Carolina Hurricanes Should Trade for Oiler Nail Yakupov

The Carolina Hurricanes are in desperate need of a talented goal-scoring forward. The Oilers have the answer in 22 year old forward Nail Yakupov, and he wants to be traded.

Much has been written about the Edmonton Oilers uncanny ability to get the first overall pick in the NHL draft year in and year out. This has been good for their roster, but it has had its downside. Not only have they had to spend a lot of money to keep them, they have spent all of those top picks on forwards, selecting Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, and Connor McDavid.

This has left a major hole on the Edmonton blueline. Their top defenseman is Andrej Sekera, who is familiar to many Caniacs, but outside of that things are not looking good. The current Oilers defensemen are Adam Clendening, Mark Fayne, Andrew Ference, Eric Gryba, Oscar Klefbom, Nikita Nikitin, Darnell Nurse, Jordan Oesterle, and Brandon Davidson. I mean come on – Nikita Nikitin sounds like a made up name and Oscar Klefbom sounds like a muppet or a Sesame Street character.

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Edmonton General Manager Peter Chiarelli wants to acquire a young defenseman and has been open to trading his former first overall picks. The big question at the 2015 trade deadline was which young player would be available, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, or Yakupov? This was cleared up when Nail Yakupov requested a trade in late March making him the most likely to be moved.

Why would Ron Francis make this move?

Nail Yakupov has shown the ability to score in the past, with point totals of 21, 33, 24 and 31 in the past four seasons respectively. Granted those numbers don’t blow anyone away, but he has been relegated to a bottom-feeding team that doesn’t have much to speak of offensively EXCEPT their number one picks.  To put it into perspective for Canes fans, Victor Rask was 22 years old when he registered his first 33 point season, and I for one wouldn’t mind another Victor Rask.

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The Oilers system hasn’t been a good fit for the way he plays either. The Hurricanes play a style which is possession based and allows players to move around more freely in the offensive zone. As a left-handed shot he can be more effective on the right side in the offensive zone, ready for that faceoff circle one-timer.

In the defensive zone, though, you want your wingers on their shooting side wings for better defense and zone break outs. The Peters system that allows players to move and cycle as the play develops, and the coach’s propensity of trying players at different forward positions, would allow Yakupov to find his comfort scoring zone.

This brings us to Yakupov’s largest upside characteristic – he’s only 22 years old. Carolina Hurricanes Head Coach Bill Peters has been a huge factor in the progression and growth of our current young players, and with an assistant like Ron Brind’Amour to help develop Yakupov’s all-around game, the Hurricanes could really help him move along.

What Would Francis Have to Give Up?

The value on Yakupov is interesting. He is still a first overall pick of the Oilers and has a lot of potential, but when you look at his play from the Oilers and the fact that he wants a trade, that could bring his value down. Teams trading for him would know that the Oilers are looking to move him and will have to make a deal at the Draft.

Looking at this and the fact that the Hurricanes are in the market for a goalie, assuming they don’t re-sign Ward, they could also look to acquire Cam Talbot in the same deal. The Carolina Hurricanes have a lot of young defensive prospects to work with and could deal a player and a pick to acquire one or both of these players.

Francis has mentioned that he is open to trading picks at the draft, and with the abundance of young defensemen this could be the perfect deal to make. The only untouchable players at this point would be Justin Faulk and Noah Hanifin.

I would think that Brett Pesce or Ryan Murphy would be at the top of the list as prospects to trade with a pick, but I wouldn’t rule out Jaccob Slavin or Haydn Fleury getting thrown in there. I have loved the way that Slavin and Pesce have played this year, but the Carolina Hurricanes desperately need scoring help to propel them to a playoff position.

Next: The Hurricanes Top NHL Draft Targets

Now all the Carolina Hurricanes need is more veteran forwards, but they can get them from cap strapped teams for cheap. We know that Ron Francis has the Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman on speed dial, right?