Edmonton Oilers issue qualifying offers to Ethan Bear and William Lagesson

The Edmonton Oilers have issued qualifying offers to defencemen Ethan Bear and William Lagesson, the organization announced Wednesday.

The move comes hours before the deadline for issuing such offers to players.

A number of players will not be receiving qualifying offers from the Oilers. Most notably, @Andreas Athanasiou and @Matt Benning, whom GM Ken Holland announced Tuesday wouldn’t be receiving qualifying offers.

Along with them, @Logan Day, @Cameron Hebig, @Ryan Kuffner, @Ryan Mantha, @Angus Redmond and @Nolan Vesey won’t be receiving qualifying offers.

Kuffner was acquired by the Oilers at the trade deadline in the Athanasiou deal, and the Oilers received Redmond in a trade that saw Edmonton flip defenceman @Joel Persson to the Anaheim Ducks.

Vesey joined the organization in a June 2018 trade. Edmonton moved a conditional 7th round pick in 2020 for him.

Day, Hebig and Mantha all joined the Oilers as undrafted free agents. Mantha has missed the last two seasons due to an eye injury.

Just because the Oilers haven’t issued qualifying offers to these players doesn’t mean that they won’t be able to sign in the organization. I could see the Oilers circling back to a number of these players on Friday and over the weekend.

Bear, meanwhile, broke into the NHL and was nothing short of a star for the Oilers. He played the majority of his time of ice against elite competition this season and did well in doing so. He scored five goals and 21 points in 71 games this year placing tenth in the Calder trophy voting as the league’s top rookie. According to hockeyviz.com, Bear provided offence at a league average rate and brought defence at a three percent rate above league average. On the penalty kill, he provided defence at a four percent rate above league average. Bear was drafted in the 5th round of the 2015 draft.

Lagesson got his first taste of NHL action this year playing in eight NHL games scoring no points. Drafted in the fourth round of the 2014 draft, his game had been developing in the NCAA until 2017-18 when he played a year in the SHL. In 2018-19, Lagesson joined the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors where he’s played for the last two years. Lagesson has scored 11 goals and 37 points in 92 games.

On Twitter: @zjlaing