Oilers: How Nail Yakupov stacks up against the 2012 NHL Draft

Value Outside The Top 10

In a re-draft, Filip Forsberg, who was picked 11th overall by the Washington Capitals, might go first. He’s tallied 318 goals and 681 points in 780 games. Most of the first-round success stories came from the 11-20 range, which also included Tom Wilson, Tomáš Hertl, Teuvo Teravainen, and Andrei Vasilevskiy, another candidate to go first overall in hindsight.

Other notables in that range include Radek Faksa (13th), Zemgus Girgensons (14th), Cody Ceci (15th), and Scott Laughton (20th). From 21-30, names like Mark Jankowski, Olli Määttä, Mike Matheson, Brady Skjei, and Tanner Pearson stand out.

The second round produced several players who went on to play 100 or more NHL games: Pontus Aberg, Phil Di Giuseppe, Jake McCabe, Anthony Stolarz, Brock McGinn, Martin Frk, Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger, Chris Tierney, Jordan Martinook, Damon Severson, and Devin Shore.

Nearly half of the third-round selections hit the 100-game mark. That list includes Joonas Korpisalo, Jujhar Khaira, Adam Pelech, Jimmy Vesey, Mackenzie MacEachern, Esa Lindell, Chandler Stephenson, Shayne Gostisbehere, Oskar Sundqvist, Matt Murray, Matt Grzelcyk, Colton Parayko, Frederik Andersen, and Brendan Leipsic.

While fewer fourth-rounders cracked the 100-game threshold, several did: Erik Gustafsson, Josh Anderson, Cédric Paquette, Brett Kulak, Andreas Athanasiou, and Jaccob Slavin. The fifth round featured Connor Hellebuyck, now a three-time Vezina Trophy winner, as well as Charles Hudon, Dominic Toninato, Connor Carrick, Ben Hutton, Alex Kerfoot, and Colin Miller.

In the sixth round, Connor Brown and Linus Ullmark are the headliners, with four other players also reaching the 100-game mark. The seventh round added three more to that list.

So while the 2012 draft lacked elite top-10 talent, it made up for it with depth from picks 20 through 211.

How Yakupov Stacks Up

In the end, Yakupov will go down as one of the biggest draft busts in NHL history, even if many of the players taken after him likely wouldn’t have changed much for Edmonton. Yakupov played six seasons in the NHL, scoring 62 goals and 136 points over 350 games.

He had a strong rookie year, scoring 17 goals and 31 points in 48 games, tied for the most points among rookies that season. That 2012-13 lockout-shortened campaign was the closest the Oilers came to making the playoffs between 2009 and 2016, and Yakupov played a big role in that push.

Despite the glimmer of hope, the Oilers fired head coach Ralph Krueger and brought in Dallas Eakins, under whom Yakupov’s game regressed. He posted 11 goals and 24 points in 2013-14, followed by 14 goals and 33 points the next season. His final year with the Oilers came in 2015-16 after they drafted Connor McDavid. Yakupov managed just eight goals and 23 points in 60 games that season.

He was traded to the St. Louis Blues for the 2016-17 season and then played with the Colorado Avalanche in 2017-18, which turned out to be his last NHL campaign. Since then, Yakupov has continued his career in the Kontinental Hockey League.

Of the realistic options available at first overall, Morgan Rielly would’ve been the best choice. He’s a left-shot defenceman, something the Oilers desperately needed. That said, most of the true stars from the 2012 draft were found in the 11-20 range, which is part of what makes this draft class so strange.