The issue is, Holland was negotiating against KHL clubs. They don't have a salary cap.

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Mark Spector @SportsnetSpec·29m

Kostin was very close to signing with KHL Avangard Omsk – until DET deal today. Now, his agent will talk with GM Yzerman, who should have no problem out-bidding Omsk, where Kostin likely would not make >$900K US. Taxes better in Russia, but if DET wants Kostin they’ll get him.
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Holland wasn't going to qualify Kostin due to contract demandsand arbitration rights, he would have been a UFA by Saturday.

It seems like people are misinformed about both of these players. Yamamoto is a negative value guy who does legitimately nothing but coast when he's up against the top players. The only reason he's still in the league is because of his on-ice shooting percentage in his rookie season. The only thing he's really good at is exiting the zone, which could be valuable, I suppose, but he really does nothing else, he isn't a great shooter or passer. Kostin isn't some world-beater either, he was available on waivers and was also the product of an on-ice shooting percentage heater. If you look at the relative advanced metrics, you'll see that the oilers are actually better without Yamamoto and Kostin. Kostin was also going to sign in Russia.

People posting misinformation about player contracts on literally the best website for looking up player contracts. Unreal.

Welcome to capfriendly. Whereas the cap dont matter, and most, dont mind!

I definitely count "cap space to sign Bouchard" as upside. That's the most valuable piece of this trade!

BUY WHY!?

https://twitter.com/hayyyshayyy/status/1674442304008904704

He has a net positive value on his contract. This is not a contract you normally need to dump. I get being worried about injuries, but still, not a good move.

Not according to Dom.

https://twitter.com/hayyyshayyy/status/1674442304008904704

Doms model stinks

we thought Yamo was getting bought out

Can you find a better model?

53% here.

https://twitter.com/JFreshHockey/status/1674441377898217473

This is not a contract you need to buyout.

I was reading Yzerman’s comments on the trade, and he seems pretty keen on Kostin, but he sounded kind of non-committal on Yamamoto. He said something like, “we’ll see when we get back to Detroit.” That makes me wonder if they’re considering buying him out. I don’t know why they would if they don’t need the cap space – they may need it more next year than they do now – but if they do, then I think this is an overpay for Kostin.

I don't evaluate trades based on hindsight bias.

That would be cheating.

I can't be the only one that's starting to question a few of the moves during this rebuild for Detroit.

Wow, just wow. Kostin's negotiating position just got a whole lot stronger. If Detroit doesn't sign Koatin, they get nothing from the trade but the buyout cap hit.

If this is 3D chess then I need to go back to 2D because it doesn't make much sense unless Detroit is shooting to just hit the cap floor next year too.

Yzerman's stress test is hitting at about a 7 right now. Miffs the Cat trade allegedly (Not that I think Cat is all that special). But then drops a pipe bomb of a rebuilding interview night of draft. How do you not abuse the Cap knowing it's about to sky rocket is interesting. Could easily of gotten Cat and then overpaid Kane without much of an issue at the moment, and boom one of the better 2nd lines in hockey (Kane-Copp-Cat)

Yzerman might be the most overrated GM on this site. Not bold, never takes risks. He keeps everything too close to the vest. He wont even tell other GMs the players he covets and never praises any players not on his own team. There was reason TB went with Brisebois whom got them over the top. Yzerman should have never taken Yamo without at least a 2nd. He did them a massive favour. His draft was also quite underwhelming with two players with decent floors but little upside. Taking players for nothing is all well and good but you are still wasting roster and cap space. He gave the Oilers a get out of jail free card and now they exploit the new space so they can sign a better, cheaper forward in Connor Brown.

Kostin didn't get qualified and Yamamoto got bought out lmao

I'm a genius, don't doubt me

This is the most baffling trade I've ever seen. Detroit buys out Yamamoto and doesn't qualify Kostin, so they're left with nothing but half a million dollars in dead cap for two years. Fortunately Yamamoto was young enough that the buyout was cheap, but why in the world would they do this for nothing? Am I missing something or is Holland laughing his head off at Yzerman's stupidity?

I cant remember a more peculiar situation... this makes just no sense whatsoever. are we overvaluing GM? what was the thought process behind all of this!

Don't remember something like this ever happening. I'd assume they were thinking they'd get something done with Kostin but obviously that failed. Only thing even remotely close is Buffalo trading a 3rd for Vesey and then not signing him anyways.

I won't go as far as to say he is the most overrated GM bc he has built a rather good farm system and all of his 1st rd drafts have been hitting, with the anticipation of edvinsson coming up this year and possibly Kasper. His picks don't bother me bc he was crucified for seider at the time so I'll give him benefit there. But I will admit that if you look at his recent transgressions they are not W's like previously thought. Trade for Ned was great... for all of one year. Vrana trade was great... for all of one year. Yama trade was "interesting"... for all of one day.

Don't get me started on his draft night interview claiming to still be in a rebuild. I just hope it's all camera fluff and he's doing some voodoo stuff in the background.

Anyone who's posting on this site regularly is pretty glued in to what's going on in the hockey world right now. And not 1 person can explain what the heck the point of this was. It's absolutely perplexing. I wasn't thrilled with that draft interview either.

I know Steve has a lot of runway here, but at some point this team needs to take off.