Ex-Oilers player Holloway opens up about offer sheet: "Bittersweet"
It has been a few weeks since ex-Edmonton Oilers forward Dylan Holloway jumped ship to the St. Louis Blues on an offer sheet.
The 22-year-old Bragg Creek native inked a two-year deal with the Blues last month that carries a $2.29 million cap hit alongside defenceman Philip Broberg, who secured a two-year deal with St Louis with an AAV of $4.5 million.
It’s a disappointing end for the Oilers, as Holloway had a very encouraging postseason run that could have seen him potentially grab a top-six spot on a Stanley Cup contender.
Holloway provided more background into his decision to leave Edmonton in a one-on-one interview with St. Louis reporter Andy Strickland on the latest episode of the Hockey Sense podcast.
In that interview, Holloway reveals that he initially expected to get a deal done with the Oilers.
“We knew about the offer sheet before we even had any negotiation with Edmonton,” Holloway revealed. “We were trying to get a deal done, and I didn’t think we were asking for anything crazy at all.
“It was weird the way they handled it, so I felt like I had no other option but to sign the offer sheet.”
The week following the offer sheet being signed sent Oilers fans into a frenzy with debates about matching or not. Like fans following the situation, Holloway didn’t know whether the Oilers matched until the last second.
“That whole week was kind of a crazy week, an insane experience,” explained Holloway. “Wasn’t hearing anything from both sides so I really wasn’t sure what was going down. We found out like last minute on the Tuesday morning when it had to be in that I was a St. Louis Blue.”
While he appeared excited about starting a new chapter in St. Louis, Holloway mentioned that the whole situation is “bittersweet” and that he left a lot of things in Edmonton to join the Blues.
“I’m leaving Edmonton, the team that drafted me, it’s close to home and everything,” Holloway admitted. “At the same time, the opportunity to play in St. Louis is a good one… I’m really excited to step forward into this new chapter and see how the season goes.”
Oilers fans have been giving him the gears for taking the offer and leaving, but Holloway mentioned that he has talked with many teammates in Edmonton who have wished him nothing but good things in this next step.
“Edmonton fans wanted my head there for a bit, probably still do,” laughed Holloway. “When the offer sheet went down I got lots of texts from my teammates, but everyone understands it’s a whole business.
“When I talked to my teammates they all understood, no hard feelings. It’s definitely hard cause you have a good group of guys, and you wanna be with them forever. At the end of the day, it doesn’t work like that, hockey is ultimately a business and you gotta look after yourself.”
This interview sheds quite a bit of light on why Holloway ultimately decided to leave the Oilers. While some fans thought the young power forward regretted taking the offer sheet in an interview with the Blues shortly after joining the team, this seems to put that notion to bed.
It’ll be different seeing Holloway in a new jersey for the 2024-25 NHL season, but the rest of the Oilers will fill the spot that he left in the forward group.