Nail Yakupov is a divisive player for Oiler fans. His supporters, like myself, are borderline fanatical and his detractors are often just as stubborn. The reality is that this former 1st Overall pick has not produced offensively as he was predicted to when he was the consensus top player in the 2012 NHL Draft.
The reasons why are numerous and many proposed theories are valid, but I’ve long held that Dallas Eakins’ insistence on playing him on the 3rd line was a mistake. There’s only so much one can do playing with subpar linemates with less than 16 minutes of playing time per night. Whether coaching was to blame or not, Yak looked lost during the Eakins era. He was wayward in his own zone and lacked purpose out of it.
It would not surprise me if Yak’s famous eagerness and love for the game faded just a bit while he was banished to the 3rd line for not being a 200 foot player. Surely with the other 1st Overall picks they were given ice time no matter how terrible they were in their own zone. That wasn’t a luxury afforded to Yakupov.
But things changed in a hurry when Todd Nelson came aboard last season. His offensive contributions became much more consistent. While goal-scoring didn’t skyrocket, he played at a 46 point pace from January onwards last season, and was getting better every month. I noted on many occasions he was the best or among the best Oiler players many nights.
Narratives are hard to kill, however. This is especially true of players who are deemed underperforming. Yakupov lead the team in shots in the preseason, picked up more points than several of the default top 6 guys, and showed off a lot of that hustle and aggressive puck-hawking he was doing last year, but still he was deemed underperforming in the media.
One of the biggest, and unfortunately accurate, complaints about Yakupov’s game in the past has been that the Oilers weren’t in possession of the puck a lot with him on the ice. Even when he looked good out there the shot attempt metrics were not in his favour. The anti-Corsi crowd might be clinging to the past when those things didn’t matter, but McLellan has been talking about shot attempts for years already. These things matter to him. Showing poorly there will not go unnoticed.
So it’s good for Yakupov that so far he’s performed well by Corsi and by eye early in the regular season. In the opener against the Blues he finished at 59% CF with zero starts in the Offensive Zone. In the game against the Preds he finished at 61% CF, this time with a more favorable set of Offensive Zone starts.
I’ve been adamant that Yakupov should have been getting his chance to play with McDavid since Training Camp but McDavid is a rookie and Yak had a bad reputation. While I didn’t buy the argument because I think the reputation is falsely earned, I understood why it wasn’t happening. However, with all the options to find McDavid someone to play with that showed even a hint of chemistry exhausted, it was finally Yak’s turn to play with the wunderkind.
It was a turning point in the game for the Oilers. They lost the game and they were shutout, but not for a lack of offensive pressure. From the time McDavid and Yakupov were united the team was able to apply sustained pressure. Hall and RNH then Yak and McDavid.
The end result was still a loss. There was no goal to celebrate. But, if you watched the game (nerd) then you saw an immediate change. McDavid is a passer and a puck carrier. Yak is a forechecker and a shooter. If you were building a line based on the types of players available you would try to pair them together.
Today in practice they were together again. As my colleague Jonathan Willis postulated, this might be the last, best chance Yakupov has to solidify himself in a top 6 position. Eberle is injured, Slepyshev needs more seasoning, and Purcell doesn’t seem to be the right fit either.
Nail Yakupov opened a lot of eyes with his work ethic and aggressiveness on the puck Saturday. It was enough that he should get another look tomorrow to prove it was more than a flash in the pan. If this is the year that Yakupov earns his spot in the top 6 and maintains strong shot attempt metrics then the Oilers are in for a boost. And they need one.
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy