Nail Railovich Yakupov (Наиль Раилович Якупов, Наил Раил улы Якупов; born 6 October 1993) is a Russian professional ice hockey forward for Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
2010
Yakupov grew up within the HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk junior program and moved to North America in 2010 to further his career.
Nicknamed the "Yak Attack" for his scoring abilities, he joined the Sarnia Sting, a major junior team in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), where he played for two years before being selected in the NHL Entry Draft.
Yakupov played for the Russian national junior team, winning medals in all three tournaments he participated in.
Yakupov was selected second overall by the Sarnia Sting in the 2010 Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Import Draft.
Prior to this, he played in the Russian Minor Hockey League (MHL) for his hometown team, Reaktor Nizhnekamsk, but thought that trying to join the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) would be a quicker path to his dream to play in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Yakupov scored his first OHL goal against the Windsor Spitfires on 24 September 2010.
After winning OHL Rookie of the Month for the month of October, Yakupov participated in the 11 November game of the Subway Super Series for Team Russia, at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario; Russia lost the game 4–0.
2011
On 3 February 2011, Yakupov was named the 'Kal Tire OHL Rookie of the Month' for January, which he had previously won in October 2010.
He later won the title for the month of February as well.
At the end of the season, Yakupov was named winner of the Emms Family Award as OHL Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Sting player to receive the honour.
He was also named to the first All-Rookie team for the season.
On 28 May, he was also awarded the title for CHL Rookie of the Year, as the top rookie in the Canadian junior circuit.
On 28 February 2011, at 3:07 in the first period of a game against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Yakupov scored his 43rd goal of the 2010–11 OHL season, giving him the new goal-scoring record for a rookie for the Sarnia Sting.
On 19 March 2011, in Sarnia's last game of the 2010–11 season, he scored an assist on the first goal as well as the third goal for Sarnia to obtain his 100th point of the season; he also scored another assist with 80 seconds left in the game to finish the season with 101 points.
Early in the 2011–12 season, Yakupov took the scoring lead with 25 points in 10 games.
A 12-point week landed him CHL Player of the Week honours for the first time on 18 October 2011.
2012
He was selected first overall by the Edmonton Oilers at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, and also played with the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche.
Due to his draft position, short NHL career and low point totals, Yakupov is widely regarded as one of the biggest draft busts in NHL history.
Leading up to the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Yakupov was the highest-rated player available and was expected to be selected first overall.
Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke said later that Yakupov gave his team the single worst prospect interview he had ever conducted, referring to the player as "uncooperative and sulky".
Burke elaborated, saying "Because we were picking fifth in 2012, and he was outraged we would have the temerity to interview him. Because he was going to go first overall."
Burke added that during the draft interview, a fistfight almost developed between Yakupov and John Lilley, Toronto's chief amateur scout.
During the 2012 NHL Entry Draft on 23 June 2012, Yakupov was picked first overall by the Edmonton Oilers.
On 23 July, the Oilers signed Yakupov to a three-year entry level contract.
As a result of the 2012–13 NHL lockout, the Oilers had assigned Yakupov to Sarnia for the 2012–13 season.
Reports indicated, however, that Yakupov would instead return to Russia and play for HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Yakupov had played for the organization previously as a member of its junior teams.
His first game with the team was on 22 September against Traktor Chelyabinsk.
After two games with Neftekhimik, Yakupov was suspended temporarily by the KHL, as the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) declared that he was not eligible to play in the league.
According to IIHF rules, players moving between teams in different countries need to have a transfer card signed by the outgoing national ice hockey federation and the incoming federation.
Hockey Canada, the governing body of ice hockey in Canada, had not signed Yakupov's card, making him ineligible to play in Russia.
That required him to return to Canada and play with Sarnia for the remainder of the season.
The reason they stated was that Yakupov had signed an entry-level contract with the Oilers, and according to an NHL–CHL agreement, players who sign such contracts have to either play in the NHL or for their CHL teams.
Due to the NHL lockout, Yakupov could not play in the NHL and was therefore required to play in Sarnia.
Within a few days, however, Hockey Canada decided that Yakupov was free to return to Russia, and signed his card; they "determined that Yakupov had no independent legal advice when, at the age of 17 years, he signed his contract with Sarnia."
2013
The lockout ended in January 2013 and Yakupov returned to North America to play for the Oilers.
A fan of Pavel Bure growing up, Yakupov wanted to have the number 10 on his jersey, the same one Bure wore for most of his career.
However, since Shawn Horcoff wore that number at the time, Yakupov instead chose to wear number 64, as the two digits added up to 10.
Yakupov played his first NHL game in the first Oilers game on 20 January 2013, against the Vancouver Canucks.
