News Article: YAKUPOV ICETIME - Interview between Gregor and Krueger

[Expatriate]

Wreck-it-Ralph's idea of the perfect season 0-0-82

 

[Gone]

Wow, I'm more convinced than ever that Tambourine has made a colossal error with Kruger. Four coaches in four years, and the one left standing (when it is most critical to Tambourine's own future), is the worst of the bunch.

This guy seems so inflexible, and so unwilling to try new ideas. That pre-planned game may have worked in the Swiss League, but it's got us 2nd last in offence in the NHL. If he's trying to suck, he's got them doing something right.

 

[0ilerman]

RK is so hell bent on sheltering and teaching Yakupov...but how does a young player get better or prove he's learned something unless he gets the chance?
Losing Tanev was a bad mistake, and that loss stung a LOT. But at a certain point, you need to let it go and let a guy prove himself again.

 

[Rin]

It bugs me to read that Kreuger has a very set plan of how he's gonna use his forwards and who he's gonna play. Doesn't sound very responsive to in game dynamics. Why not just play a guy more when he's playing well? Players are inconsistent so take advantage when a guy is going. Doesn't really surprise me though given the way Kreuger handled Paajarvii when he stepped up his play but it took Kreuger several games before Paajarvii saw increased opportunity. Also I HATE that he says he has a hierarchy. That's just another way of restricting yourself Ralph. But it's okay because then you don't have to make tough decisions and can stay inside your box.

Also does Kreuger not remember Yakupov's 2 big goals at the beginning of the year at crunch time? Does he not watch how crappy Smyth plays and how slow he is?

It makes sense that Tambo would hire Kreuger seeing as Kreuger is slow to respond and overly conservative.

Our only two OT winners were scored by Yakupov.

 

[The Bored Man]

RK is so hell bent on sheltering and teaching Yakupov...but how does a young player get better or prove he's learned something unless he gets the chance?
Losing Tanev was a bad mistake, and that loss stung a LOT. But at a certain point, you need to let it go and let a guy prove himself again.

Petry,Smid, Eberle were equally at fault on that goal.

Fire this clown. And everyone else except for Joey.

 

[Njoy Oilers]

He is confident in our shooters though...maybe he doesn't realize that it goes both ways. Even if we CAN score in the SO, we need to stop the GA in the SO.

And this is where Duby needs to step it up. Its obvious that the other teams know to shoot high on him where he is weak.

 

[Njoy Oilers]

"he understands that it’s just not his time yet. It was no different when we went back a few years to the roles that Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle had to now being able to play in those minutes."

I'm pretty certain that neither Hall nor Eberle were consistently benched in the 3rd period of games during their rookie seasons.

Eberle and Hall were both rookies in 10/11:

Eberle - 14:27 ESTOI/g
Hall - 15:26 ESTOI/g

RNH, last year: 14:33 ESTOI/g

Yakupov, this year: 11:28 ESTOI/g

He's either got a very bad memory, or an outright liar.

He was an assistant those years. Not his decision.

 

[Njoy Oilers]

He was an assistant those years. Not his decision.

Which makes you wonder, was Renney a better coach overall??

 

[McDNicks17]

The fact that Dubnyk is 36th in the league in SO SV% makes playing for the shoot-out even more ridiculous.

 

[Suxnet]

From the article:

Yakupov was on the ice for two OT losses, on February 04th and 06th. He did lose his man, Tanev, vs. the Canucks but he made no mistake on the Jagr game-winner.

Wasn't the Tanev one where Eberle flew the zone early and left Yakupov out to dry against two Nucks players?

 

[s7ark]

Ralph is just a bad coach. This interview cements that he makes poor decisions based on gut vs actual results. Bad vets > good kids. What a waste of a season. But hey, at least the Oilers will stick with their bad decision rather than hire one of he good coaches on the market. We'll dither around while guys like Ruff get jobs elsewhere and end up promoting Bucky when Ralph's incompetence becomes too obvious for even the Oilers higher ups to miss.

 

[McGreat One]

I was ecstatic when we first hired Kreuger as head coach. Watching the first season of Oil Change made me really grow to like the guy and seeing him question some of Renney's decisions as well as his relationship with the players made me really think this guy was the right fit for the job. As this season grew on I started to wonder about some of the decisions Kreuger made just like everyone else but still managed to give him the benefit of the doubt because I liked the guy. Lately I've been starting to wonder if I was wrong about Kreuger and maybe it would have been better if we had to just hire Sutter in the offseason instead of Ralph. After reading this post and interview with Gregor I am convinced this organization made a total mistake!!

When I read this interview it clicked in me that what we got in Kreuger is no different in what he had in Renney. Not only in the way Kreuger presents himself in interviews but on the bench as well. We crapped on Renney all last season for playing guys like Smyth and Horcoff over Eberle and Hall late in games when we needed some offence or energy, and now I see no difference this season with Kreuger playing Smyth over Yakupov and benching Yak late in EVERY game. Even when he finally made the right decision to split up the Hall-RNH-Eberle line when the only player on the line producing was Hall he still went with Nuge and Eberle as his go to guys and still never gave Yakupov a decent chance. I'm not going to blame Kreuger for our piss poor play this year, but I do wonder what our record would be if we had a guy like Sutter behind the bench.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

From the article:

Wasn't the Tanev one where Eberle flew the zone early and left Yakupov out to dry against two Nucks players?

Yes.

This coach is just

 

[McDNicks17]

From the article:

Wasn't the Tanev one where Eberle flew the zone early and left Yakupov out to dry against two Nucks players?

It was, but you could put some blame on Yakupov.

In hindsight he should have been covering Tanev, but at the time cutting off the one Sedin who was on his way to the slot wasn't a terrible play.

 

[Ragss]

Our only two OT winners were scored by Yakupov.

Well that is ******* telling, isn't it? How did he go from that, to zero OT icetime...

 

[Digger12]

He was an assistant those years. Not his decision.

No offense, but I'm not seeing how that's in any way relevant to my point, which was that his contention that Yakupov's treatment is no different to how Hall and Eberle were dealt with...which is patently not true.

To be fair to the man, for the most part (other than recent games where I think Yakupov's earned more icetime in key situations than he's been given) I can understand why he's given Yakupov the icetime he's gotten...the kid definitely is as raw as it gets when it came to playing without the puck. That's fine.

What I don't like is his penchant for misrepresenting the truth when the truth is inconvenient for him. Don't say he's being treated the same as Hall/Ebs when it's obviously not the case.

 

[Koto]

Well that is ******* telling, isn't it? How did he go from that, to zero OT icetime...

scoring in general upsets our coach.


scoring in OT? GTFO kid, hit the showers.

 

[DrDrai]

"We play to win........in the shoot out"

 

[Suxnet]

"We play to win........in the shoot out"

We're so screwed when they toss the shootout for extended overtime.

 

[I am the Liquor]

"he understands that it’s just not his time yet. It was no different when we went back a few years to the roles that Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle had to now being able to play in those minutes."

I'm pretty certain that neither Hall nor Eberle were consistently benched in the 3rd period of games during their rookie seasons.

Eberle and Hall were both rookies in 10/11:

Eberle - 14:27 ESTOI/g
Hall - 15:26 ESTOI/g

RNH, last year: 14:33 ESTOI/g

Yakupov, this year: 11:28 ESTOI/g

He's either got a very bad memory, or an outright liar.

Im gonna choose door number two.

 

[McNutty780]

Would Sutter have been a better coach if we hired him last year?


Serious question

 

[cpsman]

Would Sutter have been a better coach if we hired him last year?


Serious question

Absolutely.

 

[timekeep]

Would Sutter have been a better coach if we hired him last year?


Serious question

How could he have been worse?,

Its starting to look like Tambo took the home town discount hiring a coach.

Tambo: 'Ralph we are firing Tom, you will be the new HC.'
Ralph: 'How much of a raise?'
Tambo: 'Do you you really need a raise?'
Ralph: 'No, how about a bonus if we hit .500?'
Tambo: 'Deal'

 

[frag2]

And this is where Duby needs to step it up. Its obvious that the other teams know to shoot high on him where he is weak.

According to the goalie experts on HFOil, he's doing a fine job

 

[Ragss]

The silliest part about playing for the shootout is that Duby sucks at them. I don't think he's ever made a save when they go high-stick side.