Acquiring the guy just to have him scratched all the time, so stupid....
Well yes, if you play like crap then obviously you're going to get scratched.
If anyone got his ice time and line-mates they wouldn't make that big of an impression.
Acquiring the guy just to have him scratched all the time, so stupid....
I'm actually shocked to see that he's still played in over half the games. Definitely doesn't feel like he's been on the ice more than the press box.Forget about "which will be greater, points or healthy scratches". How about games played versus games scratched?
Team games: 38
Games played: 21
Games scratched: 17
If we need another roster spot, I'm guessing Nail is the next one exposed to waivers.
I do wonder though...was the condition of the draft pick specific to the Blues? How funny would it be to see the Blues waive Yakupov, and have Arizona claim him, where he goes on to hit the 15-goal mark. Would the Blues then have to cough-up a 2nd based on the condition being met on another team? lol
Schwartz in his rookie year played with the likes of Ryan Reaves, Adam Cracknell, and Scott Nichol for the majority of the season and showed signs of promise. Yakupov got to play with Schwartz/Stastny for a stretch of games and looked awful. More ice time and better linemates aren't going to fix the fact that Yakupov is clueless without the puck. He's a liability to the team and hasn't shown any progress in his play.
I believe it was two games and it was still limited minutes and it wasn't the whole game.
Its like test driving an ATV 90% of the time on pavement and saying it doesn't do so great offroad.
The vast majority of his minutes has been with top 6/9 quality linemates.
Well, if you actually go through the list, he's been on the ice with at least 1 top 6 caliber linemate a good amount of the time.
He's been on lines with at least 1 player of the group: Stastny, Schwartz, Perron, Tarasenko, Steen, and Fabbri 49.35% of the time. He's been paired with 2 of these players 28.41% of the time.
If we expand the list to include Berglund and Lehtera, then it's 94.29% of the time with at least 1 of those players.
This notion that he plays with scrubs the majority of the time here is a lie. I'm going to call you out on it because it's a lie. Use some sort of on-ice evidence to backup your position.
Been through this and looked up the stats before. 28% of his time he has had TWO top 6 guys on his line. Something like 45% with at least one.
Vast majority not so much.
Depends on how you evaluate Berglund and Lehtera. While they have their faults, they are top 9 guys.
He's not out there with scrubs. If Yakupov was good, he'd be able to produce in the situations that he's been in.
Basically what I said then... "vast majority" is diffent because I do not consider Berglund or Lehtera top 6. Lehtera especially, that guy is just wasted space. Berglund can be, on the right team. On the Blues I don't consider him top 6. as our top two lines consist of: Fabbri, Stastny, Schwarts, Steen, Tarasenko, Perron. Well, Hitch may actually have Lehtera in the 'top two' lines but we all know hes not a 'top two' line guy.
I can agree to disagree. I am not saying he has never had A chance. Just saying he hasn't had a good, solid, consistent chance with top 6 guys with a lot of minutes for a few games in a row. Pretty sure most people would agree with that. Is what we have seen of him enough? For some it is. For me it's not. Yak may be terrible. I just won't call it either way until I see that. I also won't say "vast majority" of his time has been with top 6 guys. That's my only point.
You still have to earn your chance. Yakupov hasn't really done much in a game to earn a bigger chance.
We can call it semantics, doesn't matter. I said vast majority of the time with top 6/9 linemates. Berglund and Lehtera are top 9 guys, and he's spent ~95% of his time with at least 1 top 9 guy. If Yakupov was truly a solid top 9 guy, then that line should've operate pretty decently.
Spending about ~50% of the time with legit top 6 talent, with the 3rd typically being Berglund, Lehtera, or Jaskin, then he definitely should've been able to show signs of productivity.
Schwartz showed he belonged and he was truly playing with 4th line scrubs in the beginning part of his first full season in limited minutes. It's not even about the production, Yakupov is just a complete passenger on the ice and doesn't execute the system.
Then I misunderstood. I was thinking top 6 the whole time. That said, the only reason he has 95% top 9 line-mates is because we possibly have the best 4th line in the entire NHL. No reason to put someone who is supposed to be an offensive threat on that line.
The rest I don't disagree with. We just have different standards of measurement. You have seen enough. I haven't. I have seen flashes of brilliance, a couple goals and no reward. You see him as a passenger that doesn't execute the system.
Personally I think with the team we have and who we have lost over the past two seasons this entire team needs a new system - one more offensively minded and Yak may thrive in a new system like that. But were stuck with Hitch and his 1999 ways and maybe that's why Yak is getting choked out. That could be a whole 'nother discussion though.
I wish i had it capped. The last time Yak played with Schwartz, you could hear Schwartz yelling at him on the ice. That's all that needs to be said.
Personally I think with the team we have and who we have lost over the past two seasons this entire team needs a new system - one more offensively minded and Yak may thrive in a new system like that. But were stuck with Hitch and his 1999 ways and maybe that's why Yak is getting choked out. That could be a whole 'nother discussion though.
Kid just has no hockey IQ. It's a shame. I think he could've been good if Edmonton hadn't rushed him to the NHL and coached him heavily while slowly breaking him into the league. I don't think Yak's problem has ever been that he doesn't work hard enough or anything like that; he just has absolutely no idea what to do when he doesn't have the puck...and sometimes no clue what to do with the puck.
If anyone got his ice time and line-mates they wouldn't make that big of an impression.