Just Who is Bogdan Yakimov?

So I was reading Alex Thomas’ article on Jason Larbarbera (here) , Alex gave readers a bit of an insight just who he is, hence the title. Anyway we were talking about the upcoming rookie camp and I came up with the notion of a series, for you the reader, about just who are the new additions for the Oilers this off season. And because rookie camp is less than weeks away we should start with the draft picks. I also mentioned that it would be a lot of work for just one person so maybe we should divide the list up…And here I am. What’s that saying again? Oh yeah “Be careful what you wish for”.

Moving on in the series we are going to attempt to find out Just who is this Bogdan Yakimov kid is and what if anything will he bring to the Oilers. Let’s begin.

Yakimov , the Oilers third selection (3^rd round 83 overall), hails from the same home town (Nizhnekamsk) as last year’s number one overall selection and Oilers fan favorite Nail Yakupov. So there’s that. It is kind of tough to get any real information on Yakimov as he played last season in the VHL or ..wait for it.. the Vysshaya Hokkeinaya Liga. That league is to the KHL what the AHL is to the NHL, Got that?

So besides that Mr. Yakimov is a 6’5” center that tips the scales at around 200lbs. Last season he played 37 games in the VHL scoring 8 goals and adding 14 assist along the way. Is that good? I’m not entirely sure as it is difficult to find much information on the VHL; one thing of interest is that Russian junior star Valeri Nichushkin played 15 games in the same league last season scoring 8 goals with 2 assists, better stats but also a much better prospect.

Hockeysfuture.com had this to say about Bogdan;

“Yakimov is a large center with good two-way abilities. At 6’4” and 200 pounds, Yakimov has an NHL body which will intrigue more than one scout on the Draft Day. The Nizhnekamsk, Russia native is a player who can play on both scoring and checking lines, another ability usually much appreciated by NHL scouts. On the offensive side, Yakimov can sport a good eye for the pass and even has some scoring ability, but at this point it’s hard to forecast if he has enough offensive upside to play top-6 hockey in the NHL. Yakimov is also still raw and should get a little bit more seasoned before thinking about an eventual move overseas.”

Eliteprospects.com says this about the other Yak;

“Yakimov is a large center with a terrific set of hands. Owns great playmaking ability and vision. Is very hard to knock off the puck”

And Scott Reynolds of Copper n’ Blue wrote a fantastic article about the young man here.

My very uneducated opinion about the lanky center is this, Craig MacTavish and head scout Stu MacGregor talked alot before the draft about drafting pure skill, the type of skill that can’t be taught because you can always improve a players skating, or defensive side of the game, you can teach a player how to play a role. But you can’t teach the things Yakimov appears to have. He’s definitely a player to keep an eye on, with his size and skill set could fit very well in to the organizations future plans.

Thanks for Reading