Final Grade: Brandon Yip

This report card is a joint effort by Beachie, Sandie, Paul, SlamDunktheFunk and DDC. Stats courtesy of hockey-reference.com and NHL.com

Final Grade: D-

Midseason Grade: C-

Last Year: A

Position:

• RW (51gp 8g 6a 14pt -14)
• LW (20gp 4g 4a 8pt -3)

Lines:

• 3^rd (36gp 5g 6a 11pt -11)
• 2^nd (17gp 4g 2a 6pt -3)
• 4^th (16gp 3g 2a 5pt -7)
• 1^st (2gp 0g 0a 0pt -1)

Vitals: 6'1" / 195 lbs / Age 26 / Shoots R

Drafted by Avalanche 8^th round (239^th) of the 2004 Entry Draft

Debuted with Avalanche on December 19^th, 2009 against Columbus

MHH Nicknames:

Linemates:

LW:

• Winnik (19gp 2g 5a 7pt -5)
• McLeod (15gp 4g 0a 4pt -15)
• Porter (7gp 1g 0a 1pt -7)
• Jones (3gp 0g 1a 3pt +1)
• Koci (3gp 1g 0a 1pt -3)
• Stoa (2gp 0g 0a 0pt -1)
• Hunwick (1gp 0g 0a 0pt -1)
• O'Reilly (1gp 0g 0a 0pt +1)

C:

• Dupuis (22gp 6g 4a 10pt -9)
• O'Reilly (21gp 2g 4a 6pt -3)
• Duchene (9gp 3g 1a 4pt -2)
• Stastny (7gp 1g 1a 2pt Even)
• McClement (8gp 0g 0a 0pt -5)
• Galiardi (3gp 0g 0a 0pt -3)
• Porter (1gp 0g 0a 0pt Even)

RW:

• Hejduk (9gp 3g 1a 4pt -2)
• Porter (2gp 1g 2a 3pt +2)
• Jones (2gp 0g 0a 0pt -3)
• Mauldin (2gp 0g 1a 1pt Even)
• Winnik (2gp 0g 0a 0pt -1)
• Koci (1gp 0g 1a 1pt Even)

Avs with Yip in the lineup: 26-40-5 (.401 pt %) 2.7 GF 3.5 GA

Ice Time:

• TTOI 13:43 (13^th)
• EV 11:30 (14^th)
• PK 0:28 (11^th)
• PP 1:45 (8^th)

Career Highlights: Yip set a career high in goals (12), assists (10) and points (22).

Report: We're shiny happy people here at Mile High Hockey and couldn't bring ourselves to give anyone a failing grade this year. We are giving 6 players a grade in the D range and two of those are a D- and Yip is one of those guys who just barely avoided failure in our eyes. He's also on our short list for most disappointing player this year. We flat out loved Brandon last year. This year? Not so much. Yip bounced around between left wing and right wing and got a little taste on all three lines, but never really contributed much. We've said over and over again here that Yip appears to be in that Marek Svatos no-man's land. He doesn't contribute enough offensively to land a spot on the top two lines (come on...10 assists? Really?) and he doesn't seem to have any of the intangibles - drive, hustle, toughness or defense, for example - to have any impact on the lower lines. Actually, there was an impact...just not a positive one. Yip wasn't very strong defensively (-22 was 2^nd worst on the team) and he was prone to take terrible penalties (McLeod and Stastny were the only two forwards with more minor penalties). Yip had one 20-game stretch where he scored ZERO points, was a -16 and had 12 penalties. That just isn't helping, and surely has jibblescribbits in some sort of an uproar. We know he's got an excellent shot (already 5 multi-goal games in 103 NHL games)...he just doesn't seem to be able to get himself in position enough to take it.

Fun Fact: Yip graduated from BU with a degree in criminal justice

The Brandon Yip Drinking Game: Drink when Yip takes a dumb penalty  Drunk potential: High (when he's in the lineup)

What We Said Last Year: Brandon Yip was yet another impressive rookie. He scored 11 goals in just 32 games (by comparison Galiardi scored 15 in 70 and O'Reilly scored 8 in 81) and then added 4 points in the playoffs showing a bit of clutch play. He has a college rep for being nasty and threw down 43 hits adding a bit of an edge to his goal scoring prowess. Tough guys that can score are always needed.  He did only play 32 games but it's tough not to get excited about him. 

2010 Cap Hit: $725,000

2011 Status: Signed through end of next season (UFA at expiry)

Outlook for Next Season: In less than a year, Yip has gone from fan favorite scoring big playoff goals to a warm body taking up space on the roster. At one time, we kind of thought Yip might be kind of a Dan Hinote-type player - a 4^th line guy who could provide some occasional pop. Yip is a better offensive player, but doesn't seem to do any of the other things that a 3^rd or 4^th line player needs to be able to do. And if this past season is any indication, there's not enough offensive pop to justify a spot on the top two lines. Something will need to change, or Brandon's tenure with the Avs will be over sooner rather than later.

Next Up: Greg Mauldin