Oilers focus on big picture by declining to match offer sheets for Broberg, Holloway

In the end, the Edmonton Oilers’ decision not to match the offer sheets defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway received from the St. Louis Blues on Aug. 13 was much more about the future than the present.

Sure, Broberg, 23, and Holloway, 22, could have been a part of the Oilers’ success going forward, as they were in helping them reach Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers last season before falling one win short of their first championship since 1990. But the Oilers’ difficult choice to let the two restricted free agents join the Blues focused on a bigger picture in which they need to fit Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and, eventually, Connor McDavid into their long-term salary cap structure while also leaving the short-term flexibility to maneuver under its confines and make another run at the Cup this season.

That included having space to keep Evander Kane and his $5.125 million salary cap hit off long-term injured reserve while it’s determined whether he’ll require sports hernia surgery.

All of that would have been difficult had Edmonton matched the contracts St. Louis gave Broberg (two years, $9.16 million; $4.58 million average annual value) and Holloway (two years, $4.58 million; $2.9 million AAV). So when their week to make a decision expired on Tuesday, the Oilers opted to take the compensation from the Blues – a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft for Broberg and 2025 third-round pick for Holloway – and move on.

“It’s really not reflective of the players at all,” Oilers general manager Stan Bowman said. “I want to be clear about that. It’s not that I had any concerns about the players or anything. This came down to a business decision relative to our short term as well as long-term viability for our roster with the salary cap.”

The twin offer sheets were a big early test for Bowman after he was named Oilers GM on July 24 to replace Ken Holland, whose five-year contract expired July 1. Time will tell whether the Oilers made the right call on Broberg and Holloway, and there will undoubtedly be plenty of debate on whether they could have done anything differently before Aug. 13 to avoid being put in this position.

But looking ahead, there are bigger priorities, beginning with Draisaitl, who is entering the final season of an eight-year, $68 million contract ($8.5 million AAV) and eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2025. Bowman said he has begun initial discussions with the 28-year-old forward’s agent Mike Luit but declined to discuss details.

“You shouldn’t read anything negative into that,” he said. “I just don’t want to try to put timelines on it or whatnot. We have begun the process and as it plays out if we have an update, we will certainly reach out and let everybody know.”

Other than McDavid, the Oilers have no player more important than Draisaitl, who was seventh in the NHL last season with 106 points (41 goals, 65 assists) in 81 regular-season games and third in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists) in 25 games. Even with the salary cap expected to increase again from $88 million this season, being locked into a combined $7.48 million in AAV for Broberg and Holloway in 2025-26 could have been restricting, particularly with Bouchard also entering the final season of a two-year, $7.8 million contract ($3.9 million AAV). The 24-year-old defenseman is eligible to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next July 1.

That is also the day McDavid will be eligible to sign a new contract with Edmonton. The 27-year-old Oilers captain has two seasons left on his eight-year, $100-million contract ($12.5 million AAV) and will become an unrestricted free agent if it expires without him signing a new deal.

All of that was hanging over the Oilers’ heads as they determined what to do about the offer sheets to Broberg and Holloway.

“The other scenarios, which was either matching both or matching either one of them, would have put us in a much different position (with) the salary cap for this current season, let alone future years,” Bowman said. “So, for that reason, we did what we did.”

Bowman also noted the importance of not putting Kane on long-term injured reserve. It’s still to be determined if the 33-year-old forward will miss any time, but even if he needs surgery and is out for an extended period, Edmonton expects him to play at some point this season. So it would need to have the salary cap space to place him on its active roster.

As long as Kane isn’t placed on LTI and the Oilers have some unused salary cap space, they will accrue more space as the season progresses, which will give them the option to add players before the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline to bolster their lineup ahead of the playoffs.

“If you’re using long-term injury for a few months and then you come out of it and you activate the player, you’re starting with no cap space and you’re trying to build it up,” Bowman said. “So you’re not going to be able to build it up in just a month or so. These are all factors that went into our decision.”

Once the decision was made not to match the offer sheets, the Oilers made three trades for younger players. They acquired forward Vasily Podkolzin, 23, from the Vancouver Canucks (for a fourth-round pick in 2025) and defenseman Ty Emberson, 24, from the San Jose Sharks (for defenseman Cody Ceci and a third-round pick in 2025) on Sunday and defenseman prospect Paul Fischer, 19, plus a third-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft from the Blues (for future considerations) on Monday.

Moving Ceci, who has one season remaining on his four-year, $13 million contract ($3.25 AAV), created additional salary cap for this season. It also leaves Edmonton without three of its top seven defensemen from last season with Broberg and Vincent Desharnais (signed with Vancouver) also departing.

The Oilers will try to get by — at least to begin the season — with what they have, including Emberson and Josh Brown, who was signed to a three-year, $3 million contract ($1 million AAV) on July 1.

“We do have a different group than we did and we’re hopeful that some of those [defensemen] can emerge and take on larger roles,” Bowman said. “But the other thing is this situation gives us more opportunity to, hopefully, be able to accrue some cap space and be in the mix. If the situation calls for it and we want to make an addition to our team, then that opportunity could be possible under this scenario.”