Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOnlyBilko
Even the season that Yak was drafted he was pretty much the BPA and most mocks had Yakupov at #1 overall. I wouldn't call Yak a bust quite yet either. He's still very young and him and McDavid have chemistry I can still see Yak becoming a 30/30 guy or better.
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He was far from consensus.
There's quotes that CGY had Galchenyuk #1.
Burke tells Bettman in a behind scenes video that TOR had Reilly #1 as he's walking off the podium after the pick.
Seems like CBJ had Murray ahead Yakupov to me.
I've heard that EDM's scouts actually liked Murray more, and that a couple of their key management guys liked Reinhart more. They took Yakupov because of Daryl Katz.
Just because CSS and Bob Mackenzie had Yakupov #1 doesn't really mean crap that year. It was a weird year in that a couple of the top 5 guys missed most of the season due to injury (Galchenyuk and Reilly).
If you did the draft 30 times with each team picking #1 I'd be shocked if Yakupov was taken by even half the teams at that time. Opinions differ. Not everyone is gonna take a one dimensional goal scorer #1 in a bad draft year.