The Edmonton Oilers ended the 2015-16 season with four former first overall picks on its roster and it will enter the 2016-17 season with only two. After trading 2010 first overall pick Taylor Hall in June, the Oilers shipped 2012 No. 1 pick Nail Yakupov to the St. Louis Blues for a prospect and conditional draft pick Friday night.
It is hardly the return one would expect a former No. 1 pick fetching, but Yakupov has not yet come close to living up to the potential he was viewed to have had when Edmonton took him first. Battling injury last season, Yakupov finished with 23 points in 60 games. He has 111 points in 252 career NHL games.
The Blues had some holes to fill at forward and based on what they had to give up, this is a worthwhile gamble to see if Yakupov can get his game going again. Zach Pochiro is the prospect heading to Edmonton in the deal. He spent last season in the ECHL with the Quad City Mallards, putting up 26 points in 44 games. Additionally, a conditional third-round pick was sent to the Oilers to acquire Yakupov. That pick becomes a second-rounder if Yakupov scores 15 or more goals this season.
Again, this is a really low-risk add for the Blues. Yakupov has only one year left on his contract at an extremely affordable $2.5 million cap hit. St. Louis is tight to the cap, but they needed some help up front after sustaining some free agent losses and not getting Vladimir Sobotka back from the KHL like they thought they would. Additionally, forward Jaden Schwartz will start the season on the sidelines after sustaining an injury.
At 23 years old, there's still time for Yakupov to resurrect his game. He was a scoring dynamo in junior and actually had an extremely effective rookie campaign during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. But these last few years have been tough.
Yakupov has gone through three different coaches and had to deal with being under the spotlight of being one of the first overall picks that was supposed to be a cornerstone player in Edmonton's rebuild. That never materialized and even when things started looking better for him last season, he and linemate Connor McDavid got hurt. Recent Oilers teams have been difficult for a lot of players to find success with.
Now he goes to a team where he's just another forward. The first overall status still brings some pressure to perform, but he starts with a relatively clean slate in St. Louis. Additionally, he'll be insulated by a forward lineup that still has some depth to it.It will be interesting to see if the fresh start ignites the Russian forward who entered the league with such high expectations.
As for the Oilers, they're selling way low, but Yakupov's exit started to seem imminent as rumors swirled Thursday that he would be dealt. First he was tied to the Chicago Blackhawks, but then it became clear that other teams were involved. Finding a team where they didn't have to retain salary was probably most desirous, but that's why Yakupov's value plummeted even more. It's an unfortunate situation to be in.
Meanwhile, according Elliotte Friedman, the Oilers are not done making moves. It is believed they will sign free agent defenseman Kris Russell to a one-year deal. According to Friedman, that deal could be announced Saturday.
 | @FriedgeHNIC | |
Russell deal may not be announced until tomorrow, but word is it's a one-year deal at approx $3.1M
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It's been a busy offseason for GM Peter Chiarelli as he continues to try to dig the Oilers out of a hole that has seemingly only gotten deeper over the last decade or so. Having Connor McDavid as the new"centerpiece of the team, the future is looking brighter. Meanwhile, the trades of Hall and Yakupov represent a turning of the page for the franchise. The Hall deal stings more than the Yakupov trade, but both represented significant ties to the previous regime that have been unceremoniously severed.
Time will tell if Chiarelli was right in some of his decisions, but this is a group that has designs on moving forward at all cost.
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