Kailer Yamamoto is being bought out by the Detroit Red Wings.

One always wonders why trades are made in the NHL. Sometimes it's for cap space or to make room for a prospect. Other times it's just to give the line up a new dimension that the previous player didn't provide.

And other times it's so that the other team can buy out your contract - and that's exactly what's happening with former Edmonton Oiler forward, Kailer Yamamoto. Both Darren Dreger and Frank Seravalli have shared on Twitter that the young forward is being placed on waivers to buy out his contract. The Red Wings are on the hook for $433,000 this coming season and $533,000 the following season.

So if the Red Wings were going to buy out his contract, what was the point of trading for him? In my mind, there are a few scenarios:

Scenario 1: they didn't acquire him wanting to buy him out. Given their cap space available they certainly knew they could take on the cap penalty that a buy out would carry. 

According to Darren Dreger, the Red Wings considered keeping the young forward, but couldn't make it work with their plan. It seems like they tried to "make a move" in order to retain his services. That sounds like the Red Wings have a lot of irons in the fire that would take up significant cap space to accomplish.

Scenario 2: Klim Kostin was always the target, not Yamamoto. Steve Yzerman and Derek Lalonde both mentioned in their year-end media availabilities that the team needed to get tougher. Kostin brings that in spades. He's also still young and can grow with the opportunity afforded him with the Red Wings. 

The Oilers need to remove Yamamoto's salary from the equation, regardless of what the other team he was traded to was planning on doing with him. When I asked the question on if Yamamoto would be traded or bought out I never thought in a million years that the answer could be "both."