Fourier
Registered User
Yamamoto is ready but it has more to do with not burning his ELC year. To put things into perspective. How many of us saw Drai making 8.5M this year? It could have been next year if we didn't burn one year of his ELC. Yamamoto could be making 6M after his ELC and we want to slow that down. Having too many players on expensive contracts too soon or all at once will deplete our depth
And how would that have made things better had Draisaitl had one more year on his ELC?. They would still have $21m on the books next year when cap space might be tight. The whole "save a year on the ELC argument" can go either way. It is just as likely that losing a year results in a lower second contract which is a positive over potentially many years as it is the savings for that lost year of the ELC would have made a big difference in year three.
As of right now Yamamoto's deal is up in 2020-21. Assuming that this is not a lockout year it's not a bad time for his contract to end. The only other player of note scheduled for a raise at this point is Kassian. But who knows how things go three years out. None of us has a crystal ball.