The Oilers were likely to lose Philip Broberg one way or another this month. The Blues were one of three teams preparing an offer sheet for the defenseman, Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest reports.
It’s unclear if the two other offers were officially presented to Broberg’s camp. But, as a reminder, unsigned RFAs have no obligation to sign an offer sheet if they’re presented with one.
That means the Blues weren’t just competing with the Oilers’ offer to retain Broberg, which Strickland adds was likely a two-year deal with a $1.1MM average annual value, far less than the $4.58MM AAV at which they acquired him. They were competing with two other teams, partially explaining their inflated offer to the 2019 eighth-overall pick. Their offer to Broberg was also the maximum they could sign him for without being required to part with their 2025 first-round pick as compensation to Edmonton.
It’s also fair to infer that Broberg’s camp had an indication for some time that there was offer sheet interest. The deal from the Oilers was much closer to fair market value for a defender coming off a season spent mainly in the minors and less than an entire season’s worth of NHL experience under his belt.
Edmonton’s offer to Dylan Holloway was a three-year deal worth $1.05MM, per Strickland. That’s a much smaller gap to bridge to the two-year, $2.29MM AAV pact he signed with St. Louis. Still, a deal over the $2MM AAV threshold for a player with fewer than 10 NHL goals across nearly 90 games is challenging for a cap-strapped contender, regardless of his ceiling.
They’ve gone with a slightly older but cheaper player with a skillset to replace him by acquiring Vasily Podkolzin, who was selected two picks after Broberg in 2019, from the Canucks. His AAV is $1MM for the next two seasons, mirroring their offer to Holloway more closely.
Sacrificing short-term overpaid but high-ceiling young talent came to maintain in-season salary cap flexibility, posits Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. After declining to match the offer sheets, the Oilers have enough projected cap space to field a 22-player opening night roster without utilizing long-term injured reserve, allowing them to accumulate cap space throughout the season.
That will give general manager Stan Bowman free reign to add talent at the trade deadline as the Oilers attempt to make their second Stanley Cup Final in as many years. Per PuckPedia, maintaining their roughly $946K in season-opening cap space will snowball into $4.4MM available to spend on March 6.