[News] Oilers Scratch Yakupov... Again

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I wouldn't be surprised if the media up there gets preferential treatment and favours if they overhype Oilers talent to keep a haze around the team that keeps the average fan from seeing the reality of the situation. There is no way that building should be more than half full if the fans actually realized what was going on with the organization as the only way to elicit change and get Lowe & Friends sent packing is with their wallets choosing not to pay for tickets. However filling the building every game for the worst product in the NHL pretty well gives Katz a free pass to ham it up with his childhood heroes.

The building is always full because it's NHL hockey, and there's a lot of money in Edmonton and not much else to spend it on. Product doesn't have much to do with (nor does it in Calgary).

Darryl Sutter's final years here weren't quite as bad as Lowe's recent run in Edmonton, but every hockey watcher outside Calgary knew the Flames were a slow-motion trainwreck. And yet a lot of fans still had blinkers on and wouldn't listen to a word about a rebuild, or trading Iginla. The hardcore Oilers fans share that us-against-the-world, a-rebound-is-just-around-the-corner attitude. Edmonton just has more than its share of those blindly faithful fans than most cities.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The building is always full because it's NHL hockey, and there's a lot of money in Edmonton and not much else to spend it on. Product doesn't have much to do with (nor does it in Calgary).

Darryl Sutter's final years here weren't quite as bad as Lowe's recent run in Edmonton, but every hockey watcher outside Calgary knew the Flames were a slow-motion trainwreck. And yet a lot of fans still had blinkers on and wouldn't listen to a word about a rebuild, or trading Iginla. The hardcore Oilers fans share that us-against-the-world, a-rebound-is-just-around-the-corner attitude. Edmonton just has more than its share of those blindly faithful fans than most cities.

Haha! Not even close.

The Flames were a team on a slow decline, a far-cry from being the worst team in the league that miraculously found ways to get worse.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by AltaGuy

As soon as Jones fell to Nashville at the draft, I suggested it was probably time for the Oil to make their splash - Yakupov-plus for that pick.

Oilers fans - "you don't trade a 1st overall for a 4th overall!"

Yikes.

Not to mention that Poile would have laughed at Lowe, MacTavish or whatever puppet made the call before stepping up to the podium to take Jones.

Benefit of hindsight notwithstanding, I'm not even sure Nashville would have taken Yakupov and the seventh overall pick. Not when Jones fell into their laps.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Any draft pick works this way. As soon as a pick is made, the player picked is worth less than the draft pick value is, until they have proven themselves in the league.

The Oilers still value him as a first overall pick. However, no other team in the league values him like that at this point.

Think of it this way, let's look at Bärtschi. He was drafted 13th, and you might argue he would have gone a little higher had the draft been done again now. How many of you think that the Flames would get an 8th overall pick (or so) straight up for Bärtschi? I don't, despite Bärtschi being several years closer to fullfilling his potential than he was at the time of the draft. If somehow such a deal was on the table (Bärtschi for the 8th overall pick in 2014), fans and likely management on both sides would look at the deal and say "no way!"

Granted. But focusing on #1 overall picks only, the only guys in the last ten years who are probably worth less now than they were the day they were drafted are Johnson, Nugent-Hopkins and Yakupov. But Yak is the only one whose value has tumbled down a cliff.

(BTW, someone needs to come up with an "Honest Lowe's Used Oilers" commercial and put it on YouTube)

[FAN]

Originally Posted by cral12

I probably got permanently barred from Edm for writing this article back in Jan. '13:

Case For Trading Nail Yakupov

A day later Dave Staples of Edm Journal wrote this rebuttal:
Trade Nail Yakupov? Not if you want to win a Stanley Cup.

Not trying to do a "i told you so", but interesting to reflect back.

I don't understand. Your main point is that Yakupov likely won't reach his potential and doesn't fill an organizational need so "it is in the best interest of the Oilers to pursue a deal involving Yakupov, but the potential deal has to have a meaningful return."

Staples' main point was that Yakupov has potential, that it is easy to find a place for a player like him ,and that "Trading him now makes little sense because it’s hard to find that same kind of value in return."

It seems you are both agreeing with each other only you phrased things differently. Look to trade Yakupov, but only if the right deal comes along vs Trading Yakupov doesn't make any sense because you're unlikely to get good/equal value for him.

[BlackWallStreet]

Nail Scratchupov

[Enoch Root]

Fail for Nail...

oh the irony

[CaptainCrunch]

When are the Oilers going to roll out his trading card with Nail dressed as a Nurse?

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

When are the Oilers going to roll out his trading card with Nail dressed as a Nurse?

Why would their 2012 first round draft pick dress up as their 2013 first round draft pick.

When Raffi Torres dressed up as Jay-Z for Halloween, he took some heat for that.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Fail for Nail

... Became fail with Nail

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

... Became fail with Nail

The new fragrance from the Edmonton Oilers......Fail! by Nail!

"Dear God that smells like......*vomits*"

[bluck]

Ovechkin had 3 points tonight... he just tied Yakupov's point total for the season

[Righteous1]

Does Jackupov just suck or is he being used poorly? I haven't seen him play..other than that celebration.

Glenx/JMac for Yak/4th?

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The building is always full because it's NHL hockey, and there's a lot of money in Edmonton and not much else to spend it on. Product doesn't have much to do with (nor does it in Calgary).

Darryl Sutter's final years here weren't quite as bad as Lowe's recent run in Edmonton, but every hockey watcher outside Calgary knew the Flames were a slow-motion trainwreck. And yet a lot of fans still had blinkers on and wouldn't listen to a word about a rebuild, or trading Iginla. The hardcore Oilers fans share that us-against-the-world, a-rebound-is-just-around-the-corner attitude. Edmonton just has more than its share of those blindly faithful fans than most cities.

If you break down the fan base of every city into optimistic, pessimistic, blindly optimistic, and clueless you will have roughly the same percentages every where.

I really don't understand the whole "our fans are better then your fans" mentality some people have. It's really pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

I get cracking jokes to get cheap laughs at another fanbase's expense, but some people actually seem to believe that there's some great truth to it.

Kind of funny, but mostly sad because that mentality probably carries through to other parts of their life.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Some fans are worse then others though

Canuck fans, fans of any Boston sports team, hell I don't follow the CFL at all and I generally find Rider fans to be just a bunch of scum bags.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Righteous1

Does Jackupov just suck or is he being used poorly? I haven't seen him play..other than that celebration.

Glenx/JMac for Yak/4th?

It's actually kind of sad to see this when it happens to a prospect. I am not sad to see it happen to Edmonton, but just in general when a prospect mails it in.

In junior, Yakupov really was a beast. He looked like he had all the tools to be a complete player and he played with heart. Now that he is getting paid, it seems like he stopped trying. Maybe he didn't realize how hard the NHL is... I'm not sure what the reason is, but it is such a waste.

It's not too late for him to turn it around, but I wonder if he will.

OT, but since some people are bashing Lowe anyway... I met an Oilers fan a couple of weekends ago and he started ribbing me about trading Iginla last season (which that in itself was weird since most people agree that it was time). I responded by asking him when the Oilers were finally going to get rid of Lowe and hire someone who knows what they are doing.. His response was totally serious and he said; "Why would they? Lowe is one of the most respected people in hockey."....

I couldn't even laugh because I felt kind of sorry for him that some people in Oilerland still feel that way after everything.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The building is always full because it's NHL hockey, and there's a lot of money in Edmonton and not much else to spend it on. Product doesn't have much to do with (nor does it in Calgary).

Darryl Sutter's final years here weren't quite as bad as Lowe's recent run in Edmonton, but every hockey watcher outside Calgary knew the Flames were a slow-motion trainwreck. And yet a lot of fans still had blinkers on and wouldn't listen to a word about a rebuild, or trading Iginla. The hardcore Oilers fans share that us-against-the-world, a-rebound-is-just-around-the-corner attitude. Edmonton just has more than its share of those blindly faithful fans than most cities.

Yeah I don't know if I buy that. The Eskimos used to average over 40,000 per game for decades and recently their attendance has eroded as the team has become the CFL equivalent of the Oilers. I recall 3/4 full buildings in the 90's in Edmonton just as there was in Calgary during the young guns years. Flames are getting pardoned this season because it's really the first year of the rebuild but if this rebuild goes as poorly as Edmonton's I don't believe there will be full houses in the Saddledome as some fans will find better things to do with their time and money than watch a perennial loser and bad product. Ottawa doesn't sell out now and they have a tem that makes or competes for the playoffs.

It's different with the Oilers. Every offseason the media (all local and even some national) hypes their talent like the next season is going to be the one where they turn the corner and go from worst to playoffs. Edmonton fans fall for it hook and sinker every single season. I really need to start keeping all these offseason texts from Oilers fans as it's the same thing every year from them. It's like their hope is eternal no matter how bad the reality is. Maybe that's a really good fanbase or maybe it's the reality of an extremely delusional fanbase that keeps getting sucked into buying the same turd with the glistening polish of offseason hype. Kevin Lowe the leader of the old boys club needs to get shown the door (not even debatable at this point) for that team to ever get out of it's funk but that's just not going to happen as long as they keep selling out so it seems the fans are playing a role in the mess.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

If you break down the fan base of every city into optimistic, pessimistic, blindly optimistic, and clueless you will have roughly the same percentages every where.

I really don't understand the whole "our fans are better then your fans" mentality some people have. It's really pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

I get cracking jokes to get cheap laughs at another fanbase's expense, but some people actually seem to believe that there's some great truth to it.

Kind of funny, but mostly sad because that mentality probably carries through to other parts of their life.

I hear what you are saying but I think that there a differences.

The fanbase in Philidelphia - collectively - is different than the fanbase in St Louis, for example.

British soccer fans are different than French or Italian soccer fans.

And I think you can get more specific - Toronto fans, collectively, are different than Ottawa fans.

And Canuck fans are pathetic.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

It's actually kind of sad to see this when it happens to a prospect. I am not sad to see it happen to Edmonton, but just in general when a prospect mails it in.

In junior, Yakupov really was a beast. He looked like he had all the tools to be a complete player and he played with heart. Now that he is getting paid, it seems like he stopped trying. Maybe he didn't realize how hard the NHL is... I'm not sure what the reason is, but it is such a waste.

It's not too late for him to turn it around, but I wonder if he will.

OT, but since some people are bashing Lowe anyway... I met an Oilers fan a couple of weekends ago and he started ribbing me about trading Iginla last season (which that in itself was weird since most people agree that it was time). I responded by asking him when the Oilers were finally going to get rid of Lowe and hire someone who knows what they are doing.. His response was totally serious and he said; "Why would they? Lowe is one of the most respected people in hockey."....

I couldn't even laugh because I felt kind of sorry for him that some people in Oilerland still feel that way after everything.

There are a lot of players who's skill sets make them own junior hockey, but in the NHL a players mental state is just as important or more important. Gordon Bombay completely owned peewee and he had the unstopable triple deke. What happened to him in the pros? The first guy with more determination then him completely ended his career and years later he was playing Wolf Stansson in a game of cross bar for lunch.

could Nail's future be coaching the Moscow District 5 peewee team?

Skills are great, but that only gives you one dimension, Nail seems to lack the other two dimensions, and that's his mental toughness and his play without the puck in all three zones. Out of all of the big Oilers, the Halls, RNH, Eberle, Nail is the one that seems to have the smallest mental gas tank.

The argument is that he won the rookie scoring race and that means great things. But up until the 3 game hot streak in mean nothing games, he was considered to be ok but not great.

Oiler fans think he's got some mystical value right now. But NHL scouts and GM's are pretty cagey guys right now, and they're not looking at him as a bright light, they're looking at him as a project. His value is probably fairly low, he's not going to get you a top flight defenseman or goalie. The smart thing for the Oilers to do is pray that he turns his game around, and increase his value and move him. Unless they've decided that he's toxic and he has to go.

Maybe Nail needs to work on his triple deke too.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

If you break down the fan base of every city into optimistic, pessimistic, blindly optimistic, and clueless you will have roughly the same percentages every where.

I really don't understand the whole "our fans are better then your fans" mentality some people have. It's really pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

You'll notice that I took some shots at the Flames fanbase in my comment. There's a certain group of fans for every team who think things are always on the verge of turning around. Whether you call them delusional or loyal, they defy rational assessments of the state of their franchise.

The Oilers do seem to have more of those types of fans. Other cities (Philly was cited by another poster) are notorious for getting on their team right away when things aren't going well. While others, like Toronto, complain endlessly but never lose the faith.

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Yeah I don't know if I buy that. The Eskimos used to average over 40,000 per game for decades and recently their attendance has eroded as the team has become the CFL equivalent of the Oilers.

The CFL isn't the NFL. Business big-wigs don't try to impress clients by taking them to an Eskimos game.

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I recall 3/4 full buildings in the 90's in Edmonton just as there was in Calgary during the young guns years.

The economy in Alberta sucked then, and it had become evident that Calgary and Edmonton couldn't afford to ice competitive teams without a cap. That's what turned fans away. And the pro sports market is a lot different now.

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Flames are getting pardoned this season because it's really the first year of the rebuild but if this rebuild goes as poorly as Edmonton's I don't believe there will be full houses in the Saddledome as some fans will find better things to do with their time and money than watch a perennial loser and bad product. Ottawa doesn't sell out now and they have a tem that makes or competes for the playoffs.

The core seasons ticket base in Alberta is the business crowd. They buy their season's tickets year after year because there isn't anything else in this city that compares (outside of Stampede) for schmoozing and impressing your peers. Look around at the dome sometime. If it isn't the 55 year VP of finance in the seats, it's his 20-year-old daughter and her friends. I don't believe the win-loss has much, if any, impact on these people.

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It's different with the Oilers. Every offseason the media (all local and even some national) hypes their talent like the next season is going to be the one where they turn the corner and go from worst to playoffs.

You will have noticed in recent years in Calgary, even with a critical media (local and national), many fans deluded themselves that the Flames were fine, they didn't need a rebuild, and paying for tickets to watch a 30-something Iginla pot 30 goals is just fine, thank you very much.