The Edmonton Oilers have a chance to bring back a former fan favourite in what could be a pretty cheap deal.
Last summer, then-Oilers GM Ken Holland was navigating a difficult cap situation with Edmonton. The team was not able to add a whole lot in free agency and Holland opted to ship off forwards Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin to the Detroit Red Wings in a move meant to open up cap space.
Kostin eventually found a stable home with the San Jose Sharks, but Yamamoto is having a bit more trouble. After scoring just eight goals and 16 points with the Seattle Kraken he was not qualified by the team and has become a UFA.
An interesting name still on the FA market: Kailer Yamamoto
Had a down year in Seattle and wasn’t qualified… could the #Oilers look to bring him back on a dirt cheap deal?
The 2017 first-rounder had plenty of fans in Edmonton and he could still be an okay depth option.
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) July 3, 2024
The former 2017 first-round pick of the Oilers had a very streaky tenure throughout the six seasons he spent in the Alberta capital. He broke out onto the scene midway through the 2019-20 season when he was called up from the AHL and scored an astounding 26 points in 27 games.
From that point on, he has been a full-time NHL player and was able to hit the 20-goal plateau in 2021-22, along with a career-high 41 points. That production was short-lived, however, as he only managed 10 goals and 25 points the following season, which the Oilers decided was not worth the $3.1 million cap hit that he carried.
Following being bought out by the Red Wings shortly after the Oilers traded him there, Yamamoto signed a one-year deal in Seattle that carried a $1.5 million cap hit. Given that his production has continued to slide downward, his next NHL deal will likely be even less money.
The Oilers are currently $2 million above the cap ceiling and are expected to make at least one more move to free up enough space for RFAs like Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. If the team is looking to add more depth to the RW position, then Yamamoto could be a cheap and easy player to bring on board whom the organization already has plenty of knowledge about.
It’s not a slam dunk that a reunion would occur, but it is an interesting possibility as the Oilers enter the dog days of summer.