Russian winger Nail Yakupov has signed a one-year contract with Kunlun Red Star, the KHL club announced on Tuesday.
Yakupov, 30, has played the last six seasons in the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg, Amur Khabarovsk, Avangard Omsk and last season with his hometown team Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, where he recorded 19 points in 31 games. In 242 career KHL regular-season games, Yakupov has 142 points. Additionally, he has 15 points in 42 playoff games and was on Avangard’s Gagarin Cup championship team in 2021.
Yakupov was chosen first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft – a pick now regarded as one of the biggest busts in draft history.
Yakupov had 31 points in 48 games in the lockout-shortened 2013 season as a rookie, but that turned out to be his most productive NHL season on a points-per-game basis. In total, he recorded 136 points in 350 NHL games over four seasons in Edmonton and then one season each with the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche.
Kunlun Red Star, nominally a Chinese-based club in the KHL, has played its home games in the Moscow suburb of Mytishchi for the past four seasons. The team still has seven players from China's 2022 Olympic team under contract, including Jake Chelios, Tyler Wong, Parker Foo, Spencer Foo, Lucas Lockhart, Brandon Yip and goaltender Jeremy Smith. In addition to Yakupov, the team includes former NHLers Tomáš Jurčo, Adam Clendening, Tyler Graovac, Ian McCoshen, Rourke Chartier, Ryan Merkley and Danny O'Reagan.
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