At the time of writing this, we are three days away from finding out what the Oilers are going to do in respect of Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. Three days from finding out is the organisation will match either or both offer sheets made by the St. Louis Blues.
The move by the Blues was a stunning one, making an already precarious salary cap situation for the Oilers even more perilous. So the question remains, as to what the Oilers are ultimately going to do?
We appreciate that it's a difficult situation, particularly in the case of Broberg. He is the more valuable prospect and with a higher upside compared to Holloway, but his offer sheet of just over $4.58 million times two years is also double what the Blues are offering to his teammate.
A broken relationship
However, giving due credit to Jim Parsons of NHL Trade Talk, if we go on the latest information provided by the highly respected Elliotte Friedman, maybe it's best if the Oilers just let Broberg leave. Speaking in a bonus summer edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman believes the relationship between the two sides is effectively beyond repair.
The erosion of the relationship dates back to November/December time last year, when Broberg was struggling to find opportunities in the Oilers lineup. This had initially been an issue under previous coach Jay Woodcroft, but continued to be the case with his replacement, Kris Knoblauch.
As a result, Broberg's camp reached out to the Oilers to request permission to seek a trade for their client. Now it should be noted that there was some contradiction at the time, on whether this request was actually accepted by the Oilers or not, but the fact that Broberg's camp even asked for permission spoke volumes.
Don't try to put this on Holland
During this past Tuesday's edition of Oilers Now, Bob Stauffer indicated that previous general manager Ken Holland was instructed around the same time to get Broberg -- as well as Holloway -- re-signed. However, we found the timing of this information coming out interesting, in respect of how it effectively alluded to putting the majority of the blame onto Holland.
There is a lot of anger and frustration within the Oilers fan base -- and understandably so -- that the team is even in this position of potentially (likely) losing Broberg. Particularly after he played so well during the Stanley Cup Final and made the decision to let Vincent Desharnais walk, that much easier.
However, it just seems too convenient to place the blame at the feet of Holland. Plus, as we noted, the situation was a lot different surrounding Broberg back in December compared to now, with plenty of doubts about if the blue liner could fulfil the potential which saw him selected eighth overall in the 2018 draft.
This is why Friedman says he does not believe Broberg's feelings about how he was previously treated by the organisation, have changed. In fact, even if Holland had offered him a deal back in December, would the defenceman have agreed to it so soon after requesting a trade?
This would also explain why things had dragged on for so long, after the Oilers made their qualifying offer to Broberg at the end of June. By extension, this would be why he was (more than) happy to accept the Blues' offer sheet.
Overall, the point in all of this is that it might not ultimately matter how much the Oilers value Broberg, if he doesn't want to remain in Edmonton. Sometimes, no matter how talented a player is, if the relationship is broken, it's best for both sides if said player embarks on a fresh start somewhere else.