Nail Yakupov Thread

We'll see what Edmonton does but D men take longer to develop and who knows how long it will take for them to really compete in their own division, let alone in the conferance.

I'll take Ottawa's prospects over Edmonton's because Ottawa is developing them the correct way and building the team with a focus of defense first and team toughness... they also are not desperate for a number 1 center... Edmonton is.

I prefer Lian Vopukay. He's gonna be a stud. Plays for Dynamo.

I think it's a slightly better chance (to be safe) that Hall and RNH are more likely to be #1LW and #1C than any of Ottawa's prospects.

Ottawa's only (recently and still far from) grand slam is Karlsson. Guys like Prince, Peumpel, Noesen and Zibanejad and Silfverberg and Petersson are still unknown.

Big Ev wrote:I prefer Lian Vopukay. He's gonna be a stud. Plays for Dynamo.

Amazing contribution. I should go to your house and slap you. OR better yet send CJ and AS to tag team you.

Too bad I'm at work

Vopukay is sick though. KHL risk, however.

Dash wrote:I think it's a slightly better chance (to be safe) that Hall and RNH are more likely to be #1LW and #1C than any of Ottawa's prospects.

Ottawa's only (recently and still far from) grand slam is Karlsson. Guys like Prince, Peumpel, Noesen and Zibanejad and Silfverberg and Petersson are still unknown.

Ottawa already has one. Ottawa needs a number 2 and 3 center and they could very well be any of Zibanejad, Da Costa, or Prince. Who knows what any of their ceilings are as well.

I'll take Cowen, Karlsson, and Runblad over RNH, Hall, and MPS. Ottawa may need a little help on the wings but at this point there is a lot of high end talent there as well along with a lot of grit.

I still marvel that Edmonton doesn't have any high end D-men after all the tanking they did. Unreal.

Pretty much... or a goaltender they can even consider a real prospect. Oliver Roy is way too small to be a legit NHL prospect based on the way he plays.

Either way, I think Ottawa is building the team the right way and Edmonton is just trying emulate Washington except they don't have anyone as good as Ovechkin and it is yet to be seen if RNH will be as good as Backstrom. Washington has/had 3 really solid goaltending prospects as well.

I think the team in The West that is going to be best suited to make a run for the cup going forward is Pheonix. It sucks that they may not be able to really keep things together being in the situation they are but they have a ton of talent on the blueline and a lot of talent up front. They will never win in Pheonix though.

NEELY wrote:Pretty much... or a goaltender they can even consider a real prospect. Oliver Roy is way too small to be a legit NHL prospect based on the way he plays.

Either way, I think Ottawa is building the team the right way and Edmonton is just trying emulate Washington except they don't have anyone as good as Ovechkin and it is yet to be seen if RNH will be as good as Backstrom. Washington has/had 3 really solid goaltending prospects as well.

I think the team in The West that is going to be best suited to make a run for the cup going forward is Pheonix. It sucks that they may not be able to really keep things together being in the situation they are but they have a ton of talent on the blueline and a lot of talent up front. They will never win in Pheonix though.

If Turris booms finally, then they have a legit chance to be a pain in the arse this year in the West, but I don't like their goaltending at all.

If they tank like crazy and add a top forward talent and a highly touted G prospect, they'll look really good.

The argument for the Oilers is that they'll have 2 ELITE forwards in RNH and Hall with a supporting cast of Eberle and MPS, so they'll have a chance to either dip into free agency for a high profile D or two, or trade some of the less than stellar guys for a D or two. Same with goaltending, they'll try to get the most out of Dubnyk I would imagine and if they can't they'll wait and grab a high profile guy off the market.

We know that doesn't always work here, but it looks like they're gonna try.

I think the way The Sens, Yotes, even The Panthers are being built is the right way to go and is proven to work. Defense/Goaltender first, then worry about the forwards.

NEELY wrote:I think the way The Sens, Yotes, even The Panthers are being built is the right way to go and is proven to work. Defense/Goaltender first, then worry about the forwards.

Oh yeah, the Panthers look exceptionally good. Why they went and signed 13 UFAs is beyond me. If they were all 1 year deals, then fine, but at some point they have to get the youth and vibrant talent into the lineup. Tallon blew his wad too early, not sure why.

SpezDispenser wrote:

NEELY wrote:I think the way The Sens, Yotes, even The Panthers are being built is the right way to go and is proven to work. Defense/Goaltender first, then worry about the forwards.

Oh yeah, the Panthers look exceptionally good. Why they went and signed 13 UFAs is beyond me. If they were all 1 year deals, then fine, but at some point they have to get the youth and vibrant talent into the lineup. Tallon blew his wad too early, not sure why.

They'll be fine. Creates competition, and their prospects aren't ready yet. They needed to sign them tor each the floor.

SpezDispenser wrote:

NEELY wrote:I think the way The Sens, Yotes, even The Panthers are being built is the right way to go and is proven to work. Defense/Goaltender first, then worry about the forwards.

Oh yeah, the Panthers look exceptionally good. Why they went and signed 13 UFAs is beyond me. If they were all 1 year deals, then fine, but at some point they have to get the youth and vibrant talent into the lineup. Tallon blew his wad too early, not sure why.

Because they are no where near the cap floor, don't want to rush their prospects, and need to attract fans even if it's short term. I still think they will be in the bottom of The East but if they can develop their prospects they will be looking good... Probably be the Nordiques by then though.

I think it was more the signings themselves, like Fleichmann for 4 years, Jovonoski for 4 years and on and on and on. It's fair to say they have the best prospect pool in the league IMO, but...at some point there'll be more than competition...there'll be overload.

How committed is Nail Yakupov to the NHL?

The KHL will through very big money at this kid. More than any NHL team can and will pay under whatever CBA there will be. And it's tax free over there.

I would hate for the Sens to waste a high draft pick and have it walk away to the KHL never to be seen again.

Especially if there is a strike or lockout next season and he plays in the KHL...rather than his junior team.

Drafting Russians scares the crap out of me.

Him going to the CHL is proof enough that he wants to play in the NHL. I don't think there's a Russian factor with him at all.

Boy would he look good in a Sens uniform.

Big Ev wrote:Him going to the CHL is proof enough that he wants to play in the NHL. I don't think there's a Russian factor with him at all.

Exactly. And Sarnia of all places... not to put Sarnia down, but it's not a big city like Brampton, Mississauga, Ottawa, etc. A little remote too. Looks beautiful though.

KHL can pay him all they want, but he didn't have to come to Canada to make a lot of money in Russia.