While Edmonton settled for a one-year deal with Jesse Puljujarvi, they’re hoping to sign Kailer Yamamoto to a multi-year contract prior to his arbitration hearing, notes Postmedia’s Derek Van Diest. The 23-year-old winger is coming off a nice bounce-back year that saw him put up 20 goals and 21 assists in 81 games last season while chipping in with seven points in 14 playoff contests. Without arbitration rights last summer, Yamamoto settled for a one-year, $1.175MM agreement but now stands to receive more than double that this time around, even if it doesn’t get to a hearing. With Yamamoto’s hearing slated for August 7th, filing numbers will be exchanged on August 5th if a new deal isn’t in place by then.
More from Edmonton:
- Prospect Xavier Bourgault is leaning towards not participating at the upcoming World Juniors, mentions Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic (Twitter link). Several Canadian forwards are opting out of the summer tournament to instead prepare for NHL training camps in the fall. Bourgault was a first-round pick by Edmonton last year (22nd overall) and had a strong season with QMJHL Shawinigan with 36 goals and 39 assists in 43 games and with the Oilers needing some low-cost players to round out their roster to stay cap compliant, he could have a chance to push for a roster spot in the preseason.
- In the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek posits that UFA winger Phil Kessel could wind up with the Oilers. The 34-year-old had just eight goals last season with Arizona but still put up 44 assists in 82 games. Kessel’s days as a top winger are basically done but in a secondary scoring role, he can still be a contributor. However, once Yamamoto and Ryan McLeod sign their contracts, Edmonton will be capped out so a trade or two will need to be made to free up the money to take a run at Kessel later in free agency.