Yes, AG94 (I am dubbing him that now ) will be a better NHLer from a team player perspective. Yakupov has the higher upside but I could definitely see AG94 getting drafted ahead of Yakky because of his well rounded game. His upside isn't too shabby either. Plus, he's an American born Russian which is a little "safer"

I don't think we will see Yakupov head to the KHL. There is always a possibility but I haven't seen a kid with this compete level in a very very very long time. The comparison's to Ovechkin are very common and it's more because he just loves to play hockey. Yakupov loves to score and he wants to be the best. I doubt that he looks to the KHL.

The Sting have been the most avtive CHL team in all of Canadian major junior hockey over the past 2 months. Jacques Beaulieu is working hard at convinced their 15th round OHL draft pick Connor Murphy (PHX's 2011 1st Rd pick) in joining the team this season. it's looking more and more like he is going to be in the lineup this fall (he would fill a HUGE void on Sarnia's backend). Beaulieu has also convinced Anthony DeAngelo (highly skilled offensive dman) to join. DeAngelo was selected in the 2nd round by the Sting this past season but was a definite Top 10 talent (teams passed on him because they didn't think he'd report). Add in Ritchie, Carneval, Kujawinski, goaltenders Hope and Maxwell and Sarnia looks stacked!

As for projections for Galchenyuk and Yakupov, I would expect both of them to improve on their numbers but I don't expect a huge increase (especially for Yakupov) as the team gained a tonne of depth which they didn't have last season. That depth could take a few minutes away from the talented Russians who were relied on heavily last season. Plus, Ritchie missed quite a bit of time last season too and he'll factor in more this season.

Projections:

Yakupov: 60G, 55A, 115P (give or take 5 points)
Galchenuk: 40G, 55-60A, 100P

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Thanks Dean.

I didn't realize they had been that active. Perfect.

I love Alex Galchenyuk and Nail Yakupov, they are 2 great players...the top 5 for my 2012 draft right now is:

1- Nail Yakupov
2- Alex Galchenyuk
3- Mikhail Grigorenko
4- Ryan Murray
5- Nick Ebert

Yakupov,Galchenyuk and Grigorenko I am hyping up big time and I expect big things next year.

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Straight Points keeper league. 4th year. Keep 5 Forwards,3 defence,1 goalie. *Keeper

F: Nicklas Backstrom*, Zach Parise*, Joe Thornton*, Mikko Koivu*, Jason Pominville*, Blake Wheeler, Joe Pavelski, Stephen Weiss, Derek Roy, Jakub Voracek, David Perron, David Krejci, Ryan Kesler

D: Mike Green*, Erik Karlsson*, Alex Pietrangelo*, Alex Goligoski, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Dion Phaneuf

G: Ryan Miller*, Tuukka Rask