The Kraken’s first native-born Washingtonian looks like he’s moving out of state.
Kailer Yamamoto, a pending restricted free agent, will not be offered a contract and will become an unrestricted free agent Monday, July 1st per reporting by both Alison Lukan (Seattle Kraken) and Geoff Baker (Seattle Times).
Free agents hit either a restricted or unrestricted status, based on years of service. A restricted free agent is someone whose contract is expired, by whose negotiating rights are held solely by the team who had that player under contract. Should the team choose to relinquish those rights, then and only then can the player be freed to move about the league without constraint.
By announcing this, the Kraken are saying that Yamamoto is not part of their plans next season. RFAs Matty Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen are in negotiations with the contract and it’s safe to say Seattle will certainly not relinquish the rights for Beniers and very unlikely to do so for Tolvanen.
Yamamoto, born in Spokane, is the first Washington-born player to play for the Kraken. He played his entire junior hockey career with the Spokane Chiefs. He had 8 goals and 8 assists (16 points) in 59 games played during his one season with the Kraken.
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