Random Thoughts: Evander Kanes trolling, Adidas is out and Mattias Janmark is celebrating

We’re getting to the point in the off-season where the news slows to a crawl, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still have a few random thoughts floating around in my head that I could use your help to figure out.

WAITING FOR YAMO

Kailer Yamamoto has an arbitration date on August 9th.
He had 20-21-41 in 81 GP including 12-13-25/+6 in 37 GP while playing for Jay Woodcroft.
Yamamoto is a very popular teammate who wins puck fights and plays on both PP2 and PK.
Wouldn’t be surprised if he got a multi-year extension. pic.twitter.com/I0BuznidL

— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) July 27, 2022

In last weekend’s Random Thoughts, I wondered if Puljujarvi, Yamamoto and the Oilers would avoid arbitration and agree on new contracts before their respective hearings began. On Tuesday, Jesse Puljujarvi signed a one-year, $3 million deal ahead of his Arb hearing, and with that deal out of the way, the question is whether Kailer Yamamoto will follow suit. At the moment we have a week until Yamo’s arbitration date of August 9th, which is more than enough time to move things forward, and I’m very excited to see what a potential multi-year deal that Stauffer has hinted at will look like. Is he getting paid more than $3 million/year on a multi-year contract? How much more? Could it be less than $3 million? Anyway, once Yamamoto’s next contract gets on the books, Ken Holland needs to take a step or two to get the team within caps, and that tells me we have some interesting decisions to make over the next 74 days as the season kicks off . My guess is that Yamamoto will sign a three-year deal with an AAV of around $3.5 million. Place your bets.

SO BEGIN, MATTIAS

I know this picture of Mattias Janmark came out at the party last weekend so it’s not exactly new but I haven’t had a chance to write about it yet and felt our new boy deserved a shout out. I mean, if you’re looking for a way to ingratiate yourself with a new fanbase, I can’t think of a better way to get the job done than ripping it up in a McDavid (Gretzky?) jersey and posting the pics in your social media. Not only did Mattias make it clear that the party was rolling around in the caption, but the look on his face says it all I needed to see. As much as I admittedly know very little about Janmark up to this point, I love myself as a Swede who’s not afraid to wave his hand in the air like he just doesn’t care, and that’s a hell of a start in my books.

Adidas out, who’s in?

BREAKING NEWS: @adidas will not return as the NHL’s official uniform and apparel supplier if his contract expires after the 2023-24 season, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.

My exclusive story: https://t.co/Im0EYbyPz6

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) July 28, 2022

It was announced last week that Adidas would be retiring as the NHL’s apparel supplier after the 2023-24 season, ending their seven-season tenure as the league’s official supplier. If you recall, Adidas replaced Reebok in 2017-18 after more than a decade since the NHL last switched suppliers, so I’m a bit surprised that we’ve already found out that a split is imminent, with two years remaining The deal. But despite the split from the apparel giant, the NHL issued a brief statement to let us all know that both sides would continue to work together to ensure things go smoothly on this final leg.

“The NHL and Adidas look forward to continuing to work closely together over the next two years and a smooth transition to the new authentic NHL jersey supplier to be announced by the NHL in due course.”

From where I’m blogging I thought this relationship between Adidas and the NHL is good as both sides have been releasing new variations on everyone’s uniforms over the past few years which leads me to believe they are moving units. But with Adidas reportedly spending nearly double the $35 million annual fee Reebok had to pay as the NHL’s official apparel supplier, maybe they expected more sales than they got? Either way, it’ll be interesting to see who pops up as replacements and what that means for the look of our unis over the next few years.

Would this be the opportunity Nike is looking for to clean up all North American sports? Will CCM get involved? someone completely different? Place your bets.

KANE MAKES ME LAUGH

Yesterday on Oilersnation Radio we laughed at Evander Kane, who popped up in the comments with a simple “LOL” for Matthew Tkachuk’s intro presser in Florida when he basically said he was there to help the Panthers defeat the Lightning . Though he didn’t even say anything, the fact that Kane took a moment to troll a guy he’d basically wiped out in the playoffs was very entertaining to me. Not only do I think the NHL could use players who showed their personality more — everyone loves a villain, let’s face it — but it’s also been a long time since the Oilers had a player like Kane who wasn’t just under the skin can go on and off the ice, but also on the scoreboard. He’s basically what we were hoping for from Lucic without looking like the NHL counterpart of Bowser in Mario Kart. Nonetheless, I had a good laugh to see Kane throwing in Tkachuk’s big intro down in Florida, and figured you all might enjoy it too.

BASEBALL MADE ME LAUGH, TOO

George Springer’s landmark 6th inning grand slam so stunned and disappointed the St. Louis Cardinals broadcast crew that they said absolutely NOTHING for a full *53 seconds* after the Jays homed!! You can feel her pain.

Here’s the call!! pic.twitter.com/leZuRSARoG

— RapsLeafsJays (@RapsLeafsJays) July 27, 2022

I know that last clip has nothing to do with hockey, but I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as I watched the St. Louis Cardinals broadcast team not say a word for almost a minute after George Springer went into the yard at a Grand Slam this past week. For 53 seconds not a word was spoken on the show and I would love to know what those guys were doing in there while nothing was on the air. There was no analysis, there was no comment, there was nothing. I don’t know if these guys were just pausing and enjoying the scene, or if they’re such homers for the Cards that the Springer thingy completely ruined their night, but that post-homer call (or lack thereof) had me crying and just wanted to share it with all of you in case you haven’t seen the clip yet.

BETTER SET THAN NEVER

We’re getting into the quiet zone for off-season news, so this week’s episode of Better Lait Than Never focused heavily on Jesse Puljujarvi’s new contract, as well as a nice mix of shenanigans and audience feedback. As always, this podcast wouldn’t work without all of you, and I really appreciate you taking the time to join in the nonsense. Subscribe to Better Lait Than Never for FREE on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and wherever else you get your podcasts.