Fans of exiled winger Nail Yakupov said the Edmonton Oilers wouldn’t know what they had until it was gone.

Well, the St. Louis Blues just got him and they don’t know, either.

Ken Hitchcock is as smart a mind as there is in the game and while he likes the kid’s passion and work ethic, he says it will be a long time before he figures out exactly they traded for.

“What is he? Is he a top three? Or is he a top nine?” said the St. Louis head coach after practice in Edmonton Wednesday. “It’s going to take a whole year to figure that one out.

“Is he a top nine forward in the league? Yes. For sure. Can he be a top three? I don’t know that yet and that’s going to take a long time.”

He will be in the top six Thursday when he returns to Edmonton to take on the Oilers, skating on the second line with Robby Fabbri and Paul Stastny.

“I feel great, I’m really excited to be back,” said Yakupov, who’s only been gone a few weeks since being traded for a third-round draft pick, but is already enjoying the reunion. “I was here for a long time. I’m looking forward to playing my old team in this building.”

But make no mistake, he’s glad to be a Blue.

“I really enjoy this team and this organization. I haven’t been here a long time but I already feel comfortable. The players have been very good to me. I’m happy to be here. The team is doing well. It’s really good to be a part of it. I’m just trying to enjoy hockey right now.”

Yakupov, like most young players, is a project that the Blues are willing to take on for a number of reasons, including injuries at forward and the potential upside that made him a first overall pick in 2012. But before they can even try mining his upside, they have to lay the proper foundation.

“I don’t think there’s any question he can compete at the NHL level, the challenge for him is to play within the structure with and without the puck,” said Hitchcock.

“But he is conscientious that way, he’s trying to learn that stuff. There’s an energy level when he’s on the ice that’s good for us. We’re just trying to get him to be good five on five and then hopefully in a week or two or three we can bleed him into some of the power-play stuff.

“Right now our focus is on getting him to be a good five-on-five player.”

The Blues, unlike Edmonton, won’t have to operate under the burden of having selected Yakupov first overall. They gave up nothing to get him and don’t have to deal with any background noise during his development process.

“The nice part with Yak is there are no expectations, no baggage, just come in and work your tail off and hopefully contribute when you can,” said Hitchcock. “He’s done exactly that. He’s been good, he’s fit in, he’s finding his way, trying to become a good teammate.”

But Hitchcock points out that he won’t be telling or teaching Yakupov anything different than Todd McLellan was.

“I don’t have any secrets. Todd and I use the same lingo, we come from the same family tree of coaches, we use the same systems almost identically. We use the same terminology across the board so this is nothing new for Nail. It’s just how does he adapt with the new surroundings and so far so good.”

In the meantime, Yakupov is happy with the way things have worked out for him.

“I feel pretty good,” he said. “For a couple of days it was kind of hard but now I feel pretty good. I have a new team, a new home.”

But he has no hard feelings about the old one.

“I’m always going to be happy (returning to Edmonton) and I’m always going to remember my memories. I have fans here. I had a good time here.”

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rtychkowski@postmedia.com