Andreas Athanasiou and Matt Benning will hit the free agent market

Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland doesn’t expect to issue qualifying offers to either @Andreas Athanasiou or @Matt Benning.

He made the comment Tuesday night during a media availability where he said no qualifying offers were issued and that he “doesn’t think” he’ll be making any.

Holland said he had discussions with both players Tuesday and that it appears both will be heading to the free agent market on Friday.

The Edmonton Oilers traded two second-round picks for Athanasiou at the NHL’s trade deadline, but he struggled after being acquired by the Oilers. Dealing with a quad injury that limited him, he scored only one goal and one assist. In the Oilers play-in round against Chicago, he scored no points.

In Benning, the Oilers will be letting a solid third pairing defenceman walk. Benning came to the Oilers organization as a free agent in 2016 and in 248 games he scored 15 goals and 61 points.

This past season, just as he seemed to gain the most footing as a third-pairing defenceman, he ran into concussion problems. He was first concussion on November 19th in a game against the San Jose Sharks playing only 2:55 before he left the game.

All in all, he played in 43 games scoring one goal and eight points. He provided offence at an eight percent rate below league average, but defence at a six percent rate higher than league average, according to hockeyviz.com.

Despite not playing lots, he posted solid underlying numbers. At 5v5, he posted a 48.23 CF%, a GF% of 58.97 (!), and an xGF% of 49.62.  He does a great job of limiting high-danger goals with a goal rate of 65% in that area at 5v5. That number ranks 7th amongst all defencemen this season who have played over 530 minutes.

Nonetheless, it looks like both players will be searching for new homes. Athanasiou needed to be qualified at $3-m, while Benning needed to be qualified at $2m.

On Twitter: @zjlaing