The St. Louis Blues’ offer sheet saga that kept the hockey world on edge for a week has concluded, with Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg officially leaving the Edmonton Oilers for St. Louis on Tuesday.
Offer sheets are rarely used in the NHL, as general managers often consider them taboo and grounds for retaliation, even if they fail. However, the Blues didn’t just succeed in snagging one young player from the Oilers; they managed to secure two.
At Daily Faceoff, we typically publish our immediate reactions to major NHL team transactions in a series we call Trade Grades. This situation, though, is a bit more complex. The Blues acquired two players on Tuesday and had to compensate the Oilers with two draft picks, as per the offer sheet rules.
Additionally, the Blues and Oilers completed a trade on Tuesday, with St. Louis sending defense prospect Paul Fischer and a 2028 third-round pick to Edmonton in exchange for future considerations (essentially, nothing).
The #Oilers have announced they will not match contract offer sheets presented by St. Louis to Dylan Holloway & Philip Broberg.
In a separate transaction, Edmonton acquires a 2028 third-round pick & the rights to defenceman Paul Fischer from the Blues.
Full details ⬇️
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) August 20, 2024
The Oilers had until 9:30 a.m. MT on Tuesday to decide on Holloway and Broberg. The trade, announced at 7:30 a.m. MT, was prompted by the Oilers’ threat to match both offer sheets, leaving the Blues with nothing unless St. Louis sweetened the deal.
This situation resembles more of a large-scale trade, so we’ll grade it accordingly. Did the Oilers make the right call by not matching on either player? Did the Blues get good value for their money and draft picks? Let’s analyze.
ST. LOUIS BLUES
Receive:
– D Philip Broberg, 23 – $4.58 million cap hit through 2026
– LW Dylan Holloway, 22 – $2.29 million cap hit through 2026
Although it’s only been five years since the Blues won their first Stanley Cup, they seem further from a championship than ever. Their forward group is solid but not exceptional; their defense is anchored by three aging veterans with $6.5 million cap hits; and while Jordan Binnington had a decent year, he’s still unpredictable at an already volatile position.
Broberg and Holloway may not be immediate fixes to turn the Blues back into Cup contenders, but they’re talented players with the potential to become key pieces of a young core in St. Louis. Both played significant supporting roles for the Oilers last spring as they reached the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers. These are crucial additions for a Blues team in desperate need of a spark.
Securing two of the Oilers’ recent first-round picks without giving up one of their own is impressive. However, it did come at a notable cost. While Holloway’s two-year, $2.29 million AAV contract is slightly higher than expected, nobody anticipated Broberg receiving over $9 million for two years.
Broberg, a highly regarded defense prospect, is known for his smooth skating and versatility. However, at 23, he has yet to establish himself as an NHL regular, playing just 22 out of 107 possible games with the Oilers in the 2023-24 season, tallying two goals and five points.
While the Oilers could have matched the Holloway contract, the Broberg deal was less feasible. For the Blues, it’s a reasonable gamble, especially with over $2 million in cap space before Torey Krug goes on long-term injured reserve. But there are risks, including the fact that the Blues now have only three picks in next year’s draft.
It’s unclear if the Blues plan to aim for a top draft pick soon, meaning GM Doug Armstrong must find value where he can. We’ll see if their current strategy leads to long-term success, but the potential addition of Holloway and Broberg to a core group including Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and others is promising.
Grade: B+
EDMONTON OILERS
Receive:
– D Paul Fischer, 19 – Unsigned draft pick
– 2025 second-round pick
– 2025 third-round pick
– 2028 third-round pick
The Oilers put themselves in a difficult position with their signings on the first day of unrestricted free agency. They made reasonable bets on players like Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson and re-signed key players, leaving little room for their restricted free agents (RFAs).
They may have assumed that other NHL teams wouldn’t exploit their vulnerability to offer sheets, but that wasn’t the case. Now, the Oilers have parted with six of their last eight first-round draft picks.
The Oilers have generally been stronger on offense than defense during the Connor McDavid era, but matching the Broberg deal never made sense. It’s too much money for an unproven player, especially when they need a right-handed defender to replace Cody Ceci. Taking the second-round pick was the right call, as it can be used to acquire another player in the future.
Holloway’s situation is different. Drafted a year after Broberg, he was instrumental in the Oilers’ success in the 2023-24 season, with 11 goals and 16 points in 63 games (including all 25 playoff games). Holloway, a big and skilled skater, was on track to become a top-six forward. However, the Oilers blocked his path by focusing on veterans during Jeff Jackson’s tenure as interim GM.
If the Oilers had known that signing those veterans would cost them Holloway for a third-round pick, they might have reconsidered. Although they cleared space with the Ceci trade, taking on Holloway’s $2.29 million AAV would have required putting Evander Kane on LTIR, preventing them from accruing cap space. Time will tell if the Oilers’ deal for Viktor Arvidsson was worth losing a younger, more promising player like Holloway for so little.
The Oilers deserve credit for negotiating an extra third-round pick and a solid defensive prospect on the day they had to decide, but it only slightly improves their grade. Losing two highly regarded young players simultaneously is still a tough pill to swallow. Now, the Oilers need to pivot and possibly trade these assets for players who can help them win.
