Edmonton Oilers Trade Nail Yakupov to St. Louis Blues
Okay. Let’s start with a simple timeline, shall we? Depending on your part of the country news broke around noon that the Edmonton Oilers had reentered talks with several teams about the services of one Nail Yakupov.
Bob McKenzie even began talking about this around on Twitter, confirming a possibility of the Hawks interest.
Jason Gregor also confirmed that a “hypothetical” deal was looming. Details were skilled out within the next 10 minutes, and here we are.
Nail Yakupov to the Blues for a conditional third round pick in 2017 and center Zach Pochiro. The pick is the actual piece in play here, at least in Edmonton eyes as Pochiro is an ECHL 22-year-old with 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 44 games.
The pick will become a second-rounder in 2018 in the event that Nail scores 15 goals this season. He scored eight last year playing with the human black hole known as former Oiler Lauri Korpikoski.
I have already written about my feelings towards Yakupov here. He is underrated in terms of his advanced stats when places with any center that isn’t The Nuge. But in all honesty this is what’s best for him, he needed a fresh start and an injury to Blues forward Jaden Schwartz may open up an opportunity with Tarasenko or Lehetra.
Yakupov seems to be excited to join the team, and had some harsh words for his former club. He was the first-overall pick in 2012, and went through five head coaches and poor management that led to stifles in his development.
“This is the first time I’ve played on really, really food team. I think it’s awesome, I don’t know what winning is,” the Russian winger reportedly said.
I hope that fans all take the time to appreciate what Yakupov looks like in St. Louis. For those who wanted him gone, it’s fair to say that he was not the first-overall pick everyone envisioned. However, he’ll get a shot at redemption, with proper coaching and management. So good luck to Nail, and thanks for the kind parting words.
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