When Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman got the news last week that the St. Louis Blues had tendered offer sheets to defenceman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway, his reaction was simple.
“I just really rolled up my sleeves and got to work,” Bowman said Tuesday during a virtual news conference.
After a week of playing phone tag with the other GMs around the league — and making a couple of trades that many fans believed would open the needed salary-cap space to retain the two players — Bowman and the rest of the Oilers brain trust decided not to match the Blues’ offers and let both players head off to Missouri.
Broberg’s two-year deal is worth $4.58 million US a season and Holloway’s two-year contract is valued at $2.29 million a season. Bowman said the economics didn’t work for the cap-strapped Oilers in the short- or long-term.
“We were evaluating the [salary-cap] situation we were in when those offer sheets came in,” Bowman said. “Given that, as well as the other constraints that we have, we didn’t feel like it was the right move to essentially limit our optionality moving forward — not only for this year, but in the future.
“It’s less about the players and their abilities and their talents. It’s really about trying to set ourselves up to be in the best position we can be, so we have some options.”
For two months Edmonton Oilers fans experienced the highs and lows of four playoff series. This montage sums up a Stanley Cup run that brought a city to life.
The Blues tendered the offers to the restricted free agents on Aug. 13, and the Oilers had until Tuesday morning to match.
The Oilers received a second-round pick for Broberg and a third-round pick for Holloway as compensation.
St. Louis reacquired its second-round draft pick in 2025 from the Pittsburgh Penguins last week to meet the required offer-sheet compensation.
Bowman has to focus on making cap room for three star players.
Leon Draisaitl is entering the final year of his contract that pays him $8.5 million a year, and is up for a significant raise. Bowman confirmed negotiations have begun with Draisaitl’s camp, but he said he would not go into any detail about them out of respect to the player and the process.
Connor McDavid is entering the seventh year of an eight-year pact that pays him $12.5 million per season. And power-play…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CBC | NHL News…