[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by strombad

...you totally focused on the wrong quote in terms of your argument.

I provided thoughts on all of his responses.

Originally Posted by strombad

The part people are concerned about is the SAME part you are concerned about. You focused on the second quote, nobody cares about that in terms of making their assumptions on his level of defensive commitment...

My point was in part because of where people have chosen to focus their attention, and I think that your instance about what we ought not "care" about is quite telling in this regard. If you actually take the time to read it carefully, then you will see in his second sentence that he DID make a (half-hearted) gesture to improving away from the puck:

Originally Posted by Nail Yakupov

"...I’m not going to change but maybe play better without the puck, or forecheck more..."

If you did in fact comprehend the quotation as you claim, then you would notice that the conjunction indicates an exception to the preceding clause; namely, that these are things that he WILL "maybe" change.

Originally Posted by strombad

...but the last quote where he basically says skating hard and back checking isn't part of his game and he doesn't want to do it? THAT is the issue.

I agree that his response is an issue, but you are still assuming a lot from what he actually says. He says that skating, forechecking, and hitting is all HARD WORK, and that it is not part of the game he plays. He DID NOT SAY that he will not do these things, only that I finds them difficult, unpleasant, and has never paid them much heed in the past. It's entirely possible that he is just being honest, since I would imagine that virtually every professional hockey player finds it difficult to skate hard, forecheck, and to hit every shift. He has conceded the obvious here (which itself is a problem, since this is likely not something that most professional hockey players will admit to in public), but has not really said one way or the other whether he will make the necessary changes to his game. Again, yes, this looks bad, but it is entirely possible that some of his meaning or intent is indeed lost in translation.

Originally Posted by strombad

That's where moon is gathering his assumption that Yaks won't skate hard or play defence from, because Yaks SAYS skating hard and playing defence isn't part of his game and he doesn't think he should have to do it.

Except he NEVER SAID THIS. You assume that this is what he meant from his statement, but it is most certainly not so clear. In the end, much of this issue rests on ASSUMPTIONS.

Originally Posted by strombad

We can all read, and we're all reading and being concerned about the exact same quote you are, so I'm not sure what point you were trying to make.

Some here can read pretty well, but I don't believe that you are one of them. My point was to show that while there are legitimate concerns about Yakupov's response to being a healthy scratch, there are also a lot of assumptions being made about his personal feelings and intentions. In short, you need to read more carefully.