Quote:
Originally Posted by Royle9
I’ll be honest, in his draft year I was pretty sold on him.
He looked dangerous quite often and if I recall correctly did quite well with Laine at the WJ’s that year.
Edmonton definitely didn’t do him any favors.
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It was the same with Yakupov. He was a beast in junior and the consensus #1 OA pick by most sources. He looked like a can't miss prospect at the time.
The fact Yakupov and JP had their best NHL seasons in the first couple of years after going pro suggests to me that the problem was player development rather than being bad picks at the time. They came into the league with the skills to play but couldn't learn what they needed to justify the ice time required to produce more. Yet their whole careers up until that point, they were able to keep improving. It just stopped like hitting a brick wall as soon as the Oilers drafted them.
It's the same story with a lot of their prospects, but some at least were able to improved once they moved on.