The Utah Hockey Club has put Kailer Yamamoto on waivers to send him to AHL Tucson.
Yamamoto had a strong training camp but hasn’t made much of an impact during the regular season in Salt Lake. After not being tendered by the Kraken last season, he didn’t get any guaranteed offers and ended up with a PTO from Utah for training camp. They eventually signed him to a one-year, two-way contract just before the opening night rosters were announced. With Nick Bjugstad starting the year on injured reserve, there was hope Yamamoto would have more chances to play.
Unfortunately, even with Bjugstad out, Yamamoto didn’t get many opportunities. He was benched for the first five games and played in only three games after that. During those games, he didn’t score any points and had a -1 rating while taking just one shot per game over an average of 10:40 minutes on ice.
Roster Changes and Player Performances:
Fans might wonder if another team will pick up Yamamoto since he’s still got potential; he was drafted in 2017’s first round after all! Just last year, he scored 10 goals and got 25 points in 58 games with the Oilers. The year before that? A career-high of 20 goals! But lately, his performance has dipped—last season with Seattle saw him averaging less than 12 minutes per game and scoring only eight goals and eight assists across 59 matches.
Meanwhile, Nick Bjugstad is ready to hit the ice again against the Kings tomorrow—sooner than expected! Originally thought to return by November 1st according to Craig Morgan from ALL City Network, his comeback is timely for Utah’s struggling offense which has managed just two goals in their last three matches. The team started strong at 3-0-0 but now stands at a record of 4-3-1 due to injuries plaguing key defensemen like Sean Durzi and John Marino.
Bjugstad had quite an impressive previous season with the Coyotes where he scored 22 goals along with collecting a total of 45 points over his span of appearances while maintaining a +11 rating across those games!
What do you think about these changes? Will they help Utah bounce back?
