On the Edmonton Oilers and Nail Yakupov …
Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: Nail Yakupov needs out of Edmonton. Yakupov will make the Oilers, but he could start the season in the press box, which won’t help his trade value. Matheson thinks Yakupov doesn’t get enough done for head coach Todd McLellan. If Yakupov is going to score 12 goals (his average over four years) on the third line, may be better to have Kris Versteeg there as he can score 15 goals and is a better checker.
Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Darren Dreger on TSN 1260 talking about Oilers winger Nail Yakupov and the trade possibilities.
Dreger said the Oilers tried to trade Yakupov at the trade deadline last year, and likely kicked the idea around at the draft. There hasn’t been a market for him. The Oilers will say that they haven’t asked a lot for him – at one point it was a third round pick – and it’s likely less than that now.
“I still feel like there’s a market for him to some degree. And maybe not now, because teams are still bolstered with their own projects and their prospects and their junior age players who are still pushing for a spot. So it’s a little early at this stage. But there’s always a general manager out there who feels like his team or his coaching staff is going to be able to finally pull out of that player what the last team wasn’t able to, or the team before wasn’t able to. I mean, look at Montreal taking a shot at Radulov. Now, a different set of circumstances, but that’s a good example. And there are other examples as well.”