With today’s biggest news being the hefty four-year, $10.5M AAV contract signed by another pending restricted free agent, Evan Bouchard, let’s not forget that today was the deadline for teams to submit qualifying offers to their other pending RFAs. Earlier this afternoon, we learned what the Edmonton Oilers were planning to do with theirs.
Edmonton had three RFAs remaining, goaltender Olivier Rodrigue and forwards Cameron Wright and Jacob Perreault. According to Jason Gregor, the Oilers have chosen to not submit a qualifying offer to any of them, making all three unrestricted free agents when the window opens tomorrow morning.
No qualifying offer for Rodrigue?
Perhaps the biggest surprise is the lack of a qualifying offer to Rodrigue. He had been touted as the team’s top goaltending prospect for years, and had slowly worked his way up through the system while playing at every level.
Rodrigue was originally the team’s second-round draft pick all the way back in 2018. After spending a couple more seasons in juniors and a partial season in Austria, he began play with the Bakersfield Condors full-time in 2020–21. Since then, he spent parts of five seasons with the Condors, only playing 15 games in the ECHL in 2021–22 and then spending some time with the Oilers in this past season, where he made his NHL debut in a late season game against the Anaheim Ducks.
Rodrigue’s numbers slowly got better every season with the Condors, until the most recent one in which they stumbled a bit. With the rise of other goalie prospects in the organization, the Oilers probably took this as a sign to move on.
Cameron Wright moves on
Wright had only been with the Oilers for one season, signing a one-year deal back in October, but had spent time with Bakersfield beforehand. He was an undrafted free agent who had put up 63 points in 69 games with the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL in his first pro season after university. He had 24 points in 60 games in 2024–25, spent entirely with the Condors.
Jacob Perreault’s trial period was unsuccessful
Perreault was a bit of a redemption project when he was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens earlier this season. When he joined the Oilers organization back in December in a trade for Noel Hoefenmayer, he had recently been sent down to the ECHL after underperforming in the AHL. Since the trade, he did well enough with the Condors, recording 14 points in 38 games, but was not good enough to call for a new contract with the Oilers.
Should the Oilers have submitted a qualifying offer on any of these players? Drop a comment down below!
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