Former teammate Devan Dubnyk absolutely slams Nail Yakupov

Former #1 overall pick Nail Yakupov's NHL career came and went in a flash and it's no surprise to at least one former teammate.

Yakupov, who managed just 350 games in the NHL, flamed out of the league in just six seasons and has spent the majority of his pro career as a middling player in the KHL for three teams in five seasons. His best season in the NHL came during his rookie campaign when he put up 17 goals and 31 points in 48 games during his rookie campaign, but even that was a bit underwhelming given his lofty draft pedigree. Ask any Oilers fans from that period on their opinion of Yakupov and you're likely to hear some sort of scouting report like: Great skater, good nose for the net but an absolutely atrocious head for the game and a complete lack of defensive awareness.

Yakupov earned a reputation as a player who simply couldn't take instruction and couldn't adapt. There were also rumors that he wasn't the brightest mind either... not exactly the sharpest tool in the tool shed, if you catch my drift.

And former teammate Devan Dubnyk more or less confirmed those rumors on today's Daily Faceoff podcast with Jason Gregor and Frank Seravalli.

When asked about Yakupov, here's how Dubnyk responded:

“Oh, Nail Yakupov. This guy was an idiot. A complete idiot."

“I tried to explain to him. We were doing a low-drive from the corner and he’s zipping these things past my ear because he’s trying to hit the elbow. And I tried to explain to him: ‘You realize there’s three outcomes here. You miss the net, you score, or you hit me in the ear. I hate all three of those. If you want to practice this shot, go do it on the other end.”

- Devan Dubnyk

Yep... that tracks.

Dubnyk was traded out of Edmonton during Yakupov's sophomore season, but things didn't get much better from there. Yakupov was traded to the St. Louis Blues during the 2015-16 season and was out of the league entirely just two years later. Since then he has cracked the 20 goal plateau just once in the HL and put up just nine goal and 26 points last season, good enough for 5th on his team in scoring behind such former NHL greats as Corban Knight and Reid Boucher. Yikes... I think Dubie was on to something back in 2013.