Why was Nail Yakupov a bust?

[The Panther]

5/10 of your examples of great Oiler development are top 10 picks. Three of them were 1st overall picks

As was Yakupov. So... why did only Yak fail? Hnm...

Holding them up as some beacon of the Oilers development system is almost as funny as holding up Tyler Pitlick, Jujhar Khaira, or Ethan Bear.

You scoff at anyone saying 'Edmonton ruined him' and then give several examples of where they did exactly that. You're right Eakins was a disaster.. who hired him I wonder?

Not getting your point. I'm demonstrating that the Oilers were perfectly capable of drafting and developing players of various abilities successfully.

About Eakins: I already stated that that was a disaster hire by the org. No doubt it had some negative effect on Yakupov's development. But it lasted one year. Draisbitl and Hall also suffered Eakins, and both went on to win Hart trophies.

11 years after that period and Yak has done... nothing of note.

 

[Dirty Dan]

Lots of Russian players. Don't know if true, but I read Grigorenko was actually 25 when he got drafted. Don't know the actual ages, but Ovechkin, Panarin, Kovalchuk, and more are older than they actually were.

Kovalchuk being older might make sense given he fell off a bit early. Ovechkin I can't see being too much older since he was still a monster

 

[Dirty Dan]

Just from my viewing of him with the Avs you have to give him credit for buying in and hustling, but he was always a step or two behind the play mentally. The most surprising thing is he had any success at all when he entered the league.

But Mackinnon was the same way for a while until 2017-18, however he was faster and more powerful than Yakupov and could still put up decent numbers. But his vision and IQ exploded after a while

 

[SensontheRush]

He would've gone like 5th or 6th in the draft if he was a year younger, and would've been hard pressed to crack the top ten if he was a year older. It was a tremendously shit draft. It was known at the time that it was going to be a shit draft, but he and Galchenyuk(who got injured during his draft year) were the only guys that appeared to have star potential at all. Really only Forsberg and arguably Reilly can be called stars from that draft. Cody Ceci has played the second most games FFS. Nobody would remember him so poorly if he was a 6th overall pick. Those go sideways pretty regularly. He just had the misfortune of being the most exciting player in a dreadful year.

Slavin? Vasilevskiy?

 

[JPT]

Lots of Russian players. Don't know if true, but I read Grigorenko was actually 25 when he got drafted. Don't know the actual ages, but Ovechkin, Panarin, Kovalchuk, and more are older than they actually were.

Alan Cohen, is that you?

 

[Kcoyote3]

Because he was three years older than he reported to be

 

[Bounces R Way]

As was Yakupov. So... why did only Yak fail? Hnm...

Only Yak failed?
Sam Gagner 6th overall, never broke 50pts with the Oilers
Magnus Paajarvi 10th overall, best year was his rookie year
Jesse Puljujarvi 4th overall, career high 36pts

Yamamoto, Broberg, Holloway none of these guys are exactly big success stories.
Not to mention yielding almost nothing other than Ryan McLeod and Stu Skinner from rounds 2-7 since rebuild 1.0 began.

Not getting your point. I'm demonstrating that the Oilers were perfectly capable of drafting and developing players of various abilities successfully.

Holding up Connor McDavid's career as an exhibition of this is just ridiculous. Oilers had absolutely nothing to do with that other than slapping their logo on him in 2015.

And even today all these guys are yes talented but apart from McDavid are still flawed. Draisaitl, Bouchard, Nurse, even Connor up until very recently, none of them play competent defense. They get by on natural talent and physical gifts.

About Eakins: I already stated that that was a disaster hire by the org. No doubt it had some negative effect on Yakupov's development. But it lasted one year. Draisbitl and Hall also suffered Eakins, and both went on to win Hart trophies.

11 years after that period and Yak has done... nothing of note.

That's how ruining works. You ruin something and then it's ruined.
Yakupov was a bad pick in a bad draft and never would have achieved star status no matter where he was drafted because as I said, dumb as a post. But with some proper development and coaching on how to play in a 5 man unit he definitely could have been a decent middle 6 producer. Instead the Oilers did what they most always did, threw a teenager into the top 6 to sell jerseys and the upcoming dynasty and tell them sink or swim.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

Dallas Eakins was a bad coach for him back then. Don't know how he would have done if drafted by someone else. But he and the Oilers were not a good fit at that time.

 

[Rorschach]

#Fail4Nail

More like #nail4Fail

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

He played in the wrong era. He would have an easier time today.

 

[paulmm3]

In fairness, people did know that the 2012 draft class was extremely weak at the time. And it's not like selections 2-4 have done much better than selection 1 (Yakupov) has

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

"Another one of those."

Why you lyin'

Give me one example of this ever happening. What's that? You can't? Thought so.

Not about me lying. It's a theory I heard because Russia has been rumoured to lie about players' ages so they could win tournaments such as the Olympics or World Juniors. But the rumour also goes back to some players like Grigorenko, Svitov, Volchkov, Filatov, Zherdev, Nikita Alexeyev, Burmistrov, Kravtsov, Alexei Smirnov, Yakubov, many more to name. All of them went top fifteen and you could say busts.

Some of those players put up killer junior numbers, but most players who do before they turn 18 manage to stick for an average of 300 games. When Russian players are good, they're incredible. But sometimes it varies based on if they're better with bigger ice rather than some being better on smaller ice.

 

[Fantomas]

Not about me lying. It's a theory I heard because Russia has been rumoured to lie about players' ages so they could win tournaments such as the Olympics or World Juniors. But the rumour also goes back to some players like Grigorenko, Svitov, Volchkov, Filatov, Zherdev, Nikita Alexeyev, Burmistrov, Kravtsov, Alexei Smirnov, Yakubov, many more to name. All of them went top fifteen and you could say busts.

Some of those players put up killer junior numbers, but most players who do before they turn 18 manage to stick for an average of 300 games. When Russian players are good, they're incredible. But sometimes it varies based on if they're better with bigger ice rather than some being better on smaller ice.

You did lie. You said it as a statement of fact and now you're backtracking saying that it's a "rumour you heard." You're pulling this out of your rear end, mate.

You have sources? Any to confirm your initial statement? Any even to confirm the existence of the rumour you claim existed? None?

So maybe STFU?

 

[The Panther]

Only Yak failed?
Sam Gagner 6th overall, never broke 50pts with the Oilers
Magnus Paajarvi 10th overall, best year was his rookie year
Jesse Puljujarvi 4th overall, career high 36pts

Yamamoto, Broberg, Holloway none of these guys are exactly big success stories.
Not to mention yielding almost nothing other than Ryan McLeod and Stu Skinner from rounds 2-7 since rebuild 1.0 began.



Holding up Connor McDavid's career as an exhibition of this is just ridiculous. Oilers had absolutely nothing to do with that other than slapping their logo on him in 2015.

And even today all these guys are yes talented but apart from McDavid are still flawed. Draisaitl, Bouchard, Nurse, even Connor up until very recently, none of them play competent defense. They get by on natural talent and physical gifts.


That's how ruining works. You ruin something and then it's ruined.
Yakupov was a bad pick in a bad draft and never would have achieved star status no matter where he was drafted because as I said, dumb as a post. But with some proper development and coaching on how to play in a 5 man unit he definitely could have been a decent middle 6 producer. Instead the Oilers did what they most always did, threw a teenager into the top 6 to sell jerseys and the upcoming dynasty and tell them sink or swim.

Well, it was an impressive rant in terms of incoherent belligerence, so there's that.

(By the way, all those players you listed who the Oilers supposedly 'ruined' all had their best seasons to date in Edmonton.)

 

[Acallabeth]

Not about me lying. It's a theory I heard because Russia has been rumoured to lie about players' ages so they could win tournaments such as the Olympics or World Juniors.

Theories are supposed to make sense, you know.
Russia cares very little about world juniors, and how the hell would lying about players ages help to win the Olympics?

 

[GeeoffBrown]

TBF this draft as a whole was pretty bad. Upon a quick look, I'd say best overall players are Filip Forsberg and Hampus Lindholm. Even if Oilers had crystal ball, these two players would not turn that franchise around. Tomas Hertl is 2nd in scoring...

 

[Bounces R Way]

Well, it was an impressive rant in terms of incoherent belligerence, so there's that.

Not sure if you have a firm grasp of the core concepts of rant, incoherent, or belligerence. Maybe add them to your google list along with what it means to ruin something.

(By the way, all those players you listed who the Oilers supposedly 'ruined' all had their best seasons to date in Edmonton.)

Oilers must have got something good for them then when they moved on then huh, since thanks to them they were productive and effective NHLers worthy of their high draft position.

You're right though, Edmonton's management and development of young players is beyond reproach. That's why their roster is chalked full of homegrown cheap depth like many Cup champs before.

 

[dahrougem2]

It's hilarious how people actually think Russians are older than they claim lol.

Was Aaron Ekblad 3-4 years older than everyone else in his draft year, too?

 

[Hanji]

Not about me lying. It's a theory I heard because Russia has been rumoured to lie about players' ages so they could win tournaments such as the Olympics or World Juniors. But the rumour also goes back to some players like Grigorenko, Svitov, Volchkov, Filatov, Zherdev, Nikita Alexeyev, Burmistrov, Kravtsov, Alexei Smirnov, Yakubov, many more to name. All of them went top fifteen and you could say busts.

Some of those players put up killer junior numbers, but most players who do before they turn 18 manage to stick for an average of 300 games. When Russian players are good, they're incredible. But sometimes it varies based on if they're better with bigger ice rather than some being better on smaller ice.

You did lie. You said it as a statement of fact and now you're backtracking saying that it's a "rumour you heard." You're pulling this out of your rear end, mate.

You have sources? Any to confirm your initial statement? Any even to confirm the existence of the rumour you claim existed? None?

So maybe STFU?

Theories are supposed to make sense, you know.
Russia cares very little about world juniors, and how the hell would lying about players ages help to win the Olympics?

They're called Weasel Words, which is an argumentative crutch used to to strengthen a weak argument, or to start a rumor.
A certain Presidential candidate uses them frequently; statements like "People are saying", or "There's a rumor going around."

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Because the Oilers are a horribly run organization who always assumed that #1 picks would be automatic wins.

 

[Garbageyuk]

He was about as smart as a bag of cement and had a “can’t tell me nothing” attitude. In other words, no hockey sense and uncoachable.

He had nearly everything else; blazing speed, dynamic skating, relentless motor, slick hands, deadly shot (albeit with shit shot selection due to IQ), and played a gritty crash and bang style. He was actually kind of like a mini Ovechkin.

But again, the difference is Ovechkin knows what he’s good at and sticks to it. Yakupov would just go berserk mode and skate around like a madman without any actual strategy in mind, and he didn’t have Ovechkin’s size and strength to be the wrecking ball he played like in the NHL.

I think once he realized he was never going to be able to play his same style of game in the NHL, he just gave up because he lacked the aforementioned IQ and coachability to adapt and reinvent his game.

 

[ManofSteel55]

TBF this draft as a whole was pretty bad. Upon a quick look, I'd say best overall players are Filip Forsberg and Hampus Lindholm. Even if Oilers had crystal ball, these two players would not turn that franchise around. Tomas Hertl is 2nd in scoring...

If the Oilers had a crystal ball, they would have traded the pick I'm sure, even if expectations for the return on that pick were unrealistic among Oiler fans. They probably would have botched the trade anyway, given the teams that were likely most interested in it. Can you imagine if they actually did something outside of the box with it, like trading it for a teams top pick in the 2013 draft instead? Or trading it to Montreal so the Habs could have selected both Yakupov and Galchenyuk from the Sting?

He was about as smart as a bag of cement and had a “can’t tell me nothing” attitude. In other words, no hockey sense and uncoachable.

He had nearly everything else; blazing speed, dynamic skating, relentless motor, slick hands, deadly shot (albeit with shit shot selection due to IQ), and played a gritty crash and bang style. He was actually kind of like a mini Ovechkin.

But again, the difference is Ovechkin knows what he’s good at and sticks to it. Yakupov would just go berserk mode and skate around like a madman without any actual strategy in mind, and he didn’t have Ovechkin’s size and strength to be the wrecking ball he played like in the NHL.

I think once he realized he was never going to be able to play his same style of game in the NHL, he just gave up because he lacked the aforementioned IQ and coachability to adapt and reinvent his game.

Yakupov's playing style was once described as being like a bumble bee - just buzzing around all over the place and not being where he needed to be. He never figured out where he needed to be either.

There are also rumours about his sense of entitlement. Brian Burke famously has said that one of his agents wanted to fight Yakupov, because he said he didn't understand why the Leafs would want to interview him when they had pick number 5 in the draft. Who knows if it's true or not.

 

[Machinehead]

It took a historically bad draft for him to go 1st overall. If he's a year older, he goes 5th or 6th, and I don't think anybody pays it much mind.

 

[seafoam]

What is strange is that he couldn't get a second contract with his hometown team, where his father was at one point a coach and executive.

 

[La Bamba]

No hockey sense and uncoachable