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Should the Leafs give free agent Nail Yakupov a chance? |
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Without getting your panties in a knot after reading Nail Yakupov’s name to the Leafs let me just say I’m not a huge fan of Yakupov but it’s not every day a number one overall pick hits the free agency.
Yakupov was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers back in 2012 and was without a doubt not the right pick for the Oil at the time, pretty sure every hockey mind knew this other than the brains that selected him. The Oilers needed defense, not another goal scorer; they already had Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle and Hall at the time. Obviously McDavid is a whole other story and I won’t even touch base on that (especially since it was after the fact).
But what’s done is done and the Oilers have done a lot of shuffling since and seem to be on track. Although that Taylor Hall trade was awful and it always will be!
Back to Nail, what a joke that first NHL goal was, sliding down the ice on his knees. Really?
Now he’s potentially one of the biggest “busts” for a first overall pick. Maybe he shouldn’t have slid on his knees, but he was young and foolish, so it is what it is.
Yakupov actually had a pretty solid rookie campaign scoring 17 goals and adding 14 helpers giving him 31 points in 48 games and only a -4 on a garbage Edmonton team. After that, it’s been a crash and burn for the next four seasons. He struggled mightily on the St. Louis Blues last season scoring 3 goals and 6 assists in 40 games, mind you his ice time was limited and he wasn’t exactly given a great chance to succeed.
So why would the Leafs want to give Nail a chance?
Well for starters Mike Babcock is the best coach in the National Hockey League and could possibly get Yakupov back on track. The kid does have a ton of skill and a high end shot that could be helpful on the Leafs power play. His two-way game is not good by any means, but surrounding him with two quality players and some third or fourth line minutes and some time on the man advantage perhaps he would have some value.
After all, the Leafs wouldn’t have to give anything up to add Yakupov to their roster.
He’s not exactly a glaring need on the team, but with the Leafs elite power-play last season maybe Nail could help make it that much better. Toronto does have a lot of quality wingers, but with injuries and realistically still being in the final phases of the rebuild, the Leafs just may be able to add Yakupov and who knows, maybe hit would get it together with the right players and coaching staff around him.
Crazier things have happened…
Looking at the Leafs depth on right wing:
Lupul – MIA
Horton – MIA
Eric Fehr - ?
Mitch Marner – lock for life
Nikita Soshnikov – 3rd/4th liner
Ben Smith – meh
Zach Hyman – played with Matthews last season but could be plugged in anywhere
Connor Brown – continues to impress (top 9)
As you can see the Leafs have decent depth on the right wing. As I mentioned injuries happen and you never know when you need someone to step up or jump over to the left wing.
Leafs depth on left wing:
James van Riemsdyk – could be final year for him in the blue and white (time will tell)
Leo Komarov – realistically a third liner, but can help at center too if need be
Matt Martin – fourth line
Josh Leivo – another plug and play type winger as we’ve seen
Most prospects on the wing are going to take another year to develop, unless Kapanen (RW) makes the leap this year which I feel he may. There is certainly some room on the left side – although the right looks like it’s in decent shape.
It’s an option, obviously management is more concerned about getting their defensive core upgraded, but if they move a winger or two in a trade to acquire one of these defenders, perhaps Nail coming in for free wouldn’t be the worst idea.
What are everyone’s thoughts?
Again, I’m not a huge Yakupov fan but the skill set is there and Babcock could potentially save Nail’s career and add another skilled player to the Leafs forward crop.
Thanks for reading, happy hump day!
Blogger •Atlantic Division Writer • 
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