Speculation: Yakopov reminds me about Daigle

[syz]

Eberle, RNH, and Schultz sure learned the defensive game in OKC.

 

[The Nuge]

Does anyone ever become a better hockey player that plays for us?

It seems no one gets any better once they arrive on the big club.

Hall and... Well, Hall is better now

 

[redgrant]

Katz considering he single handedly drafted Yaks should pick up the phone and talk to both Eakins and Yakupov to hear both sides of the story.

On the one hand Yaks has indeed been awful.

On the other hand he was doing amazing under Kreguer.

I personally dont think a one shot scorer can play on a line with Luke Gadzic.

 

[doggone]

Katz considering he single handedly drafted Yaks should pick up the phone and talk to both Eakins and Yakupov to hear both sides of the story.

On the one hand Yaks has indeed been awful.

On the other hand he was doing amazing under Kreguer.

I personally dont think a one shot scorer can play on a line with Luke Gadzic.

well said

 

[oakfield]

Anyone else find it comical that when Eakins is asked about Yakupov's playing time he says things like "we cannot give things to people," "you've gotta earn it," and even says that young guys need to "take their knocks" early on in their career, yet he is gift wrapping a spot to Roman Horak (who's about as proven as Anton Lander right now). Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see what Horak can do, but I'd like some consistency in this 'accountability' Eakins is preaching. I get putting Yakupov on the 4th line, he wasn't playing well, but after that Winnipeg game he should've been rewarded for his efforts. You can't say he's has to earn it if you aren't going to reward him when he does something well. That's like waving a treat in front of a dog to get him to do a trick, and then not giving him the treat after. Cruel as ****.

I find this 'agreement' kind of silly too. Yakupov basically has to jump through Eakins' hoops for Eakins to "try [his] best to put him in places to succeed." Shouldn't he be trying to do his best to do that (putting his players in a position to succeed) in the first place? I mean, he is the coach of this hockey team after all.

I'm trying to like Eakins, but he makes it awfully hard.

Eakin's on Horak:

"We're trying to put him in a spot where he can have some success too, not try to throw him down on the fourth line." "....try to set him up for success".

I have no idea what's going on. Eakin's is blowing my mind right now.

What the **** are you talking about?? If you're referring to Yak, he's been put on the first two lines numerous times, on the 3rd, on the 4th, on 1st line PP, 2nd line PP, etc. He's been given every opportunity to succeed and I think he will, eventually. They want Yak to be a great player, not just good, which is, supposedly, what they're trying to accomplish. We'll see how it works out..

This is Horak's first game with the team and Eakins thinks he's an offensive player so playing him on the top 2 lines makes sense. If it doesn't work, Horak goes back to the AHL.

Whatever you think of Eakins you should try and look at situations logically now and then..

THANK YOU.

He's not benching Yak for the rest of the season and throwing Horak in his spot for every remaining game. Yakupov will most likely play the rest of the season and continue to have the opportunity to succeed, while Horak will play maybe 5 games the rest of the way.

Short sighted and knee jerk reactions to this, wow.

 

[Roof Daddy]

This perfectly describes the way Eakins operates. More worried about his presentation than the end result.

 

[Billybaroo*]

This perfectly describes the way Eakins operates. More worried about his presentation than the end result.

huh? What does that mean?

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Katz considering he single handedly drafted Yaks should pick up the phone and talk to both Eakins and Yakupov to hear both sides of the story.

On the one hand Yaks has indeed been awful.

On the other hand he was doing amazing under Kreguer.

I personally dont think a one shot scorer can play on a line with Luke Gadzic.

You have a source for that?

 

[Billybaroo*]

You have a source for that?

Come on now. This is HF. You can just make things up and it becomes fact.

 

[rboomercat90]

Katz considering he single handedly drafted Yaks should pick up the phone and talk to both Eakins and Yakupov to hear both sides of the story.

just because Katz insisted on drafting Yakupov doesn't mean he actually gives a damn about the team. The draft is a yearly father-son bonding event for him. He gets his boy the shiniest toy available but just like any shiny toy the novelty quickly wears off.

 

[Consultant]

Say what you will about plus minus but it still does count for something and players worth their salt do care about this stat.
Yakupov is minus 25, next worse on the team is Gagner at -15.
-25 over the minutes Yakupov has played is bad, really bad. It does need to be addressed. He is completely lost in the defensive zone, and you have to backcheck like your life depends on it in this league, he is not, end of story.
I'm sure the Eakins deal was: concentrate on defense for a few games and I'll play you more, simple as that.
Sure Sakic was also a minus machine over his first few years but I think that was more to do with him playing heavy minutes on a bad club, with Yak it's more disturbing if in fact he just doesn't care so much about it... it needs to be addressed, I don't mind him sitting for a game and watching the defensive part of the game.

 

[Sloth Slothersons*]

Come on now. This is HF. You can just make things up and it becomes fact.

It's true. I can confirm.

 

[Mcnofool6110]

Yakupov should not go to the AHL. We know he can score goals, and he'll be used in a purely offensive role in the A (that's what you do with a weapon like this and you have a coach that's mediocrely competent).

Other than telling him what we already know (he can score), I don't exactly see how you're going to "teach him defending" by sending him down there a couple of games. Track record (Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle, Justin Schultz) doesn't really say great things about teaching defence, and even the players we've called up that are decent defenders (Arcobello, Lander) honed their craft in different leagues and were great 2-way players before getting here.

Give him an offensive passer on his wing and a good/great two way player on his centre and put him in a role where he can succeed whilst learning the ropes in the big show. It's not as if he's causing us to lose a playoff spot. And for the love of god, stop putting him on his off wing.

Hall-Nuge-Eberle
Perron-Arco/Gordon-Hemsky
Gagner-Gordon/Arco-Yakupov

Give the third line buttersoft minutes against the opposing teams third lines, give the second line of veterans the yeoman's minutes in terms of top line matching, and give the top line top line minutes against the second lines/checking lines and on the PP. To keep Yakupov's confidence up, give him PP minutes. I don't know, Eakins, maybe you should coach.

Be all and end all, either use and utilize Yakupov as the weapon he is now and help use his confidence to mold him into a better player (a la Ovechkin, who isn't still the greatest in his own zone), or part ways with him because he isn't the kind of player you want(ed).

 

[redgrant]

You have a source for that?

Its common knowledge the scouts wanted Murray and Katz overruled it.

 

[Master Lok]

On the other hand he was doing amazing under Kreguer.

100% false.

There's more to the game than just scoring goals on the PP.

 

[Roof Daddy]

huh? What does that mean?

He talks a good game (good enough to convince our management to give a rookie coach a 4 year deal and fire the existing coach), but at the end of the day we have the worst winning percentage of all the rebuild years despite having our best "on paper" line-up throughout this rebuild process. It's all smoke and mirrors, except he's the magician that takes a bow and has a suffocated dove fall out of his sleeve (a la GOB).

 

[McJadeddog]

Its common knowledge the scouts wanted Murray and Katz overruled it.

really? i'm what can easily be defined as a "hardcore oilers fan"... i read all the articles and watch all the interviews, i'm on this board almost literally every day of my life, i watch every single game.... all this, and i don't remember ever hearing that yakupov was a "katz pick", let alone it being considered common knowledge... now i might have the worst memory ever, but i don't think so

 

[Roof Daddy]

100% false.

There's more to the game than just scoring goals on the PP.

Tell that to the Flyers about last game. Our PP sapped all our momentum, there's gave them momentum.

 

[oobga]

Tell that to the Flyers about last game. Our PP sapped all our momentum, there's gave them momentum.

meh, we would just use Yak back on the point anyways and bench him as soon as he bobbles a desperation flopping saucer pass to the point from Gags or one of our other PP panickers.

There is really no winning when all your coaching staff does is make bad moves.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Its common knowledge the scouts wanted Murray and Katz overruled it.

Speculative nonsense made up by the conspiracy theorists of HF based on nothing factual. That's the only common knowledge. There are also several people who can overrule scouting staff for a pick, not just Katz. Not saying that is what occurred.

 

[Roof Daddy]

really? i'm what can easily be defined as a "hardcore oilers fan"... i read all the articles and watch all the interviews, i'm on this board almost literally every day of my life, i watch every single game.... all this, and i don't remember ever hearing that yakupov was a "katz pick", let alone it being considered common knowledge... now i might have the worst memory ever, but i don't think so

I don't know that anyone can factually prove it, so much as put some pieces together...

- Stauffer (a known Oilers media puppet) announced in the pre-draft radio show that the Oilers had decided on Murray (had it on good authority from unnamed source).

- can't remember where, but pretty sure it was reported McGregor was overruled on his decision.

So there's no exact evidence pointing to Katz, but Tambo was pretty clear on Oil Change he lets Stu handle all things draft related.

 

[Spawn]

really? i'm what can easily be defined as a "hardcore oilers fan"... i read all the articles and watch all the interviews, i'm on this board almost literally every day of my life, i watch every single game.... all this, and i don't remember ever hearing that yakupov was a "katz pick", let alone it being considered common knowledge... now i might have the worst memory ever, but i don't think so

The suggestion was (I think from Dreger or Mackenzie or maybe Elliot Friedman) that the majority of scouts wanted Murray but they were overruled. There was no suggestion as to who that person was. Whether it was Stu MacGregor, Tambo, Lowe, or Katz was unclear.

People just took it to mean it was Katz.

 

[redgrant]

really? i'm what can easily be defined as a "hardcore oilers fan"... i read all the articles and watch all the interviews, i'm on this board almost literally every day of my life, i watch every single game.... all this, and i don't remember ever hearing that yakupov was a "katz pick", let alone it being considered common knowledge... now i might have the worst memory ever, but i don't think so

Well obviously something like this isnt going to get published. Everyone knows it. As i said its common knowledge.

 

[Raab]

Well obviously something like this isnt going to get published. Everyone knows it. As i said its common knowledge.

If true that's 3 strikes againstKatz when he meddles in the hockey side of things, the other two being hiring Tambo, and signing the Horcoff contract.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

I don't know that anyone can factually prove it, so much as put some pieces together...

- Stauffer (a known Oilers media puppet) announced in the pre-draft radio show that the Oilers had decided on Murray (had it on good authority from unnamed source).

- can't remember where, but pretty sure it was reported McGregor was overruled on his decision.

So there's no exact evidence pointing to Katz, but Tambo was pretty clear on Oil Change he lets Stu handle all things draft related.

No he did not. I listened to almost every show around that time and I am pretty certain he was telling fans that Murray is also a desirable pick and he would not fault the Oilers for passing over Yak, as it addressed a need. Paraphrasing of course.

Unless I missed something that someone could link or find in the archives.