'A kick in the head': NHL reacts to Edmonton Oilers Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway offer sheets from St. Louis Blues (2024)

This in from the St. Louis Blues: “We have tendered offer sheets to Edmonton’s Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway…The offer to Broberg is for a two-year contract at $4,580,917 per year, the maximum offer that would require a second-round draft pick as compensation…The offer to Holloway is for a two-year contract at $2,290,457 per year, the maximum offer that would require a third-round draft pick as compensation.”

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At once, the reaction was fast and furious on the social media:

TSN’s Ryan Rishaug @TSNRyanRishaug
Oilers definitely in a tough spot with these offer sheets. Kanes health status becomes even more important with the potential for LTIR relief, but even at that, will be tough to keep both players. 2 coordinated offer sheets at a team thoroughly strapped. Aggressive targeted… My sense on Kane is surgery is the most likely course of action. Process is still underway to determine exactly what needs to be done, as there were several significant issues he was dealing with. He is not likely to be ready for training camp, and it could be several months into the season before he’s available.

Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer @Bob_Stauffer
Regarding the St. Louis offer sheets on Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway…
#1. This is business, Blues are deploying a mechanism within the CBA.
#2. The Edmonton Oilers have a week to match.
#3. If the Oilers match on a player…he can’t be traded for a year. Lots in play here!

Commentator David Pagnotta @TheFourthPeriod
Since 2007, only 2 of 9 offer sheets were not matched: Dustin Penner (EDM gave a 1st, 2nd, 3rd RD picks to ANA as compensation) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi (CAR gave 1st & 3rd RD picks to MTL as compensation in 2021).
The 7 other offer sheets tenured were matched: Thomas Vanek (EDM offer in 2007), David Backes (VAN offer in 2008), Steve Bernier (STL offer, 2008), Niklas Hjalmarsson (SJ offer, 2010), Shea Weber (PHI offer, 2012), Ryan O’Reilly (CGY offer, 2013) & Sebastian Aho (MTL offer, 2019)…Of note, players must agree and sign an offer sheet, they aren’t simply at the mercy of the team pitching the offer. In this case, both Broberg & Holloway agreed to deals with the Blues, which the Oilers have 7 days to match or take draft pick compensation for either or both.

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St. Louis hockey commentator Andy Strickland @andystrickland
You would think the St. Louis Blues would be able to get at least one of the two. The Evander Kane injury situation could be a wildcard… Pretty well thought out strategic move by the #stlblues to reaquire a 2nd round pick from Pitt. Edm with $3 mil in dead money between Campbell and Neal puts them in a bad spot. Edm lacks young established players in the org , this would decimate Edm youth in their lineup with one sub 25 year old in Bouchard. Plus with upcoming negotiations with Draisaitl and Bouchard coming.

Sportsnet writer Elliotte Friedman
*Oilers have seven days to decide on matching
*If they don’t match, will get a second-round pick (Broberg) and/or a third-rounder (Holloway)
*St. Louis made a trade with Pittsburgh to re-acquire their 2025 second-round pick so they could do this with Broberg (you must have your own picks to do an offer sheet)
*Oilers are tight to the cap, and AAVs signed here obviously much higher than Edmonton was offering
Lots to absorb

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Sportsnet commentator Mark Spector🇨🇦🇺🇦 @SportsnetSpec
Oh boy… A double offer sheet deployed against a cash-strapped contender. This hook is going to be hard for the Edmonton Oilers to wriggle off… The easy decision is to match on Holloway and use the second-round pick (in compensation for Broberg) to shore up your blueline at the trade deadline.

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler @scottcwheeler
Philip Broberg, YOU are a St. Louis Blue!

Spittin Chiclets commentator Ryan Whitney @ryanwhitney6
What the hell is going on?

Former NHL ref Tim Peel @TimCPeel20
Didn’t see that on my bingo card this morning!

Florida Panthers podcast Panther Pourri @PantherPourri
Oh we are having fun now.

Daily Faceoff contributor Anthony Di Marco @ADiMarco25
Most people I’ve spoken with are of the belief that #stlblues will walk away with one of the players – most likely Philip Broberg. Overall a positive response from league executives for the aggressive play by STL; does this open up the use of the offer sheet going forward?… Not sure if it was already pointed out, but as someone indicated to me, one dollar more on AAV for each player (Broberg & Hollway) would’ve bumped up compensation. Very specific work done here by the St. Louis Blues.

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Related: Bruce McCurdy reports on the St. Louis Blues offer sheets

Missin Curfew @MissinCurfew podcast
Steener and the Blues making moves. The #ilers have 7 days to match otherwise there might be a fight arranged in a barn

Edmonton Journal writer Jim Matheson @jimmathesonnhl
These offer sheets by Blues to Broberg and Holloway are clearly a kick in the head to Oilers since Broberg could be a top 4 D partner of Nurse and Holloway a possible third-line LW this season… Don’t see any way Oilers can match offer sheets for Broberg and Holloway unless Kane’s $5.5 m goes on LTIR and even then they couldn’t match on both young players unless they make another move to say trade a player. Compensation for both Oilers is weak… The Oilers may be forced to trade Ceci and his $3.25m for one more year or Kulak (two years at $2.75m per) on cap if the decide they can’t lose a young D in Broberg to offer sheet. Usually teams value young D over young wingers if they have to decide on offer sheet match.

Hockey New writer Ryan Henkel @RyanHenkel_
Move over Carolina, it seems there’s a new top dog in the offer sheet world.

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The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn @domluszczyszyn
hell yeah let’s gooooo… teams out here offer sheeting philip broberg for $4.5M but let evan bouchard just sit there and take a bridge deal

PuckPedia @PuckPedia
With contracts for Broberg at $4.58M & Holloway at $2.29M, the Oilers are $7.2M over the cap with 23 active players.
Potential LTIR: Kane $5.125M If they match offer sheets, could be compliant by sending three on waivers/down & starting with Kane LTIR

Hockey commentator John Shannon @JShannonhl
WOW

Oilers fan Brett Jeffrey @fields1096
Not a good look in the dressing room when everyone else in the room is taking pay cuts to win and rookies are signing targeted offer sheets that handcuff the team.
Both Broberg and Holloway better come to play this year, if the Oilers keep them.

Hockey Hall of Fame writer Terry Jones @byterryjones
No option. Gotta match.

Found of Fractal Hockey Will Scouch @Scouching
These offer sheets are the max in their tiers, so if the Oilers don’t match, they’d only get a 3rd for Holloway and a 2nd for Broberg. I could be wrong but EDM is over the salary cap, but should be able to match both and not surpass the extra cushion teams get in the offseason?

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TSN reporter Chris Johnston @reporterchris
Pretty creative maneuver by St. Louis Blues in signing offer sheets with two Oilers RFA’s.

Allan Mitchell of The Athletic (link)
The offer sheet for Philip Broberg is 2 years at $4,580,917. The Oilers have to match. It’s a miserable turn, and means the team will have to offload Cody Ceci, but for me it’s a no-brainer. The Oilers have to match. The offer sheet for Dylan Holloway is 2 years at $2,290,457. It’s going to be easier to replace him than Broberg, sorry to say. I think he’ll have a fine career, but the Oilers spent plenty of money on July 1 adding older players and this is the price now being exacted on them. As for the play by the St. Louis Blues, I applaud it. You can be an angry Oilers fan, I understand. However, for a player like Broberg this is confirmation that he is wanted, is an NHL player, and doesn’t have to wait in line. Move your best young players up when they’re ready, people. That’s the lesson here.

NHL commentator Jason Demers @jasondemers5
Don’t know if they can pull this off!! New management is going to have to get creative early on here 👀👀👀 happy for Broberg he has has improved A lot year over year

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Oilers fan Mathew Panchyshyn @mathewjdp
Trading your 4th best LD (Kulak) and Ceci would save Edm considerably here.

Oiler fan Denny Sawchuk🇺🇦 @Denny_Sawchuk
Trading Darnell is the obvious answer but are there any takers?

Hockey scout Dan Tencer @dantencer
My guess – the Oilers would have been acutely aware of this possibility. That they didn’t act more aggressively sooner on these signings indicates that they rolled the dice and, unfortunately, lost. But I’d strongly suspect they have a plan to match both and make it work.

Oilers fan Raja Dhami @gretzkytokurri
– the Blues did nothing wrong by o/s Holloway + Broberg
– if you believe GMs wouldn’t do that to each other out of respect, hire a respectable GM
– Holland destroyed the cap, so something like this was expected
– I hope Oilers match the o/s
– Kane LTIR? Ceci trade?

Oilers fan Karman Gill @Kgill39
Philip Broberg showed signs of being a top pair defenceman in playoffs. Oilers cannot afford to lose him. Match this offer sheet please. Do NOT lose him.

Oilers fan Troy @heavyoilcontry
The Blues are the only team in the league who thinks Bro is worth 4.5×2 lol

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Oilers fan Waddsy @waddsy19
If its win now…you let Broberg go. He’s not a 4 mil d-man yet and won’t be by next year either. Sucks but it it’s what it is. Holloway I’d keep but not if it means losing Kulak. Wonder how much of this is because other GMs have no respect for the Bowman signing?

Oilers fan Greg Sarich @gsar106
No matching for me. How are you going to negotiate with someone else to take a home town discount when matching these? Edm just needs to make the playoffs (which it will) and then have some room to acquire players in March.

Oilers fan Steven Bradley @Stevenbradleyb
Holloway is very replaceable. Lots of fast wingers that don’t score much available in free agency. Broberg is a bigger problem. I can’t believe the Oilers weren’t aware of this possibility.

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My take

1. I can’t see the Oilers letting go of these two players. Both are worth more than the NHL compensation scheme allows. They are also worth the money offered by the Blues even if it’s a tough pill for the cap-strapped Oilers to swallow.

2. Suddenly the talk of Evander Kane going on Long Term Injured Reserve from Bob Stauffer of the Oilers makes far more sense. If Kane is banged up at all it would make sense that he have time to fully recover. If he’s out for a few months of the regular season recovering this will give Edmonton time to trade away some other players in order to get cap compliant.

3. Of course, the Oilers also match because they don’t want to give St. Louis a win out of this, and getting Broberg and Holloway for those prices would be a great deal for them. Offer sheets are within the collective bargaining agreement, but they’re still resented in the NHL to some extent. I can see little chance that the OIlers would let the Blues walk away with their two players.

4. Outsiders celebrating this move today? Hey, it’s a free world, but it’s interesting to see which supposedly impartial NHL observers dislike the Oilers.

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5. I was thinking that bad things tend to happen to the Oilers in August — such as the Wayne Gretzky sale — but the Oilers also traded for Chris Pronger in August. It’s also the case that this might not be such a terrible thing. It shakes up the Oilers and will force them to make some moves. But sometimes shaking up a veteran team isn’t the end of the world. Broberg and Holloway are good young players, they need to play, they need spots in the roster, and this forces everyone’s hand in that regard.

At the Cult of Hockey

Bruce McCurdy reports on the St. Louis Blues offer sheets

STAPLES: Digging in to Oilers’ cap situation with Draisaitl extension looming

STAPLES: Intrigue over Evander Kane’s health status with Oilers

LEAVINS: 9 Things

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