When you look through the annals of the NHL, Nail Yakupov will go down as one of the biggest busts in league history.

Drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2012, Yakupov was a dynamic offensive player who, by all accounts, was the No. 1 player in the draft.

NHL Central Scouting had him first. The Hockey News had him first. McKeen’s Hockey had him first. Red Line Report had him first. Bob McKenzie had him first. Future Considerations had him first. ISS had him first.

Yakupov was a unanimous choice, yet, in the years that followed, it’s clear something didn’t click.

He would debut with the Oilers in 2012-12, scoring 17 goals and 31 points in 48 games, finishing fifth in the Calder Trophy race, trailing Jonas Brodin, Brandon Saad, Brendan Gallagher and the winner, Jonathan Huberdeau, who had three fewer goals and the same amount of points as the Russian and fewer points per hour of ice time, too. Heck, Yakupov wasn’t even named a finalist.

As Yakupov grew older, his game never found a way to. Yakupov constantly looked like he was being chased by a swarm of bees, and while he contributed offence from a depth role, he was unable to round out his defensive game. When he wasn’t scoring, he wasn’t doing much else, and that began to wear thin as his goal-scoring rate dropped from 0.35 per game in his rookie season to 0.17, 0.17, and 0.13 over his next three seasons in Edmonton.

Across four seasons, Yakupov would score 50 goals and 111 points in 252 games before a change was needed. In October 2016, he was sent to the St. Louis Blues for a third-round pick in the 2017 draft and career ECHL’er Zach Pochiro.

In St. Louis, he struggled, scoring just three goals and nine points in 40 games, and signed with the Colorado Avalanche for the 2017-18 season, scoring nine goals and 16 points in 58 games.

His career in North America was over, and Yakupov returned home to Russia, where he’s found a modicum of success. In his third season in the KHL, he would be traded from Amur Khabarovsk to Avangard Omsk, where he scored six goals and 10 points in 22 games, winning the Gagarin Cup despite not playing in the playoffs.

He had a brief stint away from Avangard in 2023-24 and 2024-25, but has returned there for the last season and a half, enjoying his most productive season in the latter year, scoring 17 goals and 38 points in 43 games with the team.

Now 32-years-old, Yakupov’s set to return to Avangard Omsk once again.

That’s a loaded question if I’ve ever seen one. It’s easy to point to his status as a bust as what he’ll be most notable for, but who could ever forget the Yak City meme? That’s a classic.

One that will live in infamy was Yakupov tying an emotionally charged Jan. 24, 2013 game against the Los Angeles Kings, when he batted a puck in with 4.7 seconds left in the game.

In the years that have passed, there’s been more than enough daggers thrown Yakupov’s way. Former NHL executive Brian Burke called his draft interview “the worst interview I’ve ever had in my life.” One of Yakupov’s former teammates and current Daily Faceoff Edmonton analyst Devan Dubnyk bluntly called the winger “an idiot.”

Yakupov himself, however, said years ago that he never learned how to play.

“I never learned how to play, he basically never teached me,” said Yakupov of former Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins. “That guy was just weird, I don’t know.”

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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