Bogdan Yakimov is a big man with big dreams and, now, he can talk about them.

There’s no Lost in Translation moments for him like there was last year. In fact, when fellow Russian forward/Edmonton Oilers draft pick Anton Slepyshev arrives to informally skate with his new NHL teammates, Yakimov may be the voice he leans on.

It’s one more step forward for the six-foot-five, 224-pound centre, who spent last season in Oklahoma City in the American Hockey League after an excellent training camp with the Oilers. The 20-year-old had a one-game injury call-up when the Oilers were in Los Angeles last October.

“I was studying English everywhere … I watched a lot of movies,” said Yakimov, who was the only Russian player on the Oilers’ AHL farm team last season. “I love theatres. I can understand 90 per cent of what’s going on now. Before just 50 per cent, maybe. TV shows? No, they talk too fast.”

Yakimov’s older sister is actually an English teacher at the same college his mother works at, but he didn’t spend a lot of time around his sister, who is eight years older.

“I ordered the same thing on the menu all the time at first … I like fish,” he said about last season. “If I didn’t know the words, I would put them into my phone and translate them.

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t need Nail (Yakupov) now. I can understand the coach, too.”

Yakimov doesn’t need a coach to instruct him on the Oilers’ depth chart, though. It’s crowded at centre, more than last year at this time with the arrival of No. 1 draft pick Connor McDavid and Anton Lander earning the trust of the organization as a third-line pivot. Former Columbus Blue Jackets centre Mark Letestu will be the fourth-line centre and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is in the No. 1 slot. Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers’ first-round pick in 2014, will get a look on the wing as well as centre in training camp.

“There’s many centres here, but the two seasons before I got to Oklahoma City, I was a winger,” said Yakimov, who will not be going to Penticton, B.C., for the Young Stars Classic this weekend. “On the Russian junior team, though, I was a centre, playing with Slepyshev. If I play good, anywhere, I’ll find my spot on the Oiler team.”

Maybe, but Yakimov’s size in the middle is what the Oilers are really looking for, although he’s lost about eight pounds with all the exercising he’s done. He’ll need another year in the AHL in Bakersfield, Calif., especially after missing the last couple of months of his first pro season with a sprained knee in Oklahoma City.

The third-round draft pick in 2013 ranks among Edmonton’s top six prospects. Nobody doubts his strength on the cycle and in close to the net, and he’s got soft hands, but he’s been working on his foot speed, turns and skating edges for several weeks with Oilers skating coach David Pelletier.