Yakupov taken by Oilers with top pick in NHL draft

by From wire and news services
| June 23, 2012 9:00 PM

PITTSBURGH - Nail Yakupov is ready to live with the spotlight that comes with being a No. 1 pick.

On the night he was chosen first in the NHL draft, he had to share it when the host Pittsburgh Penguins traded popular forward Jordan Staal to the Carolina Hurricanes.

An hour after the Edmonton Oilers started the draft on Friday night by selecting the dynamic 18-year-old Russian forward with the top overall selection, the Penguins shook up the somewhat ho-hum proceedings by sending Staal to a reunion with his brother Eric in Carolina.

When NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the trade, Consol Energy Center shook with the kind of fervor normally reserved for a playoff game and dwarfed the modest applause that accompanied Yakupov to the stage to don an Oilers sweater.

No matter. Yakupov never really bought into the hype anyway. The sooner he can start playing and stop talking, the better.

"I can't wait," Yakupov said after being the first Russian taken with the No. 1 pick since Washington drafted Alex Ovechkin in 2004.

Six WHL players went in the first round - Ryan Murray of Everett (No. 2 to Columbus), Griffin Reinhart of Edmonton (No. 4 to the New York Islanders), Morgan Rielly of Moose Jaw (No. 5 to Toronto), Mathew Dumba of Red Deer (No. 7 to Minnesota), Derrick Pouliot of Portland (No. 8 to Pittsburgh) and Henrik Samuelsson of Edmonton (No. 27 to Phoenix).

Rounds 2-7 are scheduled for today.