The All Purpose What's Up With Yakupov Thread

[Lay Z Boy GM]

Maybe Eakins asked his old friend to public with his scouting report because Eakins want's to find what makes his players tick and for Yakupov that probably is his dream of Olympics and if Yakupov hears publicly that he won't be on the team if he isn't playing a team game maybe he'll improve.

I'm thinking the same thing. Eakins is just trying to motivate Yakupov. I think I prefer this to coddling young players.

 

[fuswald]

Why is the media ripping Yak up so much right now. Give him a break for christ sakes.

Seems to me the players are alienating Yak for some reason. Bunch of times he was on the PP and nobody passed to him and he was obviously open.

Is he being shunned for something he said or ?

This would make it hard for a kid to concentrate on doing well when he feels nobody is on his side. Not a smile on the bench either and wasn't chatting with anyone except Smyth.

If so he needs to go even though it wouldn't be fair.

Hope I'm dreaming.

 

[Sloth Slothersons*]

Seems to me the players are alienating Yak for some reason. Bunch of times he was on the PP and nobody passed to him and he was obviously open.

Is he being shunned for something he said or ?

This would make it hard for a kid to concentrate on doing well when he feels nobody is on his side. Not a smile on the bench either and wasn't chatting with anyone except Smyth.

If so he needs to go even though it wouldn't be fair.

Hope I'm dreaming.

He is a Russian hockey player. The North American players on the Oilers don't understand his foreign gestures.

 

[McGoMcD]

meh Yaks will get the last laugh. He didnt' play well so Eakins put him in the PB. not big deal. really, I imagine most NHL players have spent some time in the PB to sent a message. He will be back, watch him go on a tear starting tomorrow.

 

[booyakasha]

Nice little bit of information from fellow comrade.

http://nhl.si.com/2013/10/16/russian-olympic-scout-edmonton-oilers-nail-yakupov-has-no-future/

Wow, that headline is brutal.

that is a quintessential misleading and out of context quote as you can get.

allan muir?..that's F#$kin shameful

 

[Oiltankjob Fail]

If the organization is trying to destroy this player they are off to a great start. Getting sick of all this bs not only are they destroying him but his trade value as well if they don't see him as part of the future, but this does not surprise me . This management puts their ego above common sense. IMO Lowe Mactavish and now hired rookie coach all full of ego. This team is doomed unless Katz cleans house.

 

[booyakasha]

If the organization is trying to destroy this player they are off to a great start. Getting sick of all this bs not only are they destroying him but his trade value as well if they don't see him as part of the future, but this does not surprise me . This management puts their ego above common sense. IMO Lowe Mactavish and now hired rookie coach all full of ego. This team is doomed unless Katz cleans house.

seems you're falling victim to the media hysteria.....nobody's trying to destroy Yakupov

do you really believe what you just typed there?

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

If the organization is trying to destroy this player they are off to a great start. Getting sick of all this bs not only are they destroying him but his trade value as well if they don't see him as part of the future, but this does not surprise me . This management puts their ego above common sense. IMO Lowe Mactavish and now hired rookie coach all full of ego. This team is doomed unless Katz cleans house.

Who the hell said that?

 

[McDNicks17]

Keep the discussion civil...

 

[Dorian2]

Wow, that headline is brutal.

that is a quintessential misleading and out of context quote as you can get.

allan muir?..that's F#$kin shameful

I'm not sure if you read the article itself, but wowzers.

Talk about the might of pen over sword.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I don't know. Joensuu - Gordon - Yakupov worked well and it was an amazing line.

Joensuu - Gordon - pylon
would be still be a great line. It wasn't amazing because of Yak, that's for sure.

 

[booyakasha]

I'm not sure if you read the article itself, but wowzers.

Talk about the might of pen over sword.

I did read the article, I also saw the original interview before this article was written....nothing Kravchuk said was wrong or damning....he only stated Yakupov needs to play a team game, or else he'll have no future...which is true, not just for Yakupov, but for any player.

this headline and article by mr.muir was written slanted.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

I recall Ovechkin saying he would return to Russia and leave the NHL if the NHL players weren't allowed to play in Russia for the Olympics. I'd also say Eakins has found his motivational tool.

 

[Dorian2]

I did read the article, I also saw the original interview before this article was written....nothing Kravchuk said was wrong or damning....he only stated Yakupov needs to play a team game, or else he'll have no future...which is true, not just for Yakupov, but for any player.

this headline and article by mr.muir was written slanted.

Oh, I agree. Totally slanted. That's the brilliance of it though. More fuel to all the Yakupov doubters, of which there are many.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I think Kravchuk is still bitter about us calling him Kravsuck for all those years. But he does make some valid points, like how horrible he is defensively. Hell, even in the offensive zone he looks lost at times. One particular play sticks out in my head last game: Two Oilers (I think Acton and Smyth) were battling in the corner for a puck--Yak, instead of getting open in front of the net to wait for a potential pass, or at least being somewhere near the middle slot area, skates all the way back to the middle of the offensive blueline, in no mans land basically. I'm not sure if this is part of Eakins system (I doubt it), but I thought it was a poor read by Yak, and I was wondering what the hell he was doing. He's a mess right now.

 

[ottawa]

LOL and I thought the media in MTL was bad

Do the journalists in Edmonton realize Yak is a sophomore? They're tearing him apart as if he's a 10 year veteran playing bad defensive hockey...the flaws in Yakupovs game are worrisome because they're hard to teach after the amount of years he's played hockey in his life, but they're not impossible to correct.

The coach should have just given him limited ice time and put him on the shutdown line instead of benching him, and then make him earn his minutes on the top 6 if he started to play well defensively. IMO the management just handled this poorly and now he's in the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons, which cannot help a 20 year old players confidence

 

[Groucho]

LOL and I thought the media in MTL was bad

Do the journalists in Edmonton realize Yak is a sophomore? They're tearing him apart as if he's a 10 year veteran playing bad defensive hockey...the flaws in Yakupovs game are worrisome because they're hard to teach after the amount of years he's played hockey in his life, but they're not impossible to correct.

The coach should have just given him limited ice time and put him on the shutdown line instead of benching him, and then make him earn his minutes on the top 6 if he started to play well defensively. IMO the management just handled this poorly and now he's in the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons, which cannot help a 20 year old players confidence

They've been doing this to our Euro players for years.

Yak needs to get off the snide. Look what it did for Eberle? Get that first one outta the way and watch his game come around. He's probably too inside his own head right now, but I don't really blame him.

 

[Gord]

LOL and I thought the media in MTL was bad

Do the journalists in Edmonton realize Yak is a sophomore? They're tearing him apart as if he's a 10 year veteran playing bad defensive hockey...the flaws in Yakupovs game are worrisome because they're hard to teach after the amount of years he's played hockey in his life, but they're not impossible to correct.

The coach should have just given him limited ice time and put him on the shutdown line instead of benching him, and then make him earn his minutes on the top 6 if he started to play well defensively. IMO the management just handled this poorly and now he's in the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons, which cannot help a 20 year old players confidence

he's a #1 draft pick and the expectations are higher, as they should be.
He has to learn to work hard of ALL parts of the game, not just the ones he want to focus on. no more coasting by on talent alone.

This year will be a good test to see his work ethic and how mature he becoming.

 

[Up the Irons]

I'm not a Yak doubter, but I want the Oilers to improve and the only way for that to happen is by trading a valuable asset for 2 or 3 good assets. Yak is the logical choice. we can't be afraid of 'but Yak might be a 50 goal scorer' (doubtful); this is what paralyzed Tambo. we can only think 'will we be better'. if we can get a Boychuk-type and a Glencross-type and a pick.... done.

 

[joestevens29]

I'm not a Yak doubter, but I want the Oilers to improve and the only way for that to happen is by trading a valuable asset for 2 or 3 good assets. Yak is the logical choice. we can't be afraid of 'but Yak might be a 50 goal scorer' (doubtful); this is what paralyzed Tambo. we can only think 'will we be better'. if we can get a Boychuk-type and a Glencross-type and a pick.... done.

Actually yes you should be. This isn't us holding onto Robbie Schremp or Linus Omark or Marc Pouilot, this is us holding onto a guy that was thought of as one of the top draft eligible players just a year ago.

 

[Moose Coleman]

I'm not a Yak doubter, but I want the Oilers to improve and the only way for that to happen is by trading a valuable asset for 2 or 3 good assets. Yak is the logical choice. we can't be afraid of 'but Yak might be a 50 goal scorer' (doubtful); this is what paralyzed Tambo. we can only think 'will we be better'. if we can get a Boychuk-type and a Glencross-type and a pick.... done.

If you are trading Yak for anything but a current or potential top pairing defenseman, you might as well not bother.

 

[Dorian2]

I'm not a Yak doubter, but I want the Oilers to improve and the only way for that to happen is by trading a valuable asset for 2 or 3 good assets. Yak is the logical choice. we can't be afraid of 'but Yak might be a 50 goal scorer' (doubtful); this is what paralyzed Tambo. we can only think 'will we be better'. if we can get a Boychuk-type and a Glencross-type and a pick.... done.

The only thing that paralyzed Tambo was his extremely slow thought process.

The thing that really sucks about this media crap is that Eakins was trying to get the most out of one of his players by pressing the appropriate combination of buttons and switches. But the media jumps all over it like it's never happened to an NHL sophomore before. And of course the way Yaks does interviews probably doesn't help much neither, and the "media" knows it.

Now Eakins might have to do a bit of damage control. I wouldn't be surprised if Eakins takes away all that fantastic fresh fruit that fly's freely in the foyer.

 

[dyzfunctioned]

<mod edit>

Based on what?

All we have to judge him on is his rookie year. Looking at forwards drafted since the '06 draft (Crosby/Ovi/Fleury were the previous three) here's how their points per game in rookie season breaks down:

Kane 0.88 ppg
RNH 0.84 ppg
Tavares 0.66 ppg
Yakupov 0.65 ppg
Hall 0.65 ppg
Stamkos 0.49 ppg

Average would be 0.7 ppg for 1st overall drafted forwards. So what can we say about this? Based on rookie performance, Yakupov is a) about average, and b) definitely not the worst. Interestingly enough, the worst rookie performance also came from the player who has the best career high amongst the group and also who is the best player of the group at this point in time.

In summary, Yakupov is not the worst 1st overall pick in recent history based on comparative performance, and secondly, 1 year is far too short a time frame to evaluate these players, otherwise Stamkos would be the worst 1st overall pick in the past 10 years.

 

[Arpeggio]

Yak hasn't even played 70 games in the NHL yet. If the Oilers move him, we will all regret it at some point, the only question would be whether the return makes it easier to swallow.

Yak is a sure-fire 40 goal guy in my mind. It might take him until he's 23, but he'll get there.

 

[jbean]

if we can get a Boychuk-type and a Glencross-type and a pick.... done.

Yikes that could end up being a total disaster of a trade. If we're trading Yakupov it better be for an elite goalie or a young top pairing dman signed long term. Just because he's had a rough start to the season doesn't mean Yakupov isn't still a first overall that the entire league was drooling over ever since he made a splash in the OHL.