Canadiens Off-Season Target: Nail Yakupov

The Canadiens are going to be on the lookout for scoring talent this off-season and this could lead them to the Edmonton Oilers and Nail Yakupov.

The Montreal Canadiens need scoring. They also have two potential winger spots in the top 6 that need to be filled by talented forwards. The catch? The Canadiens have limited cap space to make significant moves.

Enter Nail Yakupov and the Edmonton Oilers.

It is well known that 2012 1st Overall Pick Nail Yakupov has failed to live up to expectations. His defensive struggles are also well documented. In fact, Yakupov’s -84 plus/minus rating since 2013-14 is far and away the worst in the NHL with Rasmus Ristolainen’s -68 representing the second worst.

Yakupov has also seen his offensive game dry up, posting a 0.39 Points Per Game over the past 3 seasons. His possession numbers also rate as below average. However, both his Corsi For and Fenwick For Percentages have trended upwards in each of his 4 NHL seasons, peaking this past season at 49.6% and 48.9% respectively.

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So why would Yakupov be a Canadiens target? First off, despite having been in the league for 4 seasons, Yakupov is still just 22 years old. That means he still has some untapped potential and a change of scenery could tap into that.

Something that isn’t as talked about but could be a contributing factor to Yakupov’s stagnant development is that the Oilers have gone through 3 coaches in the past 2 seasons. With Geoff Molson and Marc Bergevin putting an emphasis on stability, this could be a key to unlocking Yakupov’s potential.

How He Fits With the Canadiens

The natural fit with the Canadiens would be to place Yakupov on Alex Galchenyuk’s right side. This fit has been complicated a bit with Galchenyuk’s emergence as a true #1 center. Placing these two together would mean splitting up Galchenyuk, Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher which isn’t really ideal.

Another option would be to place Yakupov next to the always defensively responsible Tomas Plekanec. I actually really like this idea for two reasons.

One, it allows Galchenyuk to continue on playing with the best forwards and continue developing as a 1st line center. This helps ensure Galchenyuk receives every opportunity to succeed and be a top line player.

Secondly, it allows Yakupov to learn from one of the most defensively responsible forwards on the team while also giving Plekanec a talented winger to play with. With Michel Therrien coming back to coach the Canadiens, a player who is unable to properly play in his own end will not fit into the scheme. Plekanec could both mask and help Yaakupov’s defensive game.

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The Potential Canadiens-Oilers Trade

As I mentioned earlier, Montreal enters the off-season with limited cap space. Yakupov has a cap hit of $2.5 million and Montreal could easily absorb that. However it would further limit their cap space by doing so.

So to balance out the cap numbers, Montreal would likely want to send a current roster player the other way. Saying that, Edmonton likely would have minimal interest in the “popular” names Canadiens’ fans like to bring up. Names like David Desharnais and Alexei Emelin probably wouldn’t be a part of the deal. Even Lars Eller likely wouldn’t entice the Oilers due to his $9 million in actual salary that is owed to him and the overall depth of forwards in Edmonton.

The most logical choice for both sides would likely be Greg Pateryn and a draft pick for Yakupov. This would be a tough decision as Pateryn really came into his own this season. But as with all trades, you do have to give to get.

In this case, dealing Pateryn for a potentially high-upside scoring winger could be well worth it. If I were Bergevin, I’d likely try to avoid dealing Pateryn but it wouldn’t be a complete deal-breaker.