Edmonton's decision to pass on Broberg/Holloway looking much better just now

Calgary Herald

17-05-2025

The Edmonton Oilers Broberg/Holloway fiasco hadn't been top of mind in Oil Country, but then came a viral tweet from the St. Louis Blues this past week, that franchise gloating about its offer sheet success with the two former Oilers.
Article content
Article content
https://t.co/0PyfNa8ZTu pic.twitter.com/mWRfeHYpo3
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 13, 2025
Article content
The Blues' post on X-twitter got me thinking again about the matter, as did Edmonton's second round victory over Vegas, with both Jake Walman and John Klingberg combining to give the Oilers excellent minutes as the second pair defensive unit.
Article content
The money used to pay Walman and Klingberg this year is arguably the same money that the Oilers could have used to match the Broberg and Holloway offer sheets, at least if the Oilers had been in an aggressive and risk-taking mood last August when new GM Stan Bowman had to make that call.
Article content
Make no mistake, Edmonton's failure to sign Broberg and Holloway were and always will be a major screw-up by the Oilers. At the same time, Klingberg and Walman represent an excellent use of that cap space.
Article content
Overall, it could well be that the Oilers are a better team now than they would be if they had matched the offer sheets, and I'm not just saying that because Dylan Holloway missed the 2025 playoffs due to yet another injury in his injury-riddled career, thought that can't be set aside.
Article content
Article content
To assess Bowman's decision at the time, let's look at the facts he faced.
Article content
1. Due to neglect, slow-promotion, and the over-cooking of Broberg, the young player had soured on the Oilers organization by the fall of 2023.
Article content
When the Oilers sent him to Bakersfield of the AHL that fall, Broberg requested a trade. Broberg played well in Bako and it could be that if GM Ken Holland had pounced then and tried to sign up Broberg to a new deal, showing great interest in the player at a down moment, he could have got him signed. Oilers.
Article content
2. St. Louis had made a move to trade for Broberg and Dylan Holloway during the 2024 season, but Holland refused to make such a deal. That said, he evidently knew of St. Louis' interest in the players. Did he ever pass that on to Jeff Jackson, who took over from Holland as GM on July 1, 2025?
Article content
3. Jackson went on a free agent splurge that July, bringing in Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner and bringing back team free agents like Adam Henrique, Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark. There was wide approval of these moves, including from me, but the assumption was that Jackson also was close to reasonable deals with Holloway and Broberg, both Restricted Free Agents. Broberg had been a Top 4 d-man in the Stanley Cup Final, with Holloway a second line winger in that series. Surely the Oilers would not risk losing such fine young players to offer sheets, right?