Holloway says he and Oilers were "far off" in contract negotiations
Dylan Holloway doesn’t hold any bitterness towards the Edmonton Oilers but seems quite ecstatic to be a member of the St. Louis Blues.
Both Holloway and Philip Broberg are now part of the Blues organization, as the Oilers chose not to match either player’s offer sheets that were signed last week. Holloway agreed to a two-year contract with a $2.29 million cap hit, while Broberg also signed a two-year deal with a salary of $4.58 million.
Though Oilers fans’ biggest frustrations in the entire ordeal have mainly been directed at management, some have also questioned why either player would be okay with leaving a Stanley Cup contender. Holloway admitted that the money did play a significant part in the decision, though he was originally hoping to receive a similar offer from the Oilers earlier in the offseason.
“There’s so much more that goes into it than people think,” he explained. “People think you just look at the numbers and go, ‘I’m going to take the better number.’ But for myself, we were trying to get a number with Edmonton, and we were pretty far off in our negotiations.”
While the offer sheet situation was certainly strange, having a teammate and friend in Broberg involved in the same scenario seemed to make things easier.
“I talked to [Broberg] a bit,” Holloway said. “It’s just a weird thing, offer sheets don’t really happen often, so we were both pretty new to it. After we signed it, I just said, ‘Congratulations’ to him because either way, he was getting paid. That’s obviously a good thing.”
Holloway’s big breakout with the Oilers came in this year’s postseason, as he managed five goals through 27 games. His regular season numbers are lacking early in his career, but plenty of that is due to limited opportunity. He’ll now get the chance to play a bigger role on a team that, while still talented, doesn’t boast as many weapons.
“I definitely feel like I’m going to get more opportunity here in St. Louis,” Holloway said. “Edmonton’s got some pretty good star power up front, so it’s near impossible to move those guys out of their spots.”
Despite Holloway’s time in Edmonton not ending the way he or anybody else had envisioned, he had nothing but positive things to say about his time with the Oilers organization.
“I have nothing against Edmonton,” he said. “That was a great time there. I’m going to miss the guys.”