Blackhawks interested in Nail Yakupov deal

The Chicago Blackhawks are expected to turn to some younger players to fill holes among their forward group this season. But if that doesn’t work, they could look outside the organization for help. And one place they’re looking, apparently, is at the Edmonton Oilers and right wing Nail Yakupov.

The first overall pick in 2012, Yakupov has never come close to realizing his potential with the Oilers: 50 goals, 61 assists in 252 career games. He showed some spark last season playing on a line with Connor McDavid and Benoit Pouliot, but it appears Jordan Eberle is going to be McDavid’s wingman this season.

The Blackhawks’ interest in Yakupov was first reported by The Chief over on Barstool Sports, and was subsequently confirmed by Mark Spector and Bob McKenzie.

Spector believes that the Blackhawks would send “AHL player(s) to Edmonton,” and ask the Oilers to retain some of Yakupov’s $2.5 million salary. He’s a restricted free agent after this season.

[Sign up to play Yahoo Fantasy Hockey for free | Mock Draft | Latest news]

McKenzie says that nothing is imminent between the teams, and that “Edmonton would obviously need to take back salary in a Yakupov deal with Chicago, and while [GMs] Bowman-Chiarelli did talk Yak trade, nothing too recent.”

All of this points to the basement-floor value of Yakupov at the moment, as the Oilers have tried to find a deal for him for over a year and weren’t happy with the value coming back.

Chicago would be a good landing place for him, to be honest: Structure, success, playing a role on a team that doesn’t demand him to be more than he is. A place were his confidence can grow. A place where Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin would give him comrades in the locker room to hang with.

Again, nothing pending at the moment. But there’s some smoke here. The Chicago Yakhawks? Sure, why not …

—
Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS