Former Edmonton Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins joined The Brady & Walker Show Friday on Sportsnet 590 The Fan to talk “quiet time” away from the game and the development of Nail Yakupov.
Yakupov, the Oilers’ first overall draft choice in 2012, has points in seven of his last eight games. The speedy winger has come on after a disastrous first half for himself and the Oilers.
Although Yakupov was under fire for a lack of production through much of Eakins’ tenure with the club, the ex-coach always believed the 21-year-old’s development was on the right track.
“Our long-term goal with Nail was to have not just be a player that was going to score and not worry about anything else,” Eakins told Brady & Walker. “And his own long-term goal was to be a very well-rounded player.
LISTEN: Eakins talks Yakupov with Brady & Walker
“Some players can continue to score as they focus on the defensive part of the game, and sometimes there is a step back and you’ve got to be OK with that,” Eakins added.
“People equated him not scoring to him not playing well, and that wasn’t true. He was learning the other side of the game. I thought, even when I was let go, that Nail had come such a long way in a year. He was much more well-rounded.”
So what’s changed that’s helped Yakupov account for 38 percent of his production this season over the last eight games? Eakins admits he’s stepped away from closely following the Oilers, but he cited the arrival of a proven centre as a probable reason for Yakupov’s recent run.
“I’m only speculating here, but I’m guessing that having a veteran centre like Derek Roy has paid huge dividends for Nail,” Eakins said. “That was something we couldn’t give to him while I was there.”
Yakupov has nine goals and 21 points in 61 games this season.
Eakins shot down the notion that his relationship with Yakupov was fractured.
“There’s been so much misinformation out there about the relationship between him and I,” he said. “It’s a good one, and it’s still a good one to this day.”
Eakins is happy to stay at home and raise his two daughters, but he plans on reaching out to his contacts around the game following the trade deadline.
“I don’t want to collect another two-and-a-half years on my contract,” he said. “I want to work. I want to be in the rink every day.”
