Could Adam Larsson have been an Edmonton Oiler sooner? If former general manager Craig MacTavish had his way, the answer would be yes, but his offer to then-New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello was not received warmly. 

MacT held the reins for two seasons in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and famously promised “bold moves” to end the Oilers’ longstanding playoff drought. One of them would have been swapping two high draft picks who were struggling to become solidified, MacTavish told Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now. 

“I never made a manager angrier than Lou Lamoriello when I offered him Nail Yakupov for Adam Larsson,” said MacTavish, not recalling which season he made the offer to the Devils.

“They had healthy scratched Adam Larsson in a game, and so I thought there might be an opportunity,” said MacTavish. “Lou quickly shut me down. ‘No, I’m not trading Adam Larsson for Nail Yakupov.’ He was pretty angry.”

Larsson was the fourth overall pick in the 2011 draft, while Yakupov went first overall a year later. Of course, it wouldn’t be long until Larsson was acquired by the Oilers anyway, but for a different first overall draft pick - Taylor Hall. 

Yakupov led the Oilers in goals in his rookie season with 17 in 2012-13 and finished with 31 points, jumping right into the NHL from major junior. 

His game didn’t click at the NHL level. After four seasons, he was dealt to St. Louis in 2016 for a prospect and a conditional third-round pick. Yakupov would only play 98 more NHL games after his time in Edmonton before returning to Russia. 

“He was an interesting player, a good guy, a nice kid, classy,” said MacTavish. “He was a little bit self-centred, but who isn’t? We’re all a little inherently selfish, and him maybe a little more so. 

“If you watch the Oilers practice, which I did on a number of occasions, you would go, ‘There’s your best hockey player.’ Skate, shoot, handle the puck. But when the puck dropped, he couldn’t play with people, and that was what happened to Jesse Puljujärvi as well. 

“He just didn’t know when he had to trade the puck. He didn’t know exactly where to go, when to get it back, and couldn’t really play with people. Nail Yakupov was that way too. In junior, you can take a line with the speed and that, and take it to the net. But in the NHL, the defence is too sophisticated.”

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He’s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.

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