Detroit Red Wings forward who never was: Kailer Yamamoto

In a few years, one might look back and say, “Do you remember when Kailer Yamamoto was a Detroit Red Wings forward?” it might end up being a great trivia question. Technically, Yamamoto was a Detroit Red Wing, though that did not last long.

The Detroit Red Wings went out and traded for Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for future considerations, as it was worked out during the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.

Yamamoto was brought into the Red Wings roster in what I thought would be the start of an active off-season. While the Red Wings have made a slew of moves that will drastically improve the team, I expected Yamamoto to be a welcome addition.

His time as a Red Wings player ended before he even hit the ice, heck, before he even stepped foot in Detroit, most likely. The Red Wings placed Yamamoto on waivers to buy out his contract and terminate it, which ended up happening.

This meant Yamamoto’s time in Detroit had come to an end. The Red Wings will now pay him around $1 million spread over the next two seasons as part of the contract buyout. Yamamoto already found a new home, signing in Seattle with the Kraken on a one-year deal.

Detroit Red Wings parted ways with Kailer Yamamoto in the blink of an eye.

The scuttlebutt from the Red Wings organization, including Steve Yzerman, seemingly pointed to the notion of Yamamoto being too much of a defensive zone liability for their liking. Albeit the defensive numbers are not pretty, Yamamoto can certainly find ways to be offensive.

In a role where he’s sheltered and used correctly in the offensive zone, it seems like Yamamoto might have done just fine with the Red Wings. It reminds me of the Daniel Sprong situation and how Seattle used Sprong so effectively. The Red Wings will try and do the same with him here in Hockeytown.

By no means am I sitting here trying to bang the table for the guy, but it would have been intriguing to see Yamamoto as part of this new forward core that will seemingly see another increase in the offense this year.

Yamamoto played in 58 games for Edmonton in 2022-23, scoring ten goals and adding 15 assists for 25 total points. This was a year after he put up 20 goals and 21 assists for 41 points over 81 games played.

For the Red Wings, the offensive intrigue was not enough to offset the $3.1 million he was due as part of his contract with the Oilers. That said, Yamamoto will be the Red Wing that never was after he was acquired and immediately bought out.