Yakupov has asked for a trade

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Haha, remember when you thought Schlemko would get over $3mil per year on a multiple year contract this summer?

Yeah, I do remember arguing that was his value. He's averaging ~20 minutes a night as NJ's #4 defenceman and has the same number of points as Kris Russell. I don't get why $3 mil/year for a solid #4 defenceman is insane.

But that's all irrelevant to this discussion, the closest comparable to Yakupov in terms of trade value that has been moved recently is Brett Connolly from Tampa Bay to Boston for a pair of 2nds. The year he was traded, he had 15 points in 50 games and hadn't shown much at the NHL level to live up to his draft billing. Yakupov will be a productive player if he leaves Edmonton, and won't be if he doesn't.

[JiriHrdina]

I really have no clue what Yakupov's value is, but I'm sure the Oilers are over-pricing him. But there are reasons why he was a first overall pick. My pure guesswork would peg his value at a late 1st, or a prospect that also needs a change of scenary.
In some ways Yak for Drouin makes sense, but I would think the Oil need to add.

Yak+2nd for Drouin.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Fire of the Phoenix

Jankowski is a pending UFA. The only reason he has any trade value at all is due to the conditional draft pick attached to him. Yakupov is definitely worth more in a trade IMO. Only on a Flames message board would such a notion exist.

Okay sign Jankowski and trade him for Yakupov.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Connolly is a good comparable.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Okay sign Jankowski and trade him for Yakupov.

What did Janko ever do to wish that on him?

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

You ask and you shall receive.

Respectfully requesting a custom user title for user: gvitaly.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I would take Yakupov on Calgary for sure, but it is all price-dependent. My thoughts are that Edmonton sucks period - that includes the on-ice product and systems, culture, scouting, development, etc.

Yakupov may be young enough still that a team with a strong culture and the willingness to give him the time and attention necessary to turn his game around might just end up really happy with him.

It won't be Calgary - or anyone else in the Pacific anyways. The risk is too great for that to blow up in their faces, so the cost would make acquiring him prohibitive. However, with how highly Edmonton values their personnel, I would anticipate that their demands are prohibitive for the other 29 teams in the NHL - just more so if you are the Flames or the Canucks.

The risk might be worth the reward. One thing I have always liked about Yakupov is his work ethic. Compare him to Hall on offence - they are about equal (maybe Hall has greater work ethic there). Defensively? Not even close - Yakupov actually hustles back and at least tries. I think he is lost in the defensive zone, but at least the effort and the willingness SEEMS to be there. That to me is a prospect that COULD turn it around on a team with a strong culture and leadership group, with an experienced coach.

He might end up just as he is now, but I would bet he would be better somewhere else on the right team. I doubt any team is going to give him much more than just a 2nd - maybe a 2nd and a lesser prospect who is also a bit of a reclamation project, but that is about all. I think the Oilers still think he is worth a 1st.

[Tbull8]

Rychel + 3rd round pick for Yak?

[Five-hole]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

Yeah, this is the best they could hope for and it's realistic. As a Leaf fan I would be down for this.



It just made me laugh some people on here saying they would trade a 4th for him, maybe a 3rd, no way a 2nd. A 4th gets you a 3rd-line rental. Leafs got a 4th for Shawn Matthias. Yakupov still has one more year at 2.5 million and is then a RFA. Really hope the Leafs can snag him.

There's a big difference between saying "I would trade a 4th for Yak" and "I think Yak will be traded for a 4th round pick". One is an expression of interest (or lack there of), another is a prediction. You seem to have confused the two.

[getbak]

Connolly is making less than half of what Yakupov makes. That changes their relative value.

Yakupov is set to receive $2.5M next season. Even if a team trading for Yakupov gets the Oilers to retain salary, he'll still need to be qualified at $2.5M after next season, or he'll become a UFA.

So, if you trade for him, you're acquiring a player who could redeem himself and you'll be happy to pay him that salary; or you're acquiring a player who is grossly overpaid, and you'll either have to continue overpaying him to hold onto his rights, or you'll have to let him go after one season in your organization.

That level of risk is going to lower the price that teams are willing to pay to get him.

[PeteMoss]

Kudos to Yak for further torpedoing his trade value by his continued openness with the Russian press. Anything that hurts the Oilers is good with me.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

Kudos to Yak for further torpedoing his trade value by his continued openness with the Russian press. Anything that hurts the Oilers is good with me.

Yakupov has clearly been following Larionov's advice. Larionov obviously felt (for whatever reason, as I don't know what happened behind the scenes) that it was time to let the cat out of the bag to put additional pressure on the Oilers. Perhaps, Larionov is not happy that the Oilers are holding out for a Yakupov/Hamonic deal.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I really have no clue what Yakupov's value is, but I'm sure the Oilers are over-pricing him. But there are reasons why he was a first overall pick. My pure guesswork would peg his value at a late 1st, or a prospect that also needs a change of scenary.
In some ways Yak for Drouin makes sense, but I would think the Oil need to add.

Yak+2nd for Drouin.

Yakupov wouldn't crack the top six in Tampa, so why would the Lightning spend Drouin on him just to get a second rounder?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I really have no clue what Yakupov's value is, but I'm sure the Oilers are over-pricing him. But there are reasons why he was a first overall pick. My pure guesswork would peg his value at a late 1st, or a prospect that also needs a change of scenary.
In some ways Yak for Drouin makes sense, but I would think the Oil need to add.

Yak+2nd for Drouin.

Yes there were reasons and one is that it was a terrible draft year devoid of any franchise player or even elite talent. Also in junior he was strictly a north/south skater that used his speed and decent shot to torch OHL goaltenders. He was never great at using his linemates and never had to play a team game as I recall they tried to teach him the defensive part of the game because coming from Russia he was raw but just ended up letting him loose as that's what he did best and in junior it worked. IMO he's the classic case of a guy that has the ceiling of a dominant junior player.

[StrykerSteve]

Yakupov always seems to work his tail off any time I've watched him play. From that perspective, I'm intrigued.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

Yakupov always seems to work his tail off any time I've watched him play. From that perspective, I'm intrigued.

He's very similar to Blake Comeau in that the legs are always working but not always in conjunction to his head. Comeau has shown when paired with top talent he can score goals just by using his legs and shot but can't stick with a team because he's got a low hockey IQ and when he's not scoring plays are dying on his stick. At least with RNH, Hall, Eberle, etc they have put up points and showed flashes of being very good players but Yakupov has never shown that which makes it really hard to evaluate if he's a good player in a bad situation or a bad player in a bad situation. I'm sure will find out soon as he's likely to be moved at the draft.

[Machiavelli]

Heh...Blake Comeau. I wouldn't have come up with that myself, but it's an excellent comparison.

[jschick88]

Worth the read.

Nine to two.

It was Friday, June 22nd, 2012. The 30 National Hockey League teams were gathered in Pittsburgh for the draft, and the Edmonton Oilers already so adept at collecting the first overall draft pick that they had developed an internal protocol. At the Friday morning meeting of the scouts and front office personnel, then general manager Steve Tambellini would tell the scouts who the team would be choosing later that night.

But that morning proceeded strangely. Head amateur scout Stu MacGregor would ask the scouts to vote, and then he would leave the room. He’d come back with some alternate criteria to describe the type of player the Oilers wanted to choose, and they’d vote again.

Every time, the vote came back the same. Nine votes for defenceman Ryan Murray, and two for Nail Yakupov. Truth be told, one of those Yakupov votes had started as a vote for Alex Galchenyuk, then morphed into support for Yakupov.

With the advice of their on-the-ground scouts tucked away, the Oilers brain trust of the day — Tambellini, president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe, soon-to-be GM Craig MacTavish, and owner Daryl Katz — would meet that afternoon to finalize the decision.

The scouts were, to a man, surprised when that Friday morning meeting ended, and Tambellini did not stand up to declare who the 2012 No. 1 overall draft pick would be. All they knew was that Murray was the overwhelming favourite. One of the Oilers Ontario scouts is believed to have had Yakupov outside his Top 5. The other had him second on the Sarnia Sting — behind his junior teammate Galchenyuk. A European scout was Yakupov’s biggest champion among the scouts.

That evening, dressed in a flat grey suit with a blue striped tie, Tambellini recited the line that every recent GM has come to know so well: “The Edmonton Oilers are so proud to select, from the Sarnia Sting, Nail Yakupov.”

Nine to two.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/o...yakupov-start/

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by jschick88

Worth the read.



http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/o...yakupov-start/

Wow, I got no words.

The decision was borne out of a high level, inner-circle meeting between the GM, Lowe, MacTavish and Katz. Somehow, that group decided that, in a fairly weak draft the sexiest pick — the only possible home run— was Yakupov, who was coming off a 101-point season in Sarnia as a 17-year-old.

The no goods: the gift that keeps on giving.

[HotHotHeat]

Mark Spector is such a hack.

He finally makes a comment critical of Oiler ownership

The decision was borne out of a high level, inner-circle meeting between the GM, Lowe, MacTavish and Katz.

Then dismisses it in the next paragraph

One scout said that he doubted Katz would have decreed that Yakupov be chosen, though Katz would have let his opinion be known.

So happy the Oilers are a mess even after stealing McDavid.