, everyone could see he had great potential, so it's no surprise he became a high-scoring winger. I never would have thought he'd be a Hart winner, however (although he is so only by virtue of McDavid missing the playoffs, Kucherov not getting enough credit, and MacKinnon missing some key games).

Eberle I liked in his one or two really strong seasons, but his limitations were also evident. I certainly didn't think he'd ever be a 90+ point scorer. I do think he's fallen a bit off from where he should now be, though. But I never really thought he'd be a star.

Schultz, to me, is a leopard who will yet show his true spots. The physical abilities were always evident in Edmonton, but the problem was his mental head-space. Being on a Cup contender has obviously forced him to 'think' smarter and be more in control of his decisions on the ice (doesn't hurt when you have a veteran team with stars to cover your mistakes). But I think the day is coming when his limitations will become very evident.

Yakupov I never liked (as a player). Honestly, I could tell you from his first season that he didn't have it -- and that was his peak!

I dunno, Edmonton from 2006 to 2015 or so was a weird place. I never thought we'd see the day when the once-proud Oilers had a revolving door of coaches, ensuring lack of team identity and poor development of young players. But we sure did.

 

[Speedo]

Not unrelated, what do you all think about TSN’s ‘experts’ take on these guys going forward from 2012?

 

[NORiculous]

I don’t know who Bangers is but I’m all for bang-hers if they are major and vaccinated.

 

[Speedo]

My prediction at the time was Tavares, Hall, Seguin, RNH.

 

[Lukin1978]

Wow some real dreaming fantasy land stuff there for Nuge, Eberle and Yak

 

[Speedo]

Wow some real dreaming fantasy land stuff there for Nuge, Eberle and Yak

At the time what did you think their upside was?

 

[Lukin1978]

At the time what did you think their upside was?

Nuge and Eberle I thought 80 points maybe and Yak I never did see what was so amazing there but thought he'd be a 30 goal a season guy.

 

[Bank Shot]

My prediction at the time was Tavares, Hall, Seguin, RNH.

Proof?

 

[Perfect_Drug]

To be honest I had these expectations for Eberle, nuge and Yakupov.
Gross

Eberle was a top 15 scorer in his second season. If felt like a reasonable projection at the time. Little did we know she peaked.

Nuge and Yak peaked in their rookie seasons.

(We failed their development).

 

[Speedo]

Proof?

Sorry, don’t have a recording of the fire pit chat I had with the boys 6 years ago. Geezus.

 

[TheRebuild]

Honestly I don't think anyone with out the aid of a crystal ball could have predicted how bad Yakupov would be.

 

[Supermassive]

Pool Party reminds me a bit of MPS. Lets hope I am wrong.

That was my fear from the start. Similar in almost every way. Might have been successful in a strong, patient organization too.

 

[Blue Line Turnover]

Right from the start, I had had reservations about Eberle and Schultz. I always felt that they needed to be insulated and werent going to be true big game players.
However, I thought that Yak was going to be a 40 goal scorer who was going to be physical, as well. I thought Petry would become a decent first pairing D-man.

 

[Smartguy]

I joined this board years ago as you can see. I’ve been here for quite a few waves of “new guys”. Schremp wave to the Robert Nilsson, Cogliano and Gagner wave. The Eberle, Hall and MPS wave after that. Every single wave has had incredible projections for the heights these guys would carry our team to and the only one that has ever held any truth was the last and final wave featuring McDavid and Drai.

There was also little random blurbs about the ability of a potential late steal we would all get excited about (currently mine is Maksimov). They hardly ever pan out. Omark was one, Lander was one, Teemu was one- I remember the hype about Slava Trukno. That was hilarious. Taylor Chroney as well.

Then there’s the posters who are convinced every one is over hyping the prospects and tend to go in the other direction. @McJadeddog is one who seems was right on the money again with Pulju. (Couldn’t have been more wrong about McDavid, though). I remember he was bashed a ton for being pessimistic and he’s always been mostly right about us being too optimistic.

The thing about Oiler prospects from the last decade, if your pessimistic rather then optimistic you would be right about 99% of the time