Nail Yakupov Traded From Kunlun Red Star To Avangard Omsk

Russian winger Nail Yakupov, 31, was traded from KHL club Kunlun Red Star to Avangard Omsk on Saturday. Omsk also receives the playing rights to Canadian defenseman Turner Ottenbreit in exchange for an undisclosed sum of cash.

Yakupov signed a one-year contract with the nominally Chinese-based KHL club in August. He had seven goals and four assists in 27 games for Kunlun this season. He’d previously played in Omsk from 2020 to 2023 and has played in the KHL since 2018.

According to Omsk’s announcement, Yakupov will wear number 65 with is new old club.

Yakupov was famously the first overall pick of the Edmonton Oilers in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. After recording 31 points in 48 games in his rookie season, which was shortened by a lockout, he would never approach that pace of production for the rest of his NHL career. He played 350 regular-season games with the Oilers, St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche, recording 136 points and 142 penalty minutes.

In 311 KHL regular-season and playoff games with Omsk, Kunlun, SKA St. Petersburg, Amur Khabarovsk and hometown Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, Yakupov has 168 points and 165 penalty minutes.

Ottenbreit, 27, had eight points and 46 penalty minutes in 64 games for Kunlun last season – his only season in the KHL. He is currently on the roster of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the AHL farm team of the Seattle Kraken, although he hasn’t played in a game this season.

A native of Yorktown, Sask., Ottenbreit played junior hockey for the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds and spent four seasons playing for the AHL’s Iowa Wild before heading overseas in 2023.