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With each passing day that Nail Yakupov remains on the Edmonton Oilers’ roster, it becomes clearer that he lacks trade value around the league.

The latest comes from Harvey Fialkov of the Sun-Sentinel, who on Tuesday squashed rumours that the Oilers and Florida Panthers were in talks regarding Yakupov and right-shooting defenceman Alex Petrovic. Petrovic is a good, young player but hardly a world-beater. And yet Petrovic would probably have been a pretty good return for the Oilers in exchange for their 2012 pick.

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Back in early June the Journal’s Jim Matheson made it painfully clear how poor the trade market was for Yakupov:

We keep forgetting that the Oilers will almost surely trade Yakupov at the draft, and here’s what was proposed at the trade deadline: Yak to New Jersey for their No. 7 D-man Eric Gelinas. Gelinas was subsequently traded to Colorado for a third-round draft pick. Yak’s a good kid, works hard. Is that all he’s worth?

The question is why he’s worth so little.

Certainly his struggles haven’t helped. Edmonton has been a dysfunctional organization over Yakupov’s tenure, as four different head coaches and a constantly fluctuating collection of linemates nicely demonstrate, but the player himself must bear some of the responsibility for failing to live up to the expectations created by standout performances at the junior level and in the KHL.