Another Day, Another Goal for Nail Yakupov (European Prospects Update)

Today, in Neftekhimik’s 5-4 victory over Sibir, Yakupov scored the game-winning goal–with only 10 seconds remaining in the game! In 10 games, he has 6 goals.

A couple of recent blog posts on Yakupov caught my eye. First, Oilers Nation posted an interesting one-on-one inverview with Yakupov. And Jonathan Willis, on The Cult of Hockey, compared Yakupov’s start in the KHL with the starts of other 19-year-old Russians.

As you probably know, Oscar Klefbom suffered a shoulder injury earlier this month. Initially, the prognosis was that he’d be out for only 1 or 2 games. But now it’s expected he’ll miss 4-6 weeks.

News on the other three European prospects is more scarce. However, I did come across the following tweet by Eetu Huisman: “#Oilers G prospect @franstuohimaa had 29 saves in a shutout shootout win for Kiekko-Vantaa in the Finnish 2nd tier league Mestis on Friday.”

Here are some stats from all five of the Oilers European prospects.

Nail Yakupov (RW) – Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
10 GP / 6 G / 2 A / 8 PTS / -2 / 6 PIM

Oscar Klefbom (D) – Farjestads BK
10 GP / 0 G / 3 A / 3 PTS / +7 / 2 PIM

Erik Gustufsson (D) – Djurgardon
11 GP / 2 G / 1 A / 3 PTS / +7 / 4 PIM

Samu Perhonen (G) – JYP-Akatemia
4 GP / 2.96 GAA / .909 SV%

Frans Tuhoimaa (G) – Jokereit / Kiekko-Vantaa
3 GP / 2.21 GAA / .900 SV% (Jokereit)
4 GP / 2.44 GAA / .907 SV% (Kiekko-Vantaa)