Former first overall pick rumored to be involved in potential trade.

He's a big piece.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 8 years ago
Former first overall pick rumored to be involved in potential trade.

There is a rumor that the Edmonton Oilers may be looking to trade one of their former top picks in the NHL draft.

While players like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have already been mentioned several times in trade rumors there is a sense that those deals if they were to occur are more likely to take place in the offseason that at the deadline.

However according to a report from The Fourth Period there is a rumor that former first overall pick Nail Yakupov is currently being shopped and this is one deal that could get done before the deadline. Furthermore it sounds like the Montreal Canadiens may be one of the frontrunners.

Another player the Oilers are taking calls on is right wing Nail Yakupov, drafted first-overall in 2012.

It's believed several teams have inquired about his availability, including the Montreal Canadiens, and talks could intensify between now and the 3pm ET trade deadline on Feb. 29.The link with Montreal shouldn't come as a surprise, given how Yakupov and Canadiens rising star Alex Galchenyuk played together in Sarnia of the OHL and are good friends.

It's unclear what the Oilers would be looking for in exchange for Yakupov, who hasn't come close to the expectations he had coming into his NHL career.
It's genuinely difficult to gauge Yakupov's value as a trading chip, he has vastly underperformed in his career thus far, and despite the high hopes the Oilers had for him when they drafted him, he may be of greatly diminished value at this point.
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