You’ve got Nail (good luck with that)
Yakupov’s struggle to stick highlights risky business when looking out for No. 1
There was so much media around Nathan MacKinnon in the visitors dressing room at the Air Canada Centre on Monday night that the guy next to him, Nail Yakupov, couldn’t get to his stall.
MacKinnon was deservedly popular, with a story that resonates in Toronto during a season in which the Maple Leafs’ former super rookies have been spinning their wheels as sophomores.
After a promising rookie season, MacKinnon’s numbers dwindled. Now in his fifth season, the former first overall pick is putting together the kind of year predicted for him.
“It’s mental,” said MacKinnon, in the second season of seven-year, $44.1-million (U.S.) contract. “My physical tools haven’t really changed. I feel I’m getting a little bit better every year, but I stick with my game longer. I don’t get down on myself as much. I trust my game more than I have in years past.”
Yakupov’s story is not nearly as upbeat.
He’s another first overall pick — in 2012 by Edmonton, one year ahead of MacKinnon — who had a great rookie year: 31 points in the lockoutshortened 48-game season in 201213. But it’s been downhill since. Now on his third team in six years and once traded ingloriously to St. Louis for a third-round pick, Yakupov is fighting to stay in the NHL.
“Every day you have to fight for a spot. Every day you have work hard: practices, games,” said Yakupov. “Sometimes you have good days or bad days. I went through a lot of things: good things, bad things. “Just trying to stay focused on the future.”
It’s worth noting in a week when NHL Central Scouting released its list of top prospects and the CHL will hold a prospects game, that the draft — and draft order — don’t always work out. Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin was named the top prospect from Europe and should go No.1 overall. Russian winger Andrei Svechnikov of the Barrie Colts is ranked the top skater in North America.
The 2012 draft was a strange draft, one that each GM at the top might like to do over. Yakupov went first, with Edmonton picking first for the third time in a row. Defenceman Ryan Murray went second to Columbus and has had an injury-filled start to a middling career. Alex Galchenyuk went third to Montreal, never quite becoming the player the Canadiens had hoped. Griffin Reinhart went fourth to the Islanders and — with his third organization, the expansion Vegas Golden Knights — continues to toil in the minors.
Players taken later — including defencemen Morgan Rielly (Toronto) and Hampus Lindholm (Anaheim) — have emerged, but no one was talking about them as first overalls back then.
Maybe not since Atlanta chose forward Patrik Stefan (188 points in 455 games) in1999 has a No.1overall pick promised more and delivered less than Yakupov (134 points in 332 games and counting).
The 24-year old Yakupov probably didn’t expect to be earning near the league minimum — $825,000 on a one-year deal — at this point in his career and he still feels bitter toward the Oilers: “I feel that every day.”
He still has a great shot and scored his ninth goal of the season against the Leafs on Monday, the most he’s had since 2014-15 in Edmonton, when he finished with 14. The knock on him is that he isn’t strong positionally and that his hockey sense is lacking.
“He’s been pretty good,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of Yakupov. “Great teammate. Fills in on our power play as a shooter. He had a little up and down at the start of the year, getting to know his new teammates. For the most part he’s been pretty good for us. We like what he’s doing.”
Asked if he considered playing in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, where he might have earned a lot more money, Yakupov shut that conversation down.
“I can go anywhere in my life. I can do anything with my life. I can play anywhere I want, but I want to be here right now,” he said. “I’m trying to prove myself. Sometimes it’s hard, but when you have the option to play in the best league in the world (you take it).
“You have to work for a spot, otherwise someone is going to take your spot.”