Dreger: Oilers say Yakupov "making really strong progress"

Darren Dreger was on TSN 1050 Monday evening.

On Nail Yakupov, how he’s fitting in with Edmonton, and how it seemed a year ago like there was a real sense the Oilers may have wanted to cut their losses with Yakupov before his asset value depreciated any more:

“They were ready to cut bait, there’s no question about that, just because he just didn’t seem to want to embrace some of the things you have to embrace to be an all-around good player in the National Hockey League and because of that his ice time had to be taken back.

“You know, every time I check, and it’s frequent on Yakupov because again, we were one of the media groups that was pretty vocal in pulling this kid apart last year, so you want to be fair in that process. And every time I’ve checked, and this was as recent as late last week, the message from both Craig MacTavish and Dallas Eakins has been consistent – he’s making really strong progress.

“They like the way he’s trying to add that defensive structure to his game. He’s not there yet. He’s not there yet. And it’s easy to be critical of Nail Yakupov, but I know from Eakins’ perspective, he spent a lot of time with him on the phone over the offseason staying in touch, making sure he was doing things that he needed to do.

“So Eakins and the general manager still have a lot of time for Nail Yakupov, regardless of what’s being reported in Edmonton.”

Source: TSN 1050/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey