Canes extend qualifying offers to Necas, Bear, six others

Ahead of Monday evening’s 5 p.m. deadline to do so, the Carolina Hurricanes extended qualifying offers to eight of their 11 restricted free agents.

Forwards Martin Necas, Steven Lorentz and Stelio Mattheos, and defensemen Ethan Bear, Joey Keane, Max Lajoie, Jesper Sellgren and Tarmo Reunanen were all extended qualifying offers. Goaltenders Beck Warm and Jack LaFontaine, as well as center David Cotton, did not receive qualifying offers and will become unrestricted free agents Wednesday.

The big names here for the Canes are obviously the trio of Necas, Lorentz and Bear, who spent at least the last two seasons at the NHL. Lorentz has recorded 21 points in 112 games for the Hurricanes over the past two seasons, while Necas has contributed 119 points over three full seasons with the team.

Bear, who the Canes acquired last offseason from Edmonton, appeared in 58 games for the Hurricanes in 2021-22.

Lajoie and Keane have both appeared in NHL games for the Hurricanes and spent 2021-22 mostly in Chicago with the Wolves, while Sellgren, Reunanen and Mattheos all were on the Wolves roster this past season.

As for the three players who were not extended qualifying offers, both Warm and LaFontaine found themselves behind both Pyotr Kochetkov and Eetu Makiniemi in the organizational pecking order in net, while Cotton had just 16 points in 55 games for the Wolves in 2021-22.