The Edmonton Oilers traded two of their forwards from last season to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday according to Arun Srinivasan of Yahoo! Sports. The reason for the trade came down to finances. Yamamoto was to earn $3.1 million this season, while Kostin was a restricted free agent, who was seeking over $1 million in salary than what the Oilers were offering. With Edmonton being cash strapped with multi-year contracts already in place to Connor McDavid, Evander Kane, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, Mattias Ekholm and Jack Campbell, it is no surprise that Kostin and Yamamoto were moved.
Klim Kostin
Kostin is joining his third NHL team following three seasons with the St. Louis Blues from 2019 to 2022, and one season with the Oilers in 2022-23. The forward (plays centre and left wing) from Penza, Russia had 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points in 57 games this past season for Edmonton. He was a +12 with 66 penalty minutes, two game-winning goals, and 56 shots on goal, with four faceoff wins, 15 blocked shots, 157 hits, 12 takeaways and 16 giveaways. The game-winning goals for Kostin came on back-to-back nights for the Oilers in January. The first game-winning goal was in a 7-1 Oilers win over the San Jose Sharks from Hyman and Vincent Desharnais on January 13, and the second game-winning goal was in a 4-3 Oilers win over the Vegas Golden Knights from Mattias Janmark on January 14. It will be interesting to see if Kostin plays this season for Detroit, as there are continued rumours he may play in the KHL.
Kailer Yamamoto
Yamamoto, a right winger from Spokane, Washington, has played the last six seasons for the Oilers since being the 22nd overall pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. This past season, Yamamoto had 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points in 58 games. He was a +12 with 24 penalty minutes, two shorthanded points, three game-winning goals, 97 shots on goal, six faceoff wins, 24 blocked shots, 77 hits, 45 takeaways and 17 giveaways.
Yamamoto’s shorthanded points came in Oilers wins. He scored from McDavid in a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders on January 5, and assisted on a goal by Nurse in a 5-4 win over the Arizona Coyotes on March 27.
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