Remember John Scott? One of the last enforcers who was once trolled by fans being selected for the All Star game one year was his biggest claim to fame. He's now retired and has a podcast called 'Dropping The Gloves'.
I stumbled across an episode of Scott's podcast from 2024 where he interviewed none other than Nail Yakupov, the infamous draft bust selected first overall in 2012 - legendary in history as probably the second biggest bust in NHL history, bested only by Alexander Daigle who for some reason signed a contract to be an NHLer despite not wanting to play in the NHL.
At least Yakupov wanted to be here, we can at least give him credit for that. If you want to hear the entire 1.5 hour episode you can listen to it here.
Yakupov is now 31 years old and playing in the KHL back in Russia as he has been since the 2018-19 season. His results in the KHL have been a bit better than in the NHL but still rather mixed. Scott gave Yakupov the opportunity to set the record straight on his career and Yakupov took full advantage of it.
Yakupov Interview
I've found a way to summarize what Yakupov said:
Yakupov never dreamed of playing in the NHL until his mid teens when he was contacted by Igor Larionov who knew the owner of the Sarnia Sting Dino Cicarrelli
Interesting how the consensus number one pick in the draft in 2012 didn't have NHL ambitions.
He spoke of feeling extra pressure in the NHL vs. the KHL due to the extra media coverage and scrutiny in Canada thanks to hockey being the top sport here - in Russia hockey isn't as popular as (what I can gather) soccer, so there's less scrutiny and less pressure playing in the KHL
Absolutely fair enough. NHL players all respond differently to the pressure, some thrive on it, some wilt under it. Some can handle the pressure of playing in lesser markets like Edmonton, Calgary, or Vancouver but just not Montreal or Toronto. Some don't like playing anywhere in Canada and only want to play in US destinations. The flip side of that is that in markets where hockey is less popular you don't get the same fan support you get in Canada, either. So that can be a disadvantage too.
Related to that, he thought it was weird the fans in Sarnia were buying his Sting jersey
Personally I can't blame them. Yakupov as far as I know was the highest profile player to ever lace up skates for the Sting and I don't think they've had one since. With less emphasis on defense in junior hockey, these high end talents often make games very exciting for the fans, much like Connor McDavid did in Erie or Taylor Hall did in London.
It's a big deal, especially in markets where the NHL seems like a long ways away. The closest NHL outpost to Sarnia would be Detroit, which is 1.25 hours drive away not including time sitting at the border crossing or accounting for traffic. That can seem like a long ways away and a lot of money away from the NHL. These are the next NHL stars and superstars - which Yakupov was at the time - and who doesn't want a ticket to that?
The flip side of the pressure is the perks - he got free cellphones and cars in Edmonton, something you don't get playing in the KHL
Cellphone service and cars are both expensive items for most people's budgets, so this is something most ordinary people would jump at the chance to get despite the fact that they probably never will. Interesting that you don't get that in Russia. Perhaps if the KHL grows in popularity then the teams or sponsors will start providing these perks.
Says in Canada hockey is more detail oriented, whereas in Russia hockey is more generalized
This could explain why Canada routinely beats the Russians in international tournaments, am I right?
There aren't enough strength training coaches in Russia so he often comes back to North America for this
With all the Russian hockey players that have made their way through the league since the fall of the Soviet Union that are now retired I'm a little surprised no one has become a Russian Gary Roberts and filled the vacuum for players in Russia or teamed up with a personal trainer to start this business. Meh, what can you do?
Mentioned he was close with teammate Alex Galchenyuk in Sarnia
Galchenyuk would go on to not be the same extreme of draft bust as Yakupov, but suffered from inconsistency almost as much. Drafted by the Habs, he scored 30 goals for them once, then 20 goals for them once, but after a single season in Arizona where he scored 19 goals he never even scored 10 for the rest of his career (hockey-reference.com)
Both players played for Colorado, but Yakupov was long gone by the time Galchenyuk arrived on the scene. However, both players are now playing in the KHL, and both are 31 years old, but AG played 654 NHL games and 38 playoff games while Yakupov played 350 NHL games and no playoff games, so it's obvious whose career was the bigger success.
What he remembers of the draft combine
He talked a lot with Columbus, who was picking at second overall that year, and talked a little with Winnipeg but they were picking 10th that year and out and out told him they didn't expect him to be around by the time their pick was on the board. He didn't talk a lot with Edmonton either, oddly enough.
Regarding Brian Burke's comments that Yakupov's draft interview was so bad he almost fought him
Yakupov doesn't remember saying anything wrong during that time, but acknowledged that was a long time ago so his memory may have faded. That being said, he denied Burke's allegations and remembers just wanting to go back home to Russia as he seemed to have had enough of the TV cameras and mental grind of interviews at the time - and of course the language barrier didn't help either.
It's also worth noting that Burke has a tendency to be a bit of a hothead. Remember the Dustin Penner offer sheet where he offered to fight Kevin Lowe in a barn somewhere? That's a pretty extreme reaction to an offer sheet. In case you're wondering, Burke is out of the NHL altogether and currently the Executive Director of the players association for the PWHL - or the PWHLPA, if you will.
He wasn't excited to be drafted first overall because he didn't know how to handle the pressure and didn't feel ready to be drafted - looking back he felt too young to get drafted into the NHL
Fair point. He also mentioned that after the draft he just wanted to hang out with his Russian compatriots but was hounded for autographs on the way back to his room. It also didn't help that a fake Nail Yakupov account on what at the time was Twitter put out a tweet that he didn't want to play in Edmonton.
He flat out said that account was fake and it wasn't true. He also mentioned he didn't talk a lot to the previous first overall picks in Nuge and Taylor Hall because of the language barrier.
Relationships with teammates on the Oilers
He specifically mentioned tough guy Darcy Hordichuk by name who was a great teammate for him. He drove him to different places from his hotel room when he first moved to Edmonton, took him shopping for shoes and suits (I would venture other things as well), and also served as a bit of a mentor for him in helping to navigate life in the NHL.
He also briefly touched on Derek Roy, the only centerman he seemed to have chemistry on the ice with as an Oiler.
His first Oilers coach was Ralph Krueger, whom he said he had a good relationship with
Krueger was also mentioned as a mentor as well as a great teacher of some of the on-ice stuff. He also speculated that the reason Krueger was let go was because there was a conflict between him and the GM of the day Craig Mactavish but didn't expand too much on that.
Relationship with coach Dallas Eakins
Seemed to be the polar opposite of Krueger, who felt like Eakins was targeting Yakupov too much specifically despite the fact the entire team wasn't good (this was the decade of darkness, after all). Eakins healthy scratched him in year 2 or 3 which he felt hurt his confidence. That was when talk of a trade started but neither he nor his agent asked for one outright. He also mentioned Eakins was often screaming at him rather than helping to teach and mentor him like Krueger.
That would definitely sour the relationship for sure - I can relate as I once had a trainer who did the same thing to me, and the temptation to punch them in the face only grows with time. That would definitely be a bad working relationship.
The pattern of games during the decade of darkness and fan reaction
Yakupov had a bit of a laugh at the fan's reaction to the team's performance during the decade of darkness, which basically went one win and then a big losing streak, then another win and a big losing streak. During the wins the fans loved the team, then during the losing streaks they would go back to hating them.
Losing culture of the day was confirmed
Since there had been so much roster turnover and the big dogs of the day like Hall, Eberle, and Nugent-Hopkins had never been to the playoffs at that point they didn't know how to get out of the losing culture.
Trade to St. Louis
At the time St. Louis was a playoff contender so the atmosphere was different, especially because there were a lot more veterans around who had been to the playoffs. That team was coached by Ken Hitchcock and he said that all the players in St. Louis hated Hitch but his system "would work sometimes" - no elaboration on that.
Another question about the NHL lifestyle
Though he missed the more laid back style of the KHL, he did like the NHL lifestyle where you get to travel in style and eat at the best restaurants, and of course the free stuff. He also mentioned that he regrets not socializing more with his teammates in Edmonton, but at the time he was shyer than he is now and again there was also more of a language barrier than he has now.
Said the constant parade of coaches in Edmonton he felt stunted his development a little
I'll definitely give him that. The team did go through a lot of coaches at that time, and this is the part of Yakupov's career here that the team owns.
Bob Hartley anecdote
Yakupov is now on his second stint with Omsk Avangard but in his first stint Bob Hartley was coaching the team. When NY was drafted he was the head coach of the Flames, and Hartley mentioned to him that if had played for the Flames at that time he would've coached Yakupov differently than the Oilers did at that time. Certainly we hope he would coach him differently than Dallas Eakins.
Named Connor McDavid as the best player he's ever played with, but Nathan MacKinnon was a close second
He mentioned MacKinnon was very serious at the Avs practices and was on the ice early practicing with the goalies and was always shooting to score instead of just practice. When asked about Hall vs. MacKinnon, he said MacKinnon has more intensity than Hall did.
Would he ever come back to the NHL?
He is only 31, after all, so he could come back for a few years at least if he wanted to. He mentioned he still has friends in Edmonton that he talks to but for him hockey is not his life and hockey is too intense in the NHL for him. He said in Russia hockey isn't as big so he gets to live more of a life as well as play hockey so that appeals to him. He also mentioned the intensity of playing hockey goes for all of North America, not just Edmonton. He also again repeated it's stressful to get drafted in the NHL.
However, despite all of this he hasn't completely ruled it out.
What happened after that season in Colorado?
After the season he was waiting for other NHL offers, but he already had an offer on the table from St. Petersburg SKA, and their training camp started early so he had a choice - either go back to Russia or roll the dice and wait longer for an NHL offer.
He chose to go to St. Petersburg because they start their training camp fairly early so if he was going to join them he didn't have much time to decide. What clinched it for him is he wanted to go back to his home country of Russia. Many people can relate to wanting to go home.
Devan Dubnyk calling him an idiot
Yakupov felt this was uncalled for, especially since this is long after his NHL career is over and he is basically talking about him behind his back, which is absolutely true. For those who haven't heard the anecdote, long story short Dubnyk took exception to Yakupov shooting in the high corners on him in practice. At one point Dubnyk was so incensed he wielded his goalie stick at NY like a club and chased him around the ice.
Dubnyk was briefly a teammate of MacKinnon, so it leads a person to wonder how he handled the intensity of MacKinnon shooting on him in practice. Anyway, Yakupov rightly so thought this was a strange overreaction on Dubnyk's part - and said goalies tend to be weird. John Scott agreed with him and confirmed he too had run-ins with goalies in practice when he played, so I'm assuming this isn't an uncommon thing in the NHL.
He regrets bringing his family to Edmonton with him
He mentioned he brought his mother and a couple of other family members with him and they would often want to dissect bad games with him when he got home when he would've rather just needed space in his bedroom for awhile. It also took away some of his independence he felt, probably another reason he didn't socialize here as much as he may have wanted to.
The boys then proceeded to ask Yakupov some "rapid fire" style questions at the end of the podcast.
Food from North America he misses the most
Nachos. Can't even get them in restaurants in Russia for some reason. I hear you, Nail, I love nachos too.
Favorite vacation spot
Dubai.
Advice to young kids wanting to play professionally
Don't overanalyze or succumb to information overload, just stay calm and enjoy life. Also they should get out and enjoy their environments more as hockey is not the biggest part of life.