BombSquad
Joined: Jun. 2016
Posts: 613
Likes: 22
The best quote I've ever heard about Yakupov is that he "plays like he's being chased around the ice by a swarm of bees". Absolutely no hockey IQ. Does everything by instinct, which isn't all that uncommon for Russians. Ovechkin, Malkin, and Tarasenko are all examples of instinct first, think later players, and none of those guys are known as "200 foot" guys (that phrase is played out at this point anyway, but I digress…)
But there's something about Yakupov's instincts that just seem fundamentally broken. He's like that 2nd string high school point guard who isn't even good enough to start but still takes a couple 30 foot heat checks every game or that quarterback who has the open check down but still tries to thread it into triple coverage. You could blame coaching to an extent, but even with the best coaching he would always essentially be fighting those instinct every shift and would probably just become lazy and timid.
If I could offer another analogy, Yakupov's transition from CHL to NHL was like a kid who is used to playing NHL17 on easy mode and then tries playing the same way on all star and gets consistently crushed because the buttons that always used to work simply don't anymore. Puljujarvi, on the other hand, transitioning from Europe is like someone who is learning the controls for the first time. Won't be pretty at first, but you have to hope that eventually it will start to click.
Point being, after just 25 or 30 or however many games he's played it's unfair to compare an 18 year old who has never played in North America before to a 23 year old who is simply not capable of understanding any of the nuances of the game of hockey despite being an above average skater and stick-handler.
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