Oilers GM Ken Holland made multi million dollar mistake with Offer Sheets

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Liam McCormick
August 14, 2024 (1:36 PM)

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The Edmonton Oilers were faced with a major problem yesterday when the St. Louis Blues signed both Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to two offer sheet contracts, but they may have been able to deal with this sooner.

According to a new report from Elliotte Friedman, former Oilers GM Ken Holland was advised to sign both RFA players when they were in the minors this January. Both players would've taken deals in the range of $1M, and now have both signed multi-million dollar deals.

[Broberg] basically [got] 250% more than he was asking for from the Blues. [Holloway] got almost 100% more than he was expecting.»
- Elliotte Friedman

If the Oilers had been willing to make a sign of commitment and offer Broberg and Dylan Holloway NHL contracts in January, they would've been able to sign both players to cheap deals for multiple years. Now if they keep either player, they'll be paying them significantly more than they expected - in Philip Broberg's case, nearly $3M more. In retrospect, Ken Holland should've listened to his advisors and signed both players earlier.

For the St. Louis Blues, these offer sheets make perfect sense. Both players are coming off a breakout playoffs and have proven they can be NHL players at on the biggest stage, and it will cost the minimal picks in compensation. On the other hand, it's enough to make the Oilers squirm, who were already pressed against the cap.

When reports surfaced that Evander Kane would begin the year on LTIR, it gave the Oilers hope for relief with their salary cap problem. Now, with the offer sheets signed, they're over $7M over the salary cap and may need to trade multiple players to be cap compliant. We'll see what action the Oilers take in the next seven days to address the situation, but it's very possible they lose at least one, if not both RFAs.

Source: DailyHive

Oilers RFAs landed double their asking prices with Blues