At NHL media day today, Blues forward Robert Thomas said that he was actually hanging out with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at the time the news broke, and neither Oiler superstar was too thrilled.
The Oilers staff and players have been professional when speaking about the offer sheets and recognized that hockey is a business, so it's interesting to hear that Thomas said McDavid and Draisaitl were slightly unhappy about the offer sheet news.
The Oilers have been trying to build a culture where all players sacrifice a little bit to build a greater roster as a whole. Veteran players like Adam Henrique, Jeff Skinner, and even McDavid and Draisaitl have taken less money to be a part of a championship team. The Oilers simply couldn't cave to two rookies demanding major overpayments, which even GM Stan Bowman admitted in a recent interview. Philip Broberg signed for $4.58M, and Dylan Holloway at $2.29M. Neither player has more than 90 regular season games played.
It may hurt in a few years to lose Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, if they meet their full potential and develop into impact players. For now though, they're unproven rookies who were asking far too much for onto a championship roster. The Oilers made the right decision to walk away from Broberg and Holloway, even though it may have bugged some fans, players, and the organization.
Source for Stats: PuckPedia - St. Louis Blues
POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 10 | 156 ANSWERS Connor McDavid was hanging out with St. Louis Blues when offer sheet news broke Do you think Oilers players were ticked off about the Offer Sheets? | ||
Yes | 115 | 73.7 % |
No | 31 | 19.9 % |
See Results | 10 | 6.4 % |
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