Ottawa Senators (1993–2001)

Yashin received his initial fame for being the first draft pick in the history of the expansion Ottawa Senators (second overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft). After remaining in Russia for the 1992–93 season with Dynamo Moscow, Yashin arrived in Ottawa for the 1993–94 NHL season, along with Ottawa's other highly touted young draft selection, Alexandre Daigle. Yashin soon eclipsed Daigle as the team's brightest young star, scoring 79 points in his rookie season and earning a nomination for the Calder Memorial Trophy.

Subsequent seasons saw him emerge as a star player in the NHL, helping Ottawa make the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 1997. In the 1998 playoffs, he scored a key overtime goal against the New Jersey Devils that helped the Senators win their first ever playoff series.

Yashin was eventually named team captain of the Senators, and the pinnacle of his career came in the 1998–99 season when he scored 94 points. At the conclusion of the season, Yashin was runner-up for the Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's most valuable player, and named an NHL Second Team All-Star. Yashin's regular season success did not carry over into the 1999 playoffs, and the Senators were swept in the first round by the Buffalo Sabres.

New York Islanders (2001–2007)

On draft day, 2001, Yashin was sent to the New York Islanders in exchange for defenceman Zdeno Chára, forward Bill Muckalt and the second overall draft selection, which the Senators used to draft highly touted centre Jason Spezza.^[6] Islanders' general manager Mike Milbury promptly re-signed Yashin to an enormous ten-year, $87.5 million contract. Although his contract was reduced by 24% due to the new NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed in 2005, Yashin was widely considered to be grossly overpaid and virtually untradeable.^[7]

After joining the Islanders, Yashin's point production declined. While he helped his new team make the playoffs for the first time in eight years in 2001–02, the Islanders were still unable to advance beyond the first round. The Isles lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a hard-fought seven game series in 2001–02 and then lost in five games to Ottawa in 2002–03 and the eventual champion Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003–04. Yashin's play was generally praised in 2001–02, as he carried the team's offence for stretches during the season. The following years, his mediocre point production led people both inside and outside the Islanders organization to question his effort and salary.

Prior to the 2005–06 season, the Islanders lost several key players to free agency or retirement and significantly retooled their roster. Captain Michael Peca was traded to free up room to sign free agents such as high-scoring wing Miroslav Šatan^[8] and Yashin became team captain.^[9] Journalists suggested that the team had finally been built around Yashin and would sink or swim with his performance. A common defence of Yashin's decreased offensive output had been the lack of a legitimate first line winger to play with him. Šatan and Yashin showed signs of chemistry early in the season, but generally produced disappointing results. When Šatan was moved off Yashin's line, his offensive output increased markedly. After the season ended with the Islanders out of the playoffs for the first time since his arrival, Yashin acknowledged that he needed to score more. After the season ended, there had been speculation that the Islanders would buy out his contract and rebuild in a different image, but the team decided to retain him.

An October 2006 article in Newsday suggested that Yashin must "make a difference" in 2006–07 or he will be bought out at the end of the season.^[10] By the 20-game mark, Yashin was earning praise in the local media for the first time in recent memory, and his point totals were among the league leaders.^[11] On 25 November 2006, Yashin suffered a knee sprain after taking a knee-to-knee hit. He initially returned after a few weeks, but his effectiveness was reduced, and the team revealed that the knee was not 100%. Early in February, Islanders head coach Ted Nolan decided to rest Yashin until his knee was completely healthy, which prompted questions about whether the team still had faith in Yashin and whether the re-injury was legitimate or a pretext for benching him.^[12]

Yashin finally returned to the line-up on 8 March 2007, recording 13 points (five goals and eight assists) in 16 games which helped the Islanders clinch the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. In the first round series against the Buffalo Sabres, Yashin registered no points in five games and at times was demoted to the fourth line by head coach Ted Nolan.^[13] The Islanders decided to buy-out the remainder of Yashin's contract in June 2007, according to a report in Newsday.^[14] The contract was bought-out for $17.63 million, or two-thirds of the amount left on the contract, to be paid out over eight years at a rate of $2.2 million per year.^[15]

Return to Russia (2007–2012)

Perhaps surprisingly, Yashin's agent, Mark Gandler, claimed that Yashin was keen on a return to Ottawa once his contract had been bought-out by the Islanders. "It's a new chapter and we'll be calling Ottawa for sure," Gandler was quoted in the Ottawa Sun as saying, adding, "He'd love to return to Ottawa, in fact."^[16] However, the Senators showed little to no interest in bringing Yashin back into the fold, and Gandler was subsequently "not happy with" contract offers from various NHL teams, resulting in threats of his client returning to Russia to resume his hockey career.^[17] On 20 July 2007, Yashin signed a one-year contract with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Russian Superleague (RSL).^[18]

On 29 May 2009, it was announced that Yashin had signed with SKA Saint Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). This news came several months after he helped Lokomotiv Yaroslavl reach the seventh game of the Gagarin Cup final, which they lost 1–0. That season, he also led the team in both regular season as well playoff scoring, with 47 points (21 goals and 26 assists) in 56 regular season games, and 18 points (7 goals and 11 assists) in 19 playoff games.

During the summer of 2011, the New York Islanders and Yashin discussed the possibility of Yashin returning to play for the team in the 2011–12 season.^[19] Ultimately, the two sides failed to come to terms and Yashin subsequently signed a one-year deal with CSKA Moscow for the 2011–12 season.^{[citation needed]} Following the 2011–12 season, Yashin retired.

Regular season and playoffs

International