I get it. Edmonton Oilers fans are ready to move on. After some struggles coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break, this team is back to firing on full cylinders, even without Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the lineup. They are currently in a dog fight with the Los Angeles Kings for second place in the Pacific Division, sitting at 41-24-5 through 70 games.
Despite their solid record, however, many feel this team isn’t as good as they were a season ago. They have a similar roster, but one that hasn’t seemed to gel quite as well as they did in 2023-24. They’ve also struggled to get secondary scoring, which, in large part, is due to not matching the offer sheet the St. Louis Blues threw Dylan Holloway’s way this offseason.
The Blues elected to offer Holloway a two-year, $2.29 million deal, which he agreed to. While it felt like a slight overpay based on what he had shown throughout his brief NHL tenure to that point, it was a contract that most felt the Oilers would be able to match. They failed to do so, however, and it’s looking like a bigger mistake by the day.
Holloway has been exceptional with the Blues this season. His 24 goals are second amongst his teammates, while his 60 points are just four shy of Robert Thomas for the team lead. He’s still just 22 years old, indicating that his offence will still continue to improve in the years to come. It’s a painful reality given that the Oilers have still yet to find a scoring winger to play alongside Draisaitl.
As for Philip Broberg, his contract was always going to be harder to match. Despite having only suited up for 81-career games heading into the offseason, the Blues offered him a two-year deal with a cap hit north of $4.5 million. Though he clearly had top-pairing potential, it was a difficult deal to match given there was still some uncertainty surrounding his game.
Yet again, however, the Blues appear to have made the right decision. Broberg has been a very reliable defenceman in 2024-25, chipping in offensively with eight goals and 27 points through 60 games while averaging 20:19 in ice time. His presence would be huge on an Oilers team whose blue line has underwhelmed this season. Both his and Holloway’s success makes a recent comment from general manager Stan Bowman all the more frustrating.
Bowman Suggests Oilers Couldn’t Match Either Deal
Though Bowman can’t be entirely blamed for the Holloway and Broberg debacles, he was the man in charge both before and when they signed their offer sheets. He needed to act quicker in order to get both signed before another team could snatch either up, and failed to do so.
The reason Bowman can’t be fully blamed, however, is that he didn’t have a ton of cap space to sign either player. That blame instead lies on the shoulders of CEO of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson, who elected to give relatively lucrative deals to both Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner, which took up a big chunk of the cap. Had they not signed either, or just one, they would’ve had plenty more space, which is why Bowman’s response on the offer sheets in a recent appearance on Sportsnet’s After Hours program last Saturday was so frustrating.
“They’ve both had good years in St. Louis, so that’s got a lot of attention saying, ‘Well why wouldn’t we have matched?’, but it really came down to a fundamental salary cap challenge for us,” Bowman said. “We wouldn’t have the team we have now if we would’ve matched either one of those offers. We would’ve had to have gotten rid of a pretty core player. Simply, the math didn’t work. It’s not like we didn’t like the players or didn’t think they could be good players for us, but when you look at the salary cap, that was what we’re studying, was ‘Is there any possible way to match either or both?’
“And as I recounted back at the time when we decided not to, we wouldn’t have been able to field a team if we matched either of those offer sheets” he continued. “We would’ve had to move out a very important player on our team. We didn’t have the flexibility.”
Bowman is partially right in these comments, which is why he isn’t the main man to blame here. What he’s leaving out, however, perhaps not to throw Jackson under the bus, is the fact that had the Oilers opted not to sign one of Skinner or Arvidsson, and perhaps moved on from instead of re-signing a player like Mattias Janmark or Adam Henrique, they would’ve been able to match Holloway and Broberg without moving a core player out. It was management’s own fault they weren’t able to get themselves out of the jam the Blues presented them with.
Oilers Would Be Far Better Off with Both
It’s easy to look at things in hindsight, but it’s clear the Oilers made some bad decisions in letting Holloway and Broberg walk this offseason. Skinner and Arvidsson haven’t come anywhere close to producing at Holloway’s level, and Broberg would likely be in a top-four role on the blue line. Again, Bowman isn’t entirely to blame, but it’s frustrating that there seems to be no level of accountability over what was some very poor managerial decisions.
