Oilers forward contract clause may have stopped team from matching offer sheets

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Liam McCormick
August 22, 2024 (2:34 PM)

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The Edmonton Oilers are in a dire salary cap situation this season, and it resulted in the team losing both Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to offer sheets in St. Louis.

There's plenty of salary cap mistakes that led the Oilers to this point, overpaying Darnell Nurse, Jack Campbell's contract, but this season, Connor Brown's contract clause may have hurt them significantly. Last year, Brown signed a bizarre contract that paid him a $3.25M bonus for 10 games played, and the bonus applies to the cap this year. His base salary was only $775K. The Oilers were against the cap last year too, and saw an opportunity to use this clause to get him cheaply last year.

Brown played the previous season with the Washington Capitals where he sustained a serious knee injury that affected him for nearly all of last season. Unfortunately, the contract proved to be a pretty large failure through most of the year. Brown only scored 4 goals and 12 points in 71 games, but was able to turn his game around and be a solid player in the playoffs. Now, he's re-signed with Edmonton for one more year at only $1M.

However, that $3.25M for Brown this season could've been the difference between matching an offer sheet and letting their RFAs walk - especially the Dylan Holloway offer at only $2.29M.

It's a clear salary cap mistake from former GM Ken Holland that cost the Oilers years of cost-controlled quality young players. Not only did Holland make these clear cap mistakes, but he also didn't prioritize signing Holloway and Broberg within the season when he was advised to. At least Connor Brown showed he can be an impact player in the playoffs last year and he'll be back another year, but losing Holloway or Broberg probably wasn't worth it.

All player stats and salary info: PuckPedia - Edmonton Oilers