Utah Hockey Club signs Edmonton Oilers first round pick Kailer Yamamoto as their franchise debut approaches

Kailer Yamamoto is heading to the NHL's newest team, the Utah Hockey Club, as they have just signed him to a professional tryout.

As it stands right now, Kailer Yamamoto has a new place to show off his skills at training camp. The soon-to-be-26-year-old winger, now a free agent, signed a professional tryout deal with Utah the team confirmed today.

A 22nd overall draft pick by the Oilers in 2017, Kailer Yamamoto is just shy of 5-foot-8 and 152 pounds, making him one of the smallest and lightest players in the NHL. The early years after getting drafted were spent shuffling between the NHL and the minors. He saw some short stints with Edmonton but mostly continued playing junior hockey with the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL and later in the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors.

It really wasn't until a mid-season call-up during the 2019-20 season that he made his mark in the NHL. Skating alongside Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, he was on an incredible pace through 27 games, notching 26 points, through 11 goals and 15 assists before the COVID-19 pandemic cut the season short. Considering that excellent beginning, he wasn't able to continue at that production pace through the rest of his time with the Oilers, though.

The Utah Hockey Club are hoping a fresh scenery will get his career going again.

Source:
Utah Hockey Club on X

Source: Hockey-Reference
Kailer Yamamoto Stats

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