Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
And this is one of those rare instances in which most people were wrong. I will repeat myself: Yakupov was never going to be a NHL scoring star, and Puljujarvi is not a top-six player in the NHL. Watch him play—he is simply not good enough, and he never has been.
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Well no, but how can you say that doesn't have to do with development? The vast majority of 18 year old prospects do not have the skill to play in the NHL and are not NHL ready. To say a 20 year old player "never has been good enough to play in the NHL" really doesn't mean anything and just underlines the fact that he should not have made the jump so quickly. Most players his age are still prospects on most teams.
The key is to identify players that have the bones and build on that. Most experts at the time saw the potential, but that didn't mean that the players didn't need proper development to become NHL players. They both stagnated at their 18 year old levels. JP should have been getting lots of ice-time and learning to score at lower levels instead of playing 4th line minutes in the NHL.
I am not a professional scout (and I assume you aren't either), so I tend to believe there was legitimacy to their pedigree at the time and that the Oilers couldn't make them the players they should have been. They have been ruining young talent for a long time, so it's not like it shouldn't be expected. Just look at young players that underwhelmed in Edmonton only to thrive as soon as they were taken on by another organization. Oilers development sucks. Even McDavid would probably be better playing somewhere else.