from David Staples of the Edmonton Journal,
Is Nail Yakupov ready to work this year? Is he really going to get another chance on the Oilers? That’s the question that Sportsnet hockey analyst Drew Remenda dug into on Oilers Now on Friday. I put some extra weight into Remenda’s take on this issue, as he’s been tight with Oilers coach Todd McLellan for years.
Remenda was speculating on what lines the Oilers might roll out this coming year. The broadcaster made it clear he is no fan of playing Yakupov again with Connor McDavid but preferred Jordan Eberle in that role.
“If you’re a coach, and I’m putting on my coaching hat, if I look at Jordan Eberle and Connor is telling me, ‘I like playing with that guy,’ I got to listen to my players. And Jordan was so productive with Connor, and I know he’s been productive with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as well, then I’ve got to go with the guy I thought was going to be the strongest and give me the most production, which based on the year was Jordan. There comes a time, like Todd said, ‘When do I have to stop looking for some guy to make that guy better? When is that guy going to make other people better?'”
Remenda then got to the money quote about Yakupov: “I think he’s also got to be a better practice player…I know I talk about this a lot. I know they think I’m a broken record. But we’ve seen Nail Yakupov kind of check out at practice. And he’s got to be better, more focused, determined in practice, because that does 100 per cent transfer over to the game.”
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