Bogdan Yakimov in play for a roster spot with the Oilers?

[Axeman33]

Apparently Dallas Eakin thinks he has a real shot of making the squad out of training camp, along with Leon Draistaitl.

In a radio interview on 630 CHED, Eakin was asked on the chance that both of the young centers could win a spot with the Oilers once the regular season starts. He had this to say about it:

I don’t want to speak for my boss, but we’ve had the talks and I don’t think we will hesitate [to play youth if they earn a spot] at all. We’re looking to go with the guys who have earned their spots through training camp. You don’t want to play safe all the time; safe is ‘okay, he doesn’t need waivers, send him down, keep this guy and we’ll see what happens.’ We want to go with the guys who have earned the spots. Is there a danger in that in waivers? Absolutely. But that’s where the battle is. There’s still lots of time here. I’m not sure that they’ve outplayed those guys but there are certainly all these guys in the mix; no one has stepped up way ahead of each other yet. It’ll be real interesting here over the next few games to see who is going to step up. But my real honest answer, and I will be honest, is I don’t think there will be any hesitation. We’ll take the guys who have played well, played the best and who we think will help us win our first game.

Apparently both have outplayed Arcobello and Lander to this point.

[rainydrinkwater]

Oiler fans have been high on his NHL potential for a while now. After watching a couple of pre-season games I think I can see why.

[mojavedesert]

Never heard of the guy - until now. More solid info provided by Axeman, who I thought had just misspelled Nail Yakupov due to his month of incredible posting and no sleeping.

[rataylor22]

From what I heard, his size is a really enticing factor in all of this, which is understandable

[doulos]

6'5" and over 200lbs. He plays a pretty straightforward game but I've been quite impressed with his ability to just play the game. He's been better at center than everyone other than Nugent-Hopkins, and he has NHL ready size at this point. He also came out of the KHL, so he's used to playing against bigger competition. The only concern may be that he was playing 9 minutes a night in the KHL, so the grind of the NHL with slightly more minutes, could really be an issue.

Hopefully the Oilers try him on a line with Yakupov to see if there might be anything going there. Yakupov has not looked great this preseason again and doesn't seem to fit anywhere in the roster, but Yakimov seemed to connect really well with Tkachev, who was another creative, highly skilled player. I'm not sure what will happen. He'd be on my Oiler team at this point, but I doubt he's going to have a real shot to make the team, despite what they are saying.

[havanablast21]

Seriously? His name is Yakimov?

Que Jackimov comments now.

or Yaki ma and pa

honestly...never heard of the guy either.

Sets up a great "draidl and the Yak's" line!

[doulos]

Seriously? His name is Yakimov?

Que Jackimov comments now.

or Yaki ma and pa

honestly...never heard of the guy either.

Sets up a great "draidl and the Yak's" line!

His first name is Bogdn which I believe means god given in some language or another. The guy was clearly created to play hockey.

[Fast Tony DeNiro]

Really interesting prospect, and it shows how far he's come in such a short time to push for a roster spot already. I didn't expect to see him for another couple years. Size down the middle is probably the biggest reason the Oilers took Draisaitl, and Yakimov makes him look like Johnny Gaudreau.

He has the skill to eventually be a 2C, but will almost for sure start on the 3rd line and he'll probably stay there for a bit. Him and Yakupov could make some things happen.

[rainydrinkwater]

Here's a nice little read on Yakimov for those who are less familiar with him.

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/201...-test-to-date/

[mounD]

I remember reading about him on these forums and the prospect ramblings in the past couple years, but he was always a super long-term consideration and a deep sleeper at best. Good for him that he's been having a good preseason. He's definitely someone to keep an eye on.

[rainydrinkwater]

The best description I can make from watching Yakimov this preseason is that his game is smart, safe and efficient. NHL coaches and execs like that a lot. I think he'll be pretty much a full time oiler this season.

[The Bottlenecker]

Are they running out of names in Russia so that they now have two similarily named guys playing on the same team? Can you imagine the color commentator's confusion if he has to make this call:

Yakupov slides it over to Yakimov, sends it back to Yakupov...shot....rebound...Yakimov pokes it in. Beautiful goal by...one of the Yaks...

[doulos]

He was solid again tonight no matter who he lines up with. He's produced, and looked good, and almost never had great linemates. Really impressed by him.

[sasquatch]

becaue the Oilers need to get younger....

[doulos]

becaue the Oilers need to get younger....

Obviously the best thing was to actually get proper NHL players for the Center position, but they failed at that task.