We don’t get a lot of offer sheets in the NHL, but on Tuesday, we got two.
Remember what I wrote this morning about the Edmonton Oilers getting a bit of a bailout when it comes to the salary cap? With Evander Kane likely headed towards LTIR, it’ll save them $5.125 million towards the cap next year. That’s not going to be enough to save them from the offer sheets they’re currently dealing.
The St. Louis Blues, who acquired their second round pick in 2025 back just moments before these offer sheets became official, have tendered offer sheets to Oilers defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway. Here’s what the offer sheets look like…
Broberg – 2 years, $4,580,917 per season (2nd round pick compensation)
Holloway – 2 years, $2,290,457 per season (3rd round pick compensation)
Why such random dollar amounts? That’s the maximum AAV for each player for the current compensation. If each player had been offer sheeted for a dollar more, the compensation would have been greater for both of them. For example, it would have cost a 2nd round pick for Holloway and a 1st and 3rd for Broberg if their contracts would have been one dollar more.
Now, neither one of these players is probably worth the money they’ve been offer sheeted for, but that’s kind of the point. You want to screw over the opposing team as much as possible while giving yourself the best chance at acquiring the players. Broberg is just 23 but spent almost all of last season in the AHL. He has 13 points in 81 career NHL games, and will now be paid like a second pair defenseman. He was solid in the playoffs, but he’s probably not worth the money. I’m not sure the Oilers can afford to match the Broberg deal, as they’re already paying a lot of money for some average (at best) defensemen.
Holloway is interesting, and given the Broberg contract number, I think the Oilers end up matching the Holloway deal. He’s just 22 and like Broberg, hasn’t fully established himself in the NHL.
It’s worth noting that both players have to agree to sign the offer sheets for these to happen. From the perspective of both players, the decision is a no-brainer. Having split time between the AHL and NHL the past few years, this guarantees them both a good paycheck.
Neither of these guys would really move the needle all that much for the Blues, but considering it’s the middle of August, this is pretty fun. It sounds like there’s a good chance Torey Krug is headed towards LTIR for St. Louis, so they need a defenseman. I guess they must really like Broberg.
Offer sheets are rare in the NHL, and I’d love to see more of them. From a St. Louis perspective, the players aren’t difference makers, but I guess they really wanted to put the Oilers in a bind. Maybe Doug Armstrong is not a Stan Bowman fan. St. Louis doesn’t exactly have a ton of up-and-coming young talent for the Oilers to try and target for the future, so it’s not like they can expect retribution soon. Whether or not these offer sheets go through, I’d still put the Blues near the bottom of the Central.
The Oilers have seven days to decide whether or not they want to match these offer sheets, so we’ll keep an eye on if that happens or not.