Sitting next to countryman Semyon Varlamov, joking and laughing in their Russian tongue, newcomer Nail Yakupov doesn’t look like a man on his third team in three years and on what might be the last gasp of his NHL career. The playful demeanor from the Colorado Avalanche forward has eroded the trademark stoicism of his netminder teammate and brought some levity to a locker room severely lacking in it the last 12 months.
While the Avalanche were suffering through an excruciating and embarrassing 48-point season, Yakupov found himself buried on the depth chart as a member of the St.