Former Edmonton Oilers player and 2012 first-overall pick Nail Yakupov is widely regarded as one of the biggest busts in the history of the NHL draft.
Whether it was the pressure of being No. 1 or the difficulty that came with adapting to North American hockey, the Russian forward’s time in the big league was cut short after just six seasons.
Now, fans are getting the chance to hear his version of what went wrong.
The 29-year-old discussed his NHL years as the most recent guest on former hockey enforcer John Scott’s podcast Dropping the Gloves.
Yakupov said he was anything but excited ahead of hearing his name called on the draft stage in Pittsburgh over a decade ago.
“I couldn’t say I was really excited because anywhere I go, I was down, I was shocked, I was surprised. It was a lot of pressure,” Yakupov said. “Sometimes I just wanted to cry, I don’t know.”
That trend continued when he got to Edmonton the following season, Yakupov revealed,
“So because my English wasn’t that good, I didn’t really talk to players in the locker room. I think I had English, but I was shy to talk and hang out with the guys because when I entered the locker room, there was Shawn Horcoff, Ales Hemsky, Sam Gagner, Nuge [Ryan Nugent-Hopkins], and [Taylor] Hall,” he said.
“And it was hard for me to get closer to them,” Yakupov added. “I was shy all the time.”
Yakupov, who eventually made friends with teammates Darcy Hordichuk and fellow countryman Nikolai Khabibulin, said playing for four coaches in a three-year span in Edmonton was not easy.
“I don’t want to blame coaches and GM, I don’t want to say that… But I have a couple of coaches that I didn’t like, to be honest,” he said. “People are always changing. You don’t know who to trust.”
One coach the youngster had trouble with was Dallas Eakins, who was appointed bench boss in Edmonton at the beginning of the 2013-2014 season. The player told Scott that early in that year’s campaign, he was on the ice for a goal against, which resulted in him being scratched by Eakins.
“I think the big bomb, in the second year, I think my second or third game, I got healthy scratched against Toronto. So we played home against Winnipeg; I remember that moment. It was our zone faceoff; I was taking a bad lane against Trouba, they scored a goal. After that, I got benched,” he explained. “We went to Toronto, and I got healthy scratched.”
Being taken out of the lineup weighed heavy on the highly touted rookie.
“I was so empty, man. It was unbelievable; that was the moment you should try not to let those things down, but I was down; it was so bad after that I couldn’t breathe,” he said. “I was shocked that I lost everything, I lost energy, I lost momentum, I was nervous, I lost control basically.”
Yakupov alluded to that chain of events as the beginning of the end of his Oilers stint.
“Since that, my relationship with Dallas Eakins was over. Not because of me, he just didn’t like me,” he explained. “I never learned how to play; he basically never [taught] me. That guy was just weird, I don’t know.”
The forward was eventually traded to the St. Louis Blues in 2016 and signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche the following year. Despite the change of scenery, the goal scorer was unable to find success in other markets.
As a result, Yakupov opted to leave the NHL and return to Russia to develop his game.
As for what lies ahead for the player, who is currently playing for Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk in the KHL, he says he has no plans to return to the NHL.
“For now, I don’t want to go. And I don’t think I have a chance,” Yakupov said. “I just want to feel comfortable and live a good life.”
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