Nail Yakupov not extended qualifying offer by Blues, will become FA in July

The 2017 Hockey Hall of Fame inductees were announced, and 7 names have been added, headlined by two former Mighty Ducks, Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya.

The St. Louis Blues have not extended a qualifying offer to forward Nail Yakupov, a move that will make him an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

The club extended such offers to Colton Parayko, Magnus Paajarvi, Oskar Sundqvist, Petteri Lindbohm and Jordan Binnington on Monday, it announced in a press release.

Yakupov, 23, was traded to St. Louis by the Edmonton Oilers this past October for Zach Pochiro. The right-winger scored just three goals and nine points in 40 games for the Blues during the 2016-17 campaign.

Selected No. 1 overall by the Oilers in 2012, Yakupov has failed to live up to his draft pedigree during his five-season NHL career. He scored a career-high 17 goals and 31 points in 48 games during his rookie season, finishing fifth in Calder Trophy voting, but hasn’t reached that level of output since.

At times, he’s been a liability defensively, evidenced by his career minus-88 rating.

Yakupov will be free to sign with any team at the outset of July. According to his agent, the Russian forward has expressed interest in joining the Vancouver Canucks.

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