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Russian striker Nail Yakupov’s salary in the Continental Hockey League (KHL) at the Omsk Avangard will be three times smaller than at his previous job.
It has already been reported that in the off-season, the hockey player who spent two seasons at the SKA in St. Petersburg was replaced by “Amur” in Khabarovsk, because he did not agree to a salary reduction. In the Far East club, the striker played 15 matches, scoring one goal and six assists.
Yesterday, as a result of an exchange transaction, Jakupov came to Bob Hartley’s Omsk Avantard. Several Russian media have announced that the hockey player’s salary will decrease from 70 million rubles (about 767 thousand euros) to 25 million (about 274 thousand euros).
“There are no losers in this deal,” writes Sport-Express reviewer Alexei Shevchenko. “Amur” receives monetary compensation and gets rid of a hockey player who does not work his money. “Avangard” gets a hockey player with a good throw, where the moment can be decided, 25 million better variants can not be found at all. And also for Yakupov, because now no one will remember their huge salary, “the journalist said.
“Another thing is that he will have problems with Hartley, who does not suffer Russian hockey players who do not know how to do a lot of work. Of course, there are disadvantages. In the last two seasons, Jakupov has degraded, he failed both SKA and Amur. The big question about his psychological condition. But Avangard did not pay too much for this risk, “Shevchenko is convinced.
In the 2012 NHL draft, Yakupov was chosen by Edmonton Oilers as the number one. After six seasons in the world’s strongest league, the Oilers, St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche, he joined the SKA in 2018.
At the NHL level, Yakupov has played 350 games and KHL 130 games. He is expected to never return to the NHL again, although in 2012 the Edmonton Oilers drafted him with number one.
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