Former First Overall NHL Pick Traded Mid-Season for Little Return

Once a highly touted first overall draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers, Nail Yakupov has been quietly keeping his professional hockey career alive back home in the KHL.

While he's hasn't been awful, Yakupov isn't a star in is home league like some other high NHL draft picks.

While he's played on some perennial contenders in the KHL, such as SKA St. Petersburg and Omsk Avangard, Nail Yakupov started the 2024-25 season with Kunlun Red Star, the only team in the league based in China.

If you're unfamiliar with the KHL, Kunlun Red Star isn't just a bad team this season, they're a bad team every season since coming into the league.

Signing there isn't a great thing for someone who seemed to have so much potential, but Yakupov has now left Kunlun, returning to Avangard Omsk.

It's not necessarily a surprise that Nail Yakupov would be willing to go elsewhere. It is a bit of a surprise that return on the trade, which included Yakupov and teammate Turner Ottenbreit, is an undisclosed amount of cash.

Trades involving cash have been outlawed in the NHL since a new collective bargaining agreement with players was signed in 2005. It's unlikely they ever return.

Kunlun's a different story, where there isn't a lot of money spent on the team anyway, but every dollar counts.

As for Avangard Omsk, they usually are near the top or middle of the KHL. This season, the team is 9-15 so far. Nail Yakupov in the lineup could help the team, but it would be more of a depth position.

The former member of the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, and Colorado Avalanche has never had more than 17 points in his last six KHL seasons.