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Some news this morning from Dmitry Chesnokov regarding Oilers prospect Bogdan Yakimov:
#Oilers prospect Bogdan Yakimov (83 overall in 2013) will leave the #KHL to continue his career in North America next season.
— Dmitry Chesnokov (@dchesnokov) April 28, 2014
Listed at 6'4" and 220 lbs, Yakimov is the big centre that General Managers, coaches, and fans dream about. Provided of course that he can make the jump from prospect to NHL player. Big will help get you through the door but at some point you're going to have to show that you can play too. We here at the Copper & Blue tend to think Yakimov has a chance to be a player - we ranked him tenth in the most recent Top 25 Under 25, up from 19 last summer.
In one season in the KHL Yakimov's counting numbers were quite reasonable for a teenager playing against men in of the best hockey leagues in the world. When Derek last looked, Yakimov's NHLE ranked him in the top third of the Oilers forward prospects. His career numbers can be found below courtesy of eliteprospects.com.
Yakimov - who was a third round pick just last summer - will almost certainly be playing for the Barons in Oklahoma City next season, likely with a couple of other recent Oilers draft picks Mitch Moroz (2nd round 2012) and Jujhar Khaira (3rd round 2012). Those are three pretty big bodies the Barons will have at their disposal. If just one them can one day find his way from the AHL to the NHL it will make a lot of fans very happy.