Did Nail Yakupov Lose His Spot in the St. Louis Blues’ Lineup?
Ken Hitchcock historically likes to make lineup changes after ugly losses. Will that cost Nail Yakupov his spot in the St. Louis Blues’ lineup?
The St. Louis Blues suffered unquestionably their worst loss of the 2016-17 season to date on Tuesday night, when they were shut out 5-0 by the New York Rangers, hanging goalies Jake Allen and Carter Hutton out to dry as they allowed five goals on the 29 shots they faced. Perhaps a bigger issue than the total lack of defensive responsibility, though, was the continued lack of offense from a Blues team that has scored 11 goals in its past 12 games (and five in 11 if you subtract the six goals they scored in a win at Calgary on October 22.)
Coach Ken Hitchcock has a well-known reputation for making lineup changes during and after embarrassing losses, and he certainly tipped his hand as to what one of those changes may be during the second period of Thursday’s game. He demoted winger Nail Yakupov to the fourth line while moving Dmitrij Jaskin up to Yakupov’s spot on the third line. Yakupov ended up playing 10:32, while Jaskin played 10:15.
The organization has had remarkable patience with nurturing Jaskin along, as this is now the fifth season in which he’s seen action with the Blues while failing to claim a top-nine role for any prolonged period of time. He’s got the size and aggressive nature to be an effective fourth-liner long-term, but there’s obviously still an organizational interest in turning him into a top-nine player.
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It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see him moved up to the third line on Thursday at Dallas, with Yakupov removed from a top nine that seemed impenetrable during the early days of the season. Unlike what probably would be the case if the move were made in reverse, though, the Blues won’t stick with the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Yakupov on their fourth line as they would with the 6-foot-2, 217-pound Jaskin, not a fourth line that Hitchcock said needs more size and physicality as recently as two days ago.
The Blues have to be patient with Yakupov, a 23-year-old who they acquired for scraps right before the start of the regular season. He came in as a project, and in order for him to succeed, there needs to be time and patience invested into his success.
But it seemed as if the project was ahead of schedule during the first couple weeks of the season, when Yakupov had four points in his first six games, got time on the power play, and even received a cameo on the first line. But while he’s got tremendous raw talent, it always felt like he was overachieving a bit, and now that he has no points with just three shots in his past four games, it seems as if Yakupov might need to “hit the reset button,” as Hitchcock often likes to say with young players.
It’s not a deal where he should toil in the press box forever more, as Ty Rattie is seemingly destined to do this season, but if he sits for a game or two while Jaskin gets a chance on the third line and Scottie Upshall gets his job back on the fourth line, it might not be the worst thing in the world.
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It should be interesting to see how drastic the lineup changes are for Thursday’s game.