Nail Yakupov’s NHL story is still the kind that gets remembered in blunt, uncomfortable terms. First overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2012, he arrived with the kind of hype that usually comes with a franchise-changing pick. By the time the league had enough distance to judge the class, the consensus was brutal: Yakupov had become one of the biggest busts in NHL history.
That was never supposed to be the script. He was the unanimous No. 1 choice, with NHL Central Scouting, The Hockey News, McKeen’s Hockey, Red Line Report, Bob McKenzie, Future Considerations and ISS all putting him at the top of their lists.
The scouting world was aligned on him. The NHL didn’t exactly cooperate after that.
Yakupov’s rookie year with Edmonton gave a glimpse of why he was so coveted. In 2012-13, he scored 17 goals and 31 points in 48 games, good for fifth in the Calder Trophy race.
He finished behind Jonas Brodin, Brandon Saad, Brendan Gallagher and winner Jonathan Huberdeau, who had three fewer goals and the same amount of points as Yakupov, along with fewer points per hour of ice time, too. Even then, though, he wasn’t named a finalist.
The problem was what came next. Yakupov never really found another level, and his game never developed the way Edmonton needed.
He could chip in offense from a depth role, but the defensive side never caught up. When the goals stopped, there wasn’t much else to lean on.
His scoring rate slid from 0.35 per game as a rookie to 0.17, 0.17 and 0.13 over his next three seasons with the Oilers.
By the end of his Edmonton run, the numbers told the story: 50 goals and 111 points in 252 games over four seasons. A reset was inevitable.
In October 2016, the Oilers moved him to the St. Louis Blues for a third-round pick in the 2017 draft and career ECHL’er Zach Pochiro.
The change of scenery didn’t unlock much. Yakupov managed just three goals and nine points in 40 games with St.
Louis, then signed with the Colorado Avalanche for 2017-18 and produced nine goals and 16 points in 58 games. After that, his North American career was done.
He went back to Russia and found a little more traction in the KHL. In his third season there, he was traded from Amur Khabarovsk to Avangard Omsk, where he scored six goals and 10 points in 22 games and won the Gagarin Cup even though he did not play in the playoffs.
He later spent time away from Avangard in 2023-24 and 2024-25, but returned there for the last season and a half. In that latter season, he put together his most productive stretch there, finishing with 17 goals and 38 points in 43 games.
Now 32, Yakupov is set to return to Avangard Omsk again.
His Edmonton tenure still carries its own weird little collection of moments and labels. There was the Yak City meme.
There was the Jan. 24, 2013 game against the Los Angeles Kings, when he tied the score with 4.7 seconds left by batting a puck in during an emotionally charged night. And there were the harsh assessments that followed him for years, including Brian Burke calling his draft interview “the worst interview I’ve ever had in my life.”
Devan Dubnyk, one of Yakupov’s former teammates and now a Daily Faceoff Edmonton analyst, was even more direct, calling the winger “an idiot.”
Yakupov has also spoken plainly about how his development went off track. Years ago, he said, “I never learned how to play, he basically never teached me,” referring to former Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins. “That guy was just weird, I don’t know.”
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