Rumor: Edmonton Oilers Shopping Kailer Yamamoto

 

Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland has made a lot of changes to his roster in Edmonton over the summer and most fans are not overly enthused about the additions so far. Most locals point to trading away promising defenseman Ethan Bear to Carolina and signing Codi Ceci to an expensive four-year deal. Holland may not be done tinkering yet as unsigned RFA Kailer Yamamoto still needs a new contract and his name has entered the rumor mill on Edmonton sports talk. 

The Oilers are in win-now mode with the time ticking away on the contracts of McDavid and Draisaitl. Edmonton has been linked to hometown product Jake Debrusk of the Boston Bruins since early last season, Boston would have to retain a big portion of Debrusk's contract to make a one for one deal work. The writers at Oil on Whyte proposed an interesting deal where the Oilers send Yamamoto and Zack Kassian to San Jose for Tomas Hertl. Hertl would be a definite upgrade over both Kassian and Yamamoto, in 50 games last season in San Jose Hertl had 43 points. The Oilers would maybe have to throw in a pick to get the Sharks to trade within their own division. Ken Holland has shown he is not afraid to throw in a few picks to get a deal done when he feels the right move is to be made. 

We are just over a month and a half away from the start of the season, as training camps open more and more roster changes will shake loose. There will be injuries and PTO's that will create trades and waiver action. We could see a few big deals with unsigned RFA's like the Laine-Dubois deal last year. Buckle up, this could get crazy. 

photo credit: Sergei Belski/USA Today Sports