Nail Yakupov’s hockey career keeps chugging along as the former NHLer has signed a one-year contract with the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star.

Drafted by the Oilers 1st overall in the 2012 draft, Yakupov played 350 NHL games over six years between the Oilers, St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche before heading overseas in 2018. Since then, he’s split time in the KHL between SKA St. Petersburg, Amur Khabarovsk, Avangard Omsk, and his hometown Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk.

While Yakupov would score just 62 goals and 136 points in his NHL career, he’s found more offence in Russia, racking up 72 goals and 142 points in 242 games. In the 2020-21 season, he won the KHL’s Gagarin Cup — their league championship — with Avandard Omsk, scoring one goal and four points in 10 playoff games that year.

When he joined the Oilers, there were more than a few questions about whether or not his game was complete enough for the NHL yet. Despite scoring 17 goals and 31 points in 48 games in his rookie season, the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, his ultimate downfall was that when he wasn’t producing points, there wasn’t much else to his game. He struggled to adapt to the pro game, with all of his offensive numbers dropping in his sophomore season, despite playing in 15 more games.

Ultimately, the Oilers traded him to the Blues in October 2016 for Zach Pochiro and a conditional draft pick. He played in just 40 games that year scoring three goals and nine points, signing a year later with the Avalanche. While he put up nine goals and 16 points in 58 games, the 24-year-old’s struggles to grow as a player ended his tenure in North America.

It’s not stopped him from continuing to play the game, nor from becoming a champion, as the now 30-year-old has continued to find ways to land on his feet.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.