Why is Yakupov a bust?

[Atas2000]

Hitchcock and Yeo are about the exact opposite kind of coach Yakupov needed to play under to have any hopes of resurrecting his NHL career.

That's exactly what I was saying.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Hockey IQ needed for the NA hockey is lower.

Are you implying that Yakupov has enough hockey IQ for the NHL?

 

[Atas2000]

Are you implying that Yakupov has enough hockey IQ for the NHL?

I imply that the NA game is less hockey IQ oriented. why are you trying to find something that isn't there?

 

[MuckOG]

Because he's not as good as everyone thought he was?

 

[bleedblue1223]

I imply that the NA game is less hockey IQ oriented. why are you trying to find something that isn't there?

Just clarifying based on the quote that you responded to.

 

[Team_Spirit]

give him a break, he's being chased by bees.

 

[SupremeNachos]

I heard he's addicted to ps4

He only uses his character and wonders why he can't replicate what he makes the player do

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Growing up in Edmonton didn't help...

 

[VainGretzky]

His last stop will be with the Habs and playing with Galchenyuk than off to europe imo.

 

[oobga]

No support from the org, fragile confidence, and he wasn't a player that could figure things out himself. He needed a heck of a lot of coddling and direction from coaching and patient veteran teammates. The only times he had anything close to that was his first season, and half a season with Todd Nelson and Derek Roy. He can't handle tough love like he got from Eakins, McLellan and on the Blues. Very high maintenance personality, which, even for a coach that is willing to coddle him, is hard to manage on a team already full of high picks and more talented players. McLellan seemed to have zero interest to even start with that kind of thing with Yak.

Kid needs to grow up, a lot. Needs to go to the KHL or something to get more ice time, and he needs to make a commitment to improving his overall game. I don't think there is any place in the NHL right now that would have the patience to deal with the growing pains he needs to go through now to salvage his career. His game has eroded to basically nothing of value at the NHL level. He's gone so long without playing regularly and he likely has zero confidence in even any of his offensive tools now.

 

[Kunta Kinte]

Alexandre Daigle played in the NHL for 13 years.

Daigle was a much better NHLer than Yakupov.

Daigle never lived up to expectation.

His rookie season he was 2nd on his team almost ppg, he was Minnesota leading scoer in 2004 (pts and goals)

He ain't a "real" bust, nobody ever lead a NHL franchise in point and is a bust like Yak.

 

[CanadienShark]

I imply that the NA game is less hockey IQ oriented. why are you trying to find something that isn't there?

Well people tend to say that Yakupov has low hockey IQ. You suggest the NHL requires low (or lesser) hockey IQ. See the connection?

 

[Joey Moss]

Terribly coached by Eakins, and poor hockey sense.

His hockey sense was always questionable, but he went downhill when Eakins came in. You watch clips from his rookie year and he was a completely different player. Unfortunate that he's busting big time right now.

 

[Atas2000]

Well people tend to say that Yakupov has low hockey IQ. You suggest the NHL requires low (or lesser) hockey IQ. See the connection?

Peiople are wrong. Hockey IQ is not Yak's problem.

I was replying to a post claiming that he might be better off in Russia ith his lack of hockey IQ. What I am pointing at is that a player with less hockey IQ has more of a chance to succeed in NA (in a role obiously). If hockey IQ indeed was Yaupov major problem he would have a hard time adjusting in Russia.

 

[CanadienShark]

Peiople are wrong. Hockey IQ is not Yak's problem.

I was replying to a post claiming that he might be better off in Russia ith his lack of hockey IQ. What I am pointing at is that a player with less hockey IQ has more of a chance to succeed in NA (in a role obiously). If hockey IQ indeed was Yaupov major problem he would have a hard time adjusting in Russia.

People are wrong? Maybe you're wrong?

 

[thedustman]

Where can I buy a bust of Yakupov? Or why can't I buy a bust of Yakupov? Maybe Yakupov isn't a bust yet.

 

[thedustman]

If he plays on a line with Berglund going into the playoffs and either of them score, I am going to feel bad for the team who gets a good dose of that chemistry in round one.

 

[Atas2000]

People are wrong? Maybe you're wrong?

Stragely I tend to be right long term. But by that time all the internet experts "forget" their opinions.

There are certain things you can't teach a hockey player. Yakupov was a quite remarkable playmaker for Kuznetsov on th U20 NT. Yes, HE was the playmaker.

People like to make things simple. Too simple. Stick a label to Yakupov and be done with it. "Zero hockey IQ". Okay, we're done here. It's way more complicated.

 

[Community]

While his hockey IQ is definitely holding him back and is a reason he would never become a good #1 regardless of his coaching/development, I think it's more than just his hockey IQ that caused him to bust.

He scored at a 29g, 53pt pace in his first season. I think that shows that he had enough talent to be a good scoring winger (like a 30/30ish offensive player -> JVR-like production). Development and coaching in his early years was not good and his hockey IQ didn't allow him to change how he played in order to succeed like some others have (RNH changing his game to be more of a shut-down/2-way role for example).

 

[Hockeyisl1fe]

While his hockey IQ is definitely holding him back and is a reason he would never become a good #1 regardless of his coaching/development, I think it's more than just his hockey IQ that caused him to bust.

He scored at a 29g, 53pt pace in his first season. I think that shows that he had enough talent to be a good scoring winger (like a 30/30ish offensive player -> JVR-like production). Development and coaching in his early years was not good and his hockey IQ didn't allow him to change how he played in order to succeed like some others have (RNH changing his game to be more of a shut-down/2-way role for example).

He never showed a potential to be 30/30 scorer in the NHL. His numbers were inflated in his 1st season in a sheltered role. He was just as bad back then. Most of his goals were easy tap-ins, that doesn't scream 30 goalscorer to me

 

[Community]

He never showed a potential to be 30/30 scorer in the NHL. His numbers were inflated in his 1st season in a sheltered role. He was just as bad back then. Most of his goals were easy tap-ins, that doesn't scream 30 goalscorer to me

You don't think scoring a 29g pace in your first season doesn't show potential to be a 30g scorer? He probably would have been part of a semi-sheltered scoring line in his prime anyways (getting secondary match-ups, not as sheltered as rookie season, but still not seeing the top lines). Not saying it was guaranteed, but he put up some good offensive #'s in his rookie year and had a pretty good shot to pot 30 with some better coaching/development IMO.

All hypothetical because a better coach doesn't mean he'll get better results out of everybody, but I think he could've been a good offensive player if utilized/developed correctly.

 

[bleedblue1223]

You don't think scoring a 29g pace in your first season doesn't show potential to be a 30g scorer? He probably would have been part of a semi-sheltered scoring line in his prime anyways (getting secondary match-ups, not as sheltered as rookie season, but still not seeing the top lines). Not saying it was guaranteed, but he put up some good offensive #'s in his rookie year and had a pretty good shot to pot 30 with some better coaching/development IMO.

All hypothetical because a better coach doesn't mean he'll get better results out of everybody, but I think he could've been a good offensive player if utilized/developed correctly.

He also shot 21%, completely unsustainable. He started with 5 goals in 7 games and ended with 11 in 14 (6 in final 3 games). 16 of his 17 goals were in the span of 21 games. I wouldn't use that as an example of what he could do going forward.

He's never been able to sustain streaks like that or a shooting% that comes anywhere close to 21%.

His positioning in the offensive and defensive zones is terrible. Multiple times this season you could see the frustration on the Blues players' faces when he is either not where he's supposed to be or when he simply gets in their way, it's happened with Schwartz multiple times. He has the hustle, but the problem comes down to he has to work smarter, not harder.

 

[Dorian2]

And that video underlines yaks inability to assess a situation at the NHL level properly. Any normal person being chased by a hive of bees will run to the nearest body of water. Yaks hockey IQ is so damn low, he went for frozen water. Pathetic!

 

[missinthejets]

He also shot 21%, completely unsustainable. He started with 5 goals in 7 games and ended with 11 in 14 (6 in final 3 games). 16 of his 17 goals were in the span of 21 games. I wouldn't use that as an example of what he could do going forward.

He's never been able to sustain streaks like that or a shooting% that comes anywhere close to 21%.

His positioning in the offensive and defensive zones is terrible. Multiple times this season you could see the frustration on the Blues players' faces when he is either not where he's supposed to be or when he simply gets in their way, it's happened with Schwartz multiple times. He has the hustle, but the problem comes down to he has to work smarter, not harder.

he can score a lot, but it comes down to the kind of person Yakupov is. He needs to be handled with kid gloves. Eakins came in thinking he was a stereotypical lazy Russian and tried to kick him in the ass but that was the completely wrong approach. Kreuger had it right, boost confidence in the kid, let him do what he does well and don't be hard on him cause being hard on Yakupov just makes him get into his own head and he accomplishes nothing. I think he needs a real positive environment to get his mojo back but it's going to take a real patient coach. I suspect that going to Las Vegas would be best for him. No pressure there and just let him play the way he wants for a while and when the confidence comes back then you make adjustments.

Eakins basically made Yakupov distrust his coaches and he won't listen to any of them now. Yeah he's gotta adjust that attitude but at the same point his talent didn't just disappear. He's a guy that you can probably rehab with the correct approach.

 

[oXo Cube]

In his rookie season, Yak scored 5 goals in the last 2 games of the year against teams that were coasting. Even that year he had one very long(20+) game stretch where he scored only one or two goals. The warning signs were there right from the beginning.