Oilers best to match Holloway, lose Broberg in offer sheet fiasco
Many Edmonton Oilers fans are still trying to come to grips with what went down early Tuesday morning.
While many were still asleep, it was announced that Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, who were RFAs, had signed offer sheets with the St. Louis Blues. Both are two-year deals, with Holloway’s cap hit coming in at $2.29 million, while Broberg’s will be $4.58 million.
This was an absolute worst-case scenario for the Oilers, who already sit more than $340,000 above the NHL’s maximum salary. In order to match both deals, they would need to create roughly $6.87 million in cap space and have until Tuesday to do so.
Fans have had varying reactions as to what the best decision is for the Oilers to make. In fact, there are plenty who, despite the cap implications, have made it clear the organization should keep both. That may be the plan, as Evander Kane is likely to start the 2024-25 season on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) while Cody Ceci andĀ Brett Kulak are being shopped.
The issue with all of this is that it would hurt the Oilers in the short term. That isn’t ideal for a team that is right in its window for a Stanley Cup Championship.
While Broberg projects to be a valuable player, he is still relatively unknown right now, having logged only 81 career games. Giving $4.58 million to a player with question marks is a major risk for a cap-strapped team that will soon need to be worrying about a Leon Draisaitl extension.
There is also plenty of risk that goes with trading Kulak, who has been as reliable as they come in mainly a third-pairing role with the Oilers. If he is dealt and Broberg were to struggle, they don’t have a ton of other options on the back end, and wouldn’t have the cap space to make a trade.
If Holloway and Broberg would have been offered the exact same deal, it would be a no-brainer to match both. They both look like they are on the path to becoming impactful NHLers and could be in store for big 2024-25 seasons. Broberg’s deal, however, is simply too big of a risk to match, meaning that Bowman should let him walk while matching on Holloway.
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