The dust has all but settled on the St. Louis Blues’ offer sheets that landed them former Edmonton Oilers Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway.
The pair will spend the next two years, and maybe more there, after signing deals worth $4.5-million and $2.2-million, respectively. The Oilers declined to match on either of the players, receiving a second- and third-round pick from the Blues for the pair, while also making another deal to acquire a 2028 third round pick and unsigned prospect Paul Fisher for future considerations.
The Oilers also took fliers on Vasily Podkolzin and Ty Emberson, who could both impact the team in short order, while clearing out Cody Ceci and his $3.25-million salary.
And according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in a Sunday edition of 32 Thoughts, the Oilers did so to keep cap flexibility so they can address roster weaknesses in-season:
I wasn’t surprised Edmonton didn’t match Philip Broberg’s offer sheet, but I was — a bit — that they didn’t keep Dylan Holloway. However, I see what Edmonton decided: keeping in-season cap flexibility is paramount, and they worked backward from there. They want as much ability as possible to address weaknesses in-season, which means limiting LTIR use. So, while this episode is complete, there’s still more in the series. Let’s see, in a few months, what Edmonton does. For now, they turn their attention to Leon Draisaitl.
Friedman had a few other Oilers-related notes, too:
- If newly acquired Ty Emberson plays fewer than 50 games, he will be an unrestricted free agent. But they like him, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
- A couple notes: I’d mentioned one thing about Broberg and one thing about Holloway that were disputed. I said I heard Edmonton’s offer to Broberg was in the $1.8M range, so he got a 250 per cent bonus on what he was expecting. That was high, with the Oilers providing statistical analysis comparing him to Justin Barron and Kevin Bahl, offering a $1.1M salary. So Broberg received 400 per cent more than he was expecting. (Doug Armstrong: I’m looking for this kind of an offer sheet for my next deal, FYI.) Agents and players absolutely loved that this happened, and you can see why. Broberg never rescinded his in-season trade demand, and the Oilers knew he was unhappy.
- As for Holloway, I mentioned that he received a three-year offer at some point from the Oilers. One source swears that’s true, but a couple of others said no. I do know this: there were one- and two-year offers made in July — at approximately $850K (the former) and $1M (the latter). He did very well financially, too.
None of it should come as a major surprise. The Oilers had little salary cap space to work with ahead of the offer sheets, hoping, as Friedman highlighted, to keep the costs low on what Broberg and Holloway’s deals would’ve been.
But declining to match, while moving out Ceci, is some sharp work by the Oilers front office. They can keep Evander Kane on the roster while he recovers from surgery, allowing them to accrue up to $4.4-million in cap space ahead of the trade deadline, according to PuckPedia. If Kane were to miss the entire regular season, him landing on the long-term injured reserve at the deadline could clear up an additional $5.125-million in space for the team to work with.
