Edmonton Oilers and Kyler Yamamoto avoided arbitration.
The two sides reached an agreement on a two-year deal, paying him an AAV of $3.1 million, the club announced Wednesday night. Yamamoto was scheduled for an arbitration hearing on Sunday.
According to PuckPedia, Yamamoto will receive a $2.7 million salary and a $300,000 signing bonus in the first year of the deal, while he will earn a $3.2 million salary in the second year. At the deadline, he will be an RFA carrying a qualifying offer of $3.2 million and will have two years of unrestricted free agency.
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Selected by the Oilers 22nd overall in the 2017 draft, Yamamoto is coming off his most productive NHL season, posting career highs in goals (20), assists (21) and points (41). While he started the year slowly, scoring just 16 points in the first 41 games of the year, things turned around for him in the latter half of the season.
After all, he scored 25 points in the final 40 games of the season and recorded two more goals and seven points in 14 playoff games. He burst onto the scene with the Oilers midway through the 2019-20 season and scored 11 goals and 26 points in the latter half of the year, but struggled in his second season. In the 2020-21 campaign, he scored just eight goals and 21 points in 52 games.
Overall, his game still feels pretty raw. A great forechecker who puts tons of pressure on opposing defensemen and has great puck-stripping success, his defensive play still leaves a lot to be desired. After all, he’s still only 23 years old, so there’s plenty of room for improvement in his game.
His base numbers are about average. At 5×5 with him on the ice, the Oilers control 50.04 percent of shot attempts, 48.65 percent of field goals and 48.76 percent of expected goal share.
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With the official signing of Yamamoto, the Oilers find themselves struggling to fill the cap for next season. RFA Ryan McLeod still needs a new deal and the team is already a hair over $6 million over the salary cap. McLeod’s deal will fall below $2 million, and even with Mike Smith and Oscar Klefbom’s combined $6.367 million earmarked for LTIR, the Oilers will still be over the salary cap. The club also needs to sign another RFA in Tyler Benson.
Another move is likely to come for the Oilers, and the most logical players to be dealt are Warren Voegele ($2.75 million cap) and Tyson Barry ($4.5 million).
Zach Laing is News Director and Senior Columnist for the Nation Network. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaingor reached by email at [email protected]
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