With Dylan Holloway outscoring every Edmonton Oilers forward today except 97 and 29, and Philip Broberg playing 20 minutes a game on the St. Louis blueline, it’s fair to say that after the Blues rogue August offer sheet, letting them go for what they were being offered in dollars made more sense than keeping either the young winger or the young defenceman.
With both players in town for Saturday’s first time back after the Oilers chose to walk away from both the $4.6 million AAV offer on Broberg and the $2.29 million AAV on Holloway, we know how much the two former first-round picks are missed. Fiscally it may certainly have been the right call with the Oilers’ tight salary cap, especially on Broberg, who would have been making five times what he made last season, as the agents for both kids worked a package-deal power play. But, artistically? No.
Holloway has 16 points and eight goals, averaging 15:31 a night in St. Louis. Broberg has 12 points in 15 games, is plus-7 and playing 20:39 a game. There should be some remorse but president Jeff Jackson says he pays more attention to his team and to the farm team in Bakersfield than to the Blues’ games.
Here’s how it went down from the Oilers perspective after the Blues Aug. 13 offer sheet, with the team deciding not to match on either player on Aug. 20, two days after they traded for winger Vasily Podkolzin and defenceman Ty Emberson.
Jackson, who used to be Connor McDavid’s agent before joining the Oilers, says he was never involved in an offer sheet when he was on the other side of the fence, looking after player interests. But, he was thrust into the fire with this one.
“They’re so rare and it usually comes down to the circumstances. To be honest, one day two years ago, (partner) Dave Gagner and I were chatting and wondering whether we should be look at offer sheets for Bouch? Part of your job as an agent is to look at all those options,” said Jackson, who also was representing Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard at the time.
“But we said the best spot for Bouch is Edmonton. We can go through the game-playing but he was happy, getting an opportunity and producing. We never pursued one. That was the closest I’ve come.”
As an agent.
The double-pronged offer sheet from the Blues was a kick in the head, adding up to $6.9 million on the Oilers cap if matched. Historically, it’s always been an offer for one player, like Montreal’s on Carolina’s Sebastian Aho, then Canes going after Jesperi Kotkakiemi in retaliation, with Canes matching on Aho and Habs letting Kotkaniemi walk, but this time it was Broberg’s agent Darren Ferris and Holloway’s agent Blake Robson getting together.
“It was obviously strategic and hadn’t been done before,” said Jackson.
Broberg, who asked for a trade last December, wasn’t happy with his usage here, often languishing as a seventh defenceman when Jay Woodcroft was coach, and last season he was a seventh for a long time because Vincent Desharnais beat him out at camp and was more useful in a third pairing and as a penalty killer. There may not have been enough clarity in his mind as to where he fit. Holloway seemed happy enough, although he spent time in Bakersfield last year until busting out in the playoffs with some fine work.
“It’s hard to say what we would have done if it was just one player, for Broberg or for Holloway. That’s conjecture. We went through all the scenarios, letting both go, matching one or the other, or both. But we came to the decision we would have to move another veteran defenceman. Four-point six (for Broberg) was way out of left field,” said Jackson.
“We were talking to their agents for new deals commensurate for the marketplace. If we had just given Brobie a deal for $3 million a year or $2.5 million, we would have been criticized because that’s not what the marketplace was,” said Jackson.
Probably. “Offer sheets are a totally different ball of wax. If a team decides they want to do it … it came down to us saying we can’t afford to pay Brobie $4.6 (million AAV for two years),” said Jackson, fully aware that every team is looking for young D who can play in the top four, especially ones they’ve drafted and had in their organization for years but knowing the offer sheet was five times what Broberg made last season in Edmonton.
But Holloway’s $2.29 million offer sheet seemed doable, not outrageous, and internally it seemed he was a ready-made replacement for Warren Foegele, who signed in L.A. as a free agent. Maybe they could have buried another player contract in the minors to fit in Holloway cap hit.
“We were right in the marketplace and you have some back and forth, wait a week or two to change the offer. We were never way out of the ballpark, no outrageous demands from anybody. But when the offer sheet comes … I mean, you know they’re there, but they come with an offer out the blue,” said Jackson.
With the Oilers being the oldest or one of the oldest teams in the league, there was pressure to not let young players get away, especially with a prospect pool that isn’t deep because they’ve traded so many draft picks to be in a win-now mode. “Of course there was. We went through that with our staff for a week to assess, and we went out and got Vasily and Ty. We were able to slide in two guys of similar age to the other two. We backfilled with Podsy, who is a $1 million (AAV) for two years. We really like him,” said Jackson, with the trades shortly before they had to decide whether to match on Broberg and Holloway.
Podkolzin, who has been on the second line with Leon Draisaitl for much of this season, was the 11th player chosen in the 2019 draft, Broberg ninth overall. Emberson, who seems to have fit in as a third-pairing right D and PK partner for Mattias Ekholm, makes $950,000 for this year, and will stay under their control as long as he plays more than 50 games this season. He’s played 24 of 26. The traded away Cody Ceci’s $3.25 million for Emberson, who is six years younger.
There was no allegiance for either Broberg or Holloway with GM Stan Bowman because he didn’t draft either player. Ken Holland did. He was only on the job about three weeks when the offer sheets came in. “Stan has said publicly that it (his lack of attachment to Broberg and Holloway) took some of the emotion out of it,” said Jackson of the decision. “But when you’ve had Dylan and Philip in the organization there’s a tightness that develops. But for me, I didn’t let it get emotional, either.”
There comes a time when first-round draft picks either turn the corner and become regular, good contributors or they flatline. Clearly, Broberg and Holloway have been very good in St. Louis. “Trajectory is never a straight line. The opportunity those two guys are getting in St. Louis may be different than what would be here. I don’t spend a lot of time comparing (teams). I don’t scour the summaries to see what ex-players are doing. They’re not our players anymore,” said Jackson.
So will both players get a hand from the Oilers fans Saturday?
“I don’t know. They didn’t do anything wrong. They decided to sign their offer sheets. No hard feelings,” said Jackson.