The New Jersey Devils called Egor Yakovlev back up to the NHL for now after an injury to Stefan Noesen. Continuously moving him up and down isn’t fair to the Russian defenseman.
It seems like most of the players who play for the New Jersey Devils have no complaints about management. It seems like they really like playing for head coach John Hynes, and Ray Shero has them saying the right things when it comes to the front office. You never hear a player blame someone else for their play, and the only time someone is called out, they aren’t alone. So, with how this team seems to treat its players, it’s downright strange how they’ve handled rookie Russian defenseman Egor Yakovlev.
The Devils called Yakovlev back up to the main roster on Monday. Tell me if you’ve heard this before. He’s been moved up and down between the AHL and NHL seven times this season. Seven times he’s been moved completely. It’s even crazier when you see he’s been moved four times since the New Year. We are only two weeks into 2019.
This really isn’t fair to Yakovlev. I’m sure he wants to prove he belongs in the NHL. That’s why he left the KHL as a 27 year old and came to North America. He wants to prove he belongs in the greatest hockey league in the world. It’s hard to do that when he can’t find chemistry with his teammates, since they keep changing.
This is a player who’s trying to learn a new language, and working on how to communicate on the ice. It’s hard to figure out that issue, which is something every team doesn’t deal with. He’s trying to learn the cues that Sami Vatanen might give him, but then out of nowhere he’s playing with Josh Jacobs. Those players are also trying to find a way to work with him. He’s very skilled, but he’s having trouble getting used to the NHL rules and the different sized ice.
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He could be an interesting player for the future of this defense, but it’s hard to believe he would want to stick around. All this moving has to be hard for him to find a place to live, he’s probably living his life out of an overnight bag, and going from New Jersey to Binghamton, New York over and over again.
This might not be a good look for the future when Shero wants to sign other overseas players. They come to the NHL because they want a shot to play, but the Devils haven’t made it easy.
Honestly, it would be easier for Yakovlev to just play out the string in Binghamton. He gets a few months of constant play, and he finally gets a chance to get used to living in America. If they just let him play, it could change the bad taste he likely has right now.