Edmonton Oilers forwards Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi were among two dozen NHL players who filed for salary arbitration prior to the deadline Sunday afternoon.
Yamamoto, 23, is a restricted free agent, who just completed a three-year, $3.465-million contract with an average annual salary of just over $1.124 million.
In 81 games last season, Yamamoto had 20 goals and 41 points. He added two goals and seven points in 14 playoff games as the Oilers made it to the Western Conference Final, where they fell to the Colorado Avalanche.
Salary arbitration hearings are scheduled to be held from July 27 to Aug. 11, with sides able to negotiate right up until their hearing dates.
Teams had until Monday afternoon to file their salary arbitration claims. Ryan McLeod and Tyler Benson are the other two restricted free agents on the Oilers roster.
Last year, 17 players filed for arbitration and two had team-elected hearing dates scheduled, but all settled prior to having to plead their cases.
The Oilers made qualifying offers to Yamamoto, Puljujarvi, McLeod and Benson. Only Yamamoto and Puljujarvi had arbitration rights.
Puljujarvi, 24, completed at two-year, $2.35-million contract with an average annual value of $1.175 million. He had 14 goals and 36 points for the Oilers in 65 games and scored two goals with an assist in 16 playoff games.
It is believed Oilers general manager Ken Holland is shopping Puljujarvi, but is having problems finding a suitor for the fourth-overall selection in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
If Holland can’t find a trading partner, it is very possible Puljujarvi makes it to his arbitration hearing and the Oilers would have to deal with whatever he is awarded, which might be hard to swallow.
“One of the things Jesse does bring, is he brings size,” Holland said last week. “You move Kass (Zack Kassian) out and in the playoffs, you need skill and you need size. We’re trying to sort all these things out.”
JANMARK TO ADD DEPTH
Holland selected Mattias Janmark in the third round of the 2013 NHL Draft while with Detroit Red Wings and signed him to a one-year deal worth $1.25-million for the Oilers on Sunday.
Janmark is a bottom-six forward, who never did crack the lineup with the Red Wings and was traded to the Dallas Stars. The 29-year-old product of Danderyd, Sweden, had nine goals and 25 points in 67 games with the Vegas Golden Knights last season. His most productive season was in 2018-19 where he had 19 goals and 34 points in 81 games for the Stars.
Janmark is an effective penalty killer with seven career shorthanded goals. He had two for the Golden Knights last season.
SCHAFER INKED
The Oilers got their first look at forward Reid Schaefer at development camp last week, and by all accounts liked what they saw.
Schaefer was selected in the first round — 32nd overall — in this past NHL Draft and signed an entry-level contract.
The six-foot-three, 213-pound forward had 32 goals and 58 points for the Seattle Thunderbirds this past season. He had six goals and 21 points in 25 playoff games as the Thunderbirds made it to the WHL final, where there were eliminated in six games by the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“It feels great, obviously, it’s a dream come true,” Schaefer said. “You dream about this as a little kid, so for it to become reality, and I just can’t wait to get things going.”
An Edmonton product, Schaefer, 18, will return next season to the Thunderbirds, who are expected to once again contend for a WHL title.
Schaefer will be trying out for the Canadian world junior team for the rescheduled tournament in August, and will be attending Oilers rookie camp in the fall.
“I want to work on my skating, those first three strides, that explosiveness factor,” Schaefer said. “Getting those first three strides down would be huge.”
JILTED IN CALGARY
Forward Johnny Gaudreau bailing on the Calgary Flames for (checks notes) … the Columbus Blue Jackets has not gone over well for the Oilers provincial rival.
Gaudreau left more than $15 million on the table to sign for a year less in Columbus, Ohio, which is roughly an eight-hour drive from his home in Salem, New Jersey.
The Flames reportedly offered Gaudreau an eight-year deal worth $84 million, but he decided on a $68.25 million from Columbus.
The move surprised a lot of people in the NHL, who believed Gaudreau would be leaving the Flames for the Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils or New York Islanders. Gaudreau and his wife Meredith are expecting their first child and said they wanted to be closer to home.
“I’ve always wanted to play, relatively a little bit closer (to home),” Gaudreau said in his introductory press conference with the Blue Jackets. “The East; I grew up here — not in Columbus — but on the East Coast and it’s somewhere where I always wanted to play.
“I was in Calgary for eight to 12 years there, from when I got drafted to when I started playing and I always kind of dream of playing a tad closer to home. It didn’t matter where I was signed, our decision was that it was best for us not to go back to Calgary and then we decided to figure out what the best option for us, and Columbus was right up there at the top of the list.”
The explanation did not sit well with many in Calgary, who reacted like they had been dumped for someone less attractive.
“That’s something that I was not going to talk about today,” Gaudreau said when pressed on why he left. “I wanted to focus on Columbus and then I was going to get to that after. But Calgary was a special place for me. I was part of their organization for 12 years, and I loved every second I was there, but for me, I think it was just time for me to make a little bit of a change.”
Email: dvandiest@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @DerekVanDiest
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