Edmonton Oilers: Kailer Yamamoto Finally Re-Signs With The Team

It’s official, Kailer Yamamoto has re-upped with the Edmonton Oilers, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief. This isn’t just good because it gets the last holdout in the fold, and right before training camp, but it’s also good because now – officially – the Oilers have a complete top six for the first time in over a decade. I don’t think the Oilers have had this good a top-six since 2006.

With the emergence of Jesse Puljujarvi, last season and the signing of Zach Hyman this offseason, the Edmonton Oilers have a complete package at forward for the foreseeable future.

We all know what Yamamoto’s game is. He combines offensive skill with playing physically above his weight class. He may be a small player by NHL standards – 5’8″ and 153 lbs – but you wouldn’t know it by how he plays. I’m willing to bet he’s at 0% body fat, or close to it. He also plays the role of pest, getting into scrums with the opposition to throw them off their game and draw a penalty. This opens up the ice for Dr. Drai and the Nuge, who can do their thing while Yamo collects an assist. I wouldn’t say he’s as good a pest as Esa Tikannen was back in the day for the dynasty 80s Oilers, but he’s the closest thing we’ve got.

The deal is fairly team-friendly, as you’d expect, seeing as how he had no leverage during negotiations. I’m guessing Holland wanted to get a two or three-year deal done, but they couldn’t get one done so they signed him to a one-year, one-way deal at $1.175 million contract. This is the same cap hit as Jesse Puljujarvi, and I have a feeling both players will deserve raises after this season is done. Nothing concrete to back this up, just a feeling.

Good thing Mikko Koskinen’s contract is up after this upcoming season, we’re going to need the cap space hardcore.

Welcome back to the fold, Yamo. Here’s hoping that you rebound from a sophomore slump you had last season.

This will, of course, put the Oilers right up against the cap. After they put Klefbom on LTIR and send $239,801K of cap space on waivers or to the farm team – which won’t be that hard – they’ll be cap compliant. It’ll be tight, but they’ll be cap compliant. That’s the turd in the proverbial punch bowl.

Fortunately, Holland won’t have to make hard decisions on players to be cap compliant…..yet.