The St. Louis Blues made some noise in an otherwise quiet period in the NHL. After a trade with the Penguins, the Blues extended offer sheets to Edmonton Oilers restricted free agents Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. The two players signed two-year contracts with St. Louis. Broberg signed for around $4.5 million a season while Holloway signed for about $2.29 million.
Offer sheets in the NHL are extremely rare. In fact, some general managers around the league have a rather contentious view of offer sheets. St. Louis didn't make this move without doing some hefty background work. Even the timing of this is something they planned for, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
“There was also some strategic stuff about this too. The timing was not accidental,” the NHL insider said, via Sportsnet. “One of the things (the Blues) were worried about was doing an offer sheet and then having Edmonton trade for a player that was arbitration-eligible and allowing themselves to potentially open up a new buyout window.”
Blues target Oilers' Philip Broberg, Dylan Holloway with rare offer sheet move
As mentioned, offer sheets in the NHL are incredibly rare. So rare in fact that over the last 20 years, only two offer sheets have been successful. Including Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, only 12 offer sheets have even been extended in the salary cap era.
Ironically, the Oilers extended the first successful offer sheet in the last 20 years. They signed Anaheim Ducks restricted free agent Dustin Penner to a five-year contract. This situation grew so tense that then-Ducks general manager Brian Burke challenged Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe to a fight at a Lake Placid barn.
The last successful offer sheet came in 2021. The Carolina Hurricanes signed Montreal Canadiens forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi to a one-year offer sheet. The Canadiens decided against matching it and received a 2022 first and third-round pick in return.
The Hurricanes went after Kotkaniemi in part out of revenge. Montreal had signed Hurricanes star Sebastian Aho to an eight-year offer sheet in 2019. Aho was the team's leading scorer at the time and had received top-10 votes for the Hart Trophy.
The Blues likely had that situation in mind during this process. Friedman noted that, given the Oilers' impending contract situation, St. Louis is betting on the Edmonton allowing this to go without retort. “You have a (Leon) Draisaitl extension coming and you have a (Connor) McDavid extension coming and a (Evan) Bouchard extension coming. St. Louis would be betting that Edmonton can't do this, and this is one of the things they've talked about,” Friedman said, via Sportsnet.
The Oilers have a little less than a week to match these contracts. The Blues are likely to wait until the last minute for an official response no matter what Edmonton does. In any event, this is a situation all hockey fans should keep their eyes on.
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