Blues tender rare offer sheets to two Oilers

The St. Louis Blues are not only making the rare move of using an offer sheet on another team’s player, they’re doubling up on the tactic. The team announced Tuesday that it tendered offer sheets for Edmonton Oilers defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway.

It’s a bold strategy to go after two restricted free agents because Edmonton, which rallied from a three-game series hole only to lose Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, is already cap-strapped. The Oilers now have seven days to match, according to section 10.3 of the NHL collective bargaining agreement.

But it won’t be easy. Broberg was offered a two-year contract worth $4.58 million annually while Holloway was also offered a two-year deal at $2.29 million annually.

Getting new deals done for Broberg and Holloway were a priority for the Oilers as both players were pending restricted free agents that remained under team control. The offer sheets now force the Oilers to sort out their options — especially financially — within a shorter window. Edmonton is currently more than $350,000 over the salary cap.

Less than two weeks after Game 7, the Oilers used free agency to add forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner while signing defenseman Josh Brown. They also re-signed forwards Connor Brown, Mattias Janmark, Adam Henrique and Corey Perry, along with defenseman Troy Stecher, to new contracts.

Edmonton will have to move salary to afford to match on Broberg and Holloway. The Blues, meanwhile, have over $7 million in cap space.

If the Oilers don’t match, they are compensated with draft picks: a second-round pick for Broberg and a third-rounder for Holloway. The Blues had to swing a deal with the Penguins to get the necessary picks, reacquiring their 2025 second-round pick along with Pittsburgh’s 2026 fifth-round pick for the Blues’ 2026 second-round pick and a 2025 third-round pick that originally belonged to the Ottawa Senators.

Broberg and Holloway represent the latest wave of homegrown talents to reach the NHL, a hallmark of a franchise that has seen its farm-to-table model work with superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in addition to Darnell Nurse, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Stuart Skinner, among others.

Broberg and Holloway both split time between the NHL and AHL over the past few seasons with the intent that the 2024-25 campaign could see them play a larger role. Broberg featured in 12 games last season but emerged in the playoffs, when he scored three points in 10 games while averaging 15:47 in ice time. Holloway had six goals and nine points in 38 games last season, also providing consistency during the Oilers’ run to the Cup final by scoring five goals and seven points in 25 games.