Draft Profile: Nail Yakupov

In the next six weeks leading up to the NHL draft, were going to do some profiles on the top six prospects in the draft.  This will be capped off by a mock draft the day before the draft or the day of the draft.

First up is Sarnia Sting forward Nail Yakupov:

Yakupov is considered by most everyone to be the clear cut number one pick in this Junes draft.  He was the number one pick by Sarnia in the 2010 CHL import draft.  He had 101 points as a rookie which is quite impressive.

Some in Islander land might know him for more then his skill seeing as how it was Islander prospect Mike Halmo who delivered a crushing open ice hit to Yakupov that took him out of action for a while.

There are some who think the Oilers should pass on Yakupov because they already have a high number of skilled forwards.  However, no matter how many they have, I think they would be crazy to pass on someone with the talent level of Yakupov.

The draft is June 22nd in Pittsburgh, it shall be interesting to see how everything shakes out.

 photo taken from http://www.edmontonjournal.com/6444123.bin