NHL: Ranking the number one overall picks since 2010
By Kyle Pereira
8. Nail Yakupov
I believe it’s easy to see why Yakupov is the worst-ranked prospect in the span of drafts I am looking at. Yakupov is considered a bust by just about everyone, despite still being a first-round talent in hindsight, statistically. He just was not a first overall pick, not even close.
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Yakupov ranks 16th in games played, 8th in goals, 20th in assists and 13th in points within the 2012 class. As stated earlier, he still ranked within the top-30 picks, making him first-round talent, just not first-overall talent.
Yakupov is the only first-overall selection taken since 2010 to no longer be playing in the league today. In fact, he didn’t play a single game last year either.
He played 4 years as an Oiler, 1 with the Blues and his last year with Colorado. His career-highs were 81 (games played), 17 (goals), 19 (assists) and 33 (points). To never hit 20+ goals or assists, or 35+ points in a season after being taken 1st overall is atrocious. It doesn’t help that his slower and more aggressive grinding style does not work anymore in today’s NHL.
The Oilers didn’t help him either. He was rushed into a big role on the roster and he couldn’t sand down the rough patches of his game in the process. The Oilers put too much on his plate and put him in a position to fail. A lot of the blame goes to the organization.
By the time he left Edmonton to join St Louis, it was already too late to salvage his career. He was too far behind and only slotted into 40 games, recording 9 points. Another change of scenery to Colorado, where the team was young and looking to bounce back after an awful season, had promise for Yakupov.
He actually recorded his first positive plus/minus season with the Avalanche. But he still was extremely underwhelming, eventually losing his spot on the roster and every other NHL roster.