William Lagesson Signs With Edmonton Oilers

Nov 23: Lagesson has been reassigned from HC Vita Hasten to Kristianstads IK, another team in the Swedish second league. He is still expected to return at the start of NHL training camp.

Nov 4: The Edmonton Oilers have signed William Lagesson to a new two-year contract, which will be two-way in the 2020-21 season and one-way in 2021-22. The contract carries an average annual value of $725K at the NHL level. Lagesson had been playing with HC Vita Hasten in Sweden while he waited for a new deal with the Oilers and will remain there until the start of 2020-21.

It’s been a long and winding road for Lagesson, who was a fourth-round pick of the Oilers back in 2014. Selected out of Sweden, he immediately came to North America but not to sign with Edmonton. Instead, Lagesson played a season in the USHL for the Dubuque Fighting Saints, before heading to college at UMass Amherst.

After two seasons at the NCAA level and a pair of appearances at the World Junior Championship, Lagesson signed with the Oilers but still didn’t enter their development system. Instead, he went back to Sweden and played a season on loan with Djurgardens of the SHL. It was only 2018 when he finally came back to North America to play for the Oilers organization, suiting up for an entire season with the Bakersfield Condors. Last year, he was back with the Condors but also made his NHL debut, playing eight games with the Oilers.

Currently dominating the competition in Sweden’s second-tier—with nine points in eleven games—Lagesson seems poised and ready to compete for a full-time NHL roster spot when things resume for the upcoming season. Remember, the Oilers could be without Oscar Klefbom for a good chunk of, if not the whole season and don’t have a ton of experienced depth at the minor league level. In fact, with this move Lagesson becomes just the 13th defenseman in the entire organization signed to an NHL deal, and that includes several still on their entry-level contracts.

That number should increase by at least one in the coming week, as the Oilers still have Ethan Bear to sign. He is the final restricted free agent that needs a contract before the season starts and is coming off a breakout year in which he proved himself to be a top-four option for the team.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images