Ex-Oilers first-overall pick Nail Yakupov signs with team in China
Former Edmonton Oilers first-overall pick Nail Yakupov will be playing hockey in China next season after signing a new contract.
The 30-year-old Russian winger inked a one-year contract with Kunlun Red Star earlier today, the only KHL team in China. This will be the fifth KHL team Yakupov has played for since he left the NHL following the 2017-18 season.
A new chapter in Nail Yakupov's career. pic.twitter.com/TlRPfH8KZq
— KHL (@khl_eng) August 13, 2024
This is not how Yakupov’s career was expected to go when the Oilers selected him with the first-overall pick at the 2012 NHL Draft. The Russian winger was projected to be a pure goalscorer in the NHL when he was drafted after torching the OHL as a member of the Sarnia Sting with 80 goals in his last two seasons of junior.
His rookie season seemed to confirm his goalscoring ability as he led all rookies with 17 goals during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. One of those tallies was a last-second tying goal against the LA Kings that spawned an iconic full-ice celebration from Yakupov.
However, things fell off quickly after that, as Yakupov only managed 25 goals in his next 144 games with the Oilers. This was drastically below what he was expected to produce in the NHL, and patience for him to figure things out started to wear thin on both the Oilers and the fanbase.
His final season with the Oilers came in 2015-16 where he managed just eight goals in 60 games. Edmonton opted to cut their losses with Yakupov the following season, shipping him off to the St. Louis Blues shortly before the 2016-17 season got underway.
Yakupov played with the Blues for a season before signing with the Colorado Avalanche in the summer of 2017. After failing to gain any momentum, he opted to return to his native Russia to play in the KHL, where he has been ever since.
It’s not a stretch to say that Yakupov is perhaps one the most underwhelming first-overall picks of the modern era. Despite immense hype that he would provide a struggling Oilers team with an offensive jolt, he instead languished as a bottom-six forward for the majority of his tenure.
Though he hasn’t rediscovered his offensive potential in the KHL, coming off an eight-goal season last year, he has managed to keep his pro hockey career alive at the very least.