Confirmed with Link: Oilers Do Not Match Broberg ($4.58M X2) & Holloway ($2.29M x 2) Offer Sheets | Oilers acquire STL 3rd '28 & Paul Fischer for Futures

[oobga]

I'm pretty confident it won't happen again. As much as I love Ekholm, Janmark, Brown, Nugent Hopkins less so Nurse they are all age 30 and older. What I really fear is a defense injury to a player like Ekholm with reduced depth.

The penalty kill was a major contributor to the type of unreliable, random activities on ice that propel teams through the meat grinder marathon of NHL playoffs. Things like a high goals against average from often interchangeable goaltenders. In the Oilers case to point, they got to the final with a super elite performance for the ages but also a near perfect PK that not only kept goals out in critical situations with games on the balance but outscored opposition power plays.

High speed game, high chaos, and hopefully key functions all align to push one's team forward to win.

Looking forward it's clear this team's defense, which wasn't a strength, is diminished. Expecting top elite talent to outscore and drive success doesn't work if the other end of the ice and special team functions can't deliver theirs.

I'll be mad with everyone else if Bowman doesn't have a greater plan for this D group. Absolutely agree it isn't good enough, but also argue it wasn't last year either, nor would it have been if we just kept all the same guys.

As you point out, there were some absolute miracles that sent us to the finals. Stuff that likely won't happen again. We need to be better than we were and can in no way take that run for granted. We have the best in the world, IMO it's time to actually win our division for the first time in forever. Maybe even consider we should be challenging for a pres trophy. Weaknesses in our depth and D, and goaltending too have kept us away from all that for McDavid's entire time here.

Bowman has cap space and some assets IMO to finally position us to be a team that can actually finish near the top. Hope he pulls a rabbit out of the hat and solidifies the top 4 with a real compliment to Nurse. If not, I guess hope for more miracles, but I don't like the odds for that to repeat.

 

[oilexport]

Well, I have confidence that the management knows what they are doing and I understand why they choose not to match.

Having said that, I trade Kulak for a right defender, and put Broberg on the 3rd pair. Super left side with depth and future.

You prove yourself just fine, when your thrown into the finals and look as good as Broberg. Too many defenceman are critiqued at that age. Nurse or Ekholm get hurt, we're facked too.

As mentioned, I think our management will make it work anyhow

 

[Connor McConnor]

I’m not losing sleep losing either. Do I like losing 2 guys we tried to properly develop and they showed signs last year of that? No. But we are a true cup contender this year and next, the players we added are objectively better now, atleast offensively. Knob and Coffey play a d friendly system and just as unknown as broberg was so is emberson and brown

 

[Old Boys Club]

I think the thing that would irk me the most is if Josh Brown is on the opening roster. Like sign Barrie or Jultz for 1M and banish the bad face puncher to the AHL.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

I do worry about the health / vitality of Mattias Ekholm. He was already the team's best even-strength D by a lot (though not quite as good offensively as Bouch) and the team was disproportionately depending on him to carry a huge load... but that's when they had Desharnais, Ceci, and Broberg for support.

If the Oilers don't acquire another Dman before opening night, let's imagine Ekholm suddenly acts his age (34), or -- God help us all -- breaks his ankle or something in pre-season. Where does that leave us? Probably with a six-man rotation as weak defensively as San Jose's...

The injuries scare the shit of me the most
We simply do not have the depth to overcame a key injury to the top 3

 

[GhostfaceWu]

This could easily become a Dough Wilson moment in a season.

 

[Connor McConnor]

My biggest concern today is that the Oilers have moved on from almost ALL the prospects they've had over the last several years.

Not just the two today but moving from Bourgault, McLeod, Oilers misfiring on tons of drafts.

Indeed the Oilers have two players in the lineup since Connor McDavid pick. Thats 10 f***ing years of drafting and two roster players to show for it. That is pathetic.

What other contending teams do so consistently poorly at draft or developing their picks or failing to utilize them and retain then?

As a result this team is among oldest teams in league. Older than last season.

I'm not assuming Podkolzin even makes the lineup. Whens the last time the Oilers even had any success with a Russian prospect?

thats a drafting issue and honestly shouldn’t have any bearing on current moves. As bad as some of the moves holland made, mainly Nurse because he got f***ed by Chicago and nj giving the same contracts to jones and Hamilton, he did okay with the cap constraints he was given from chia pet.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

It may help this season, but the future just got bleaker

To add "effectively 13.2 at the deadline" you sure as shit are shipping out more young quality pieces. (hello Savoie, O Reilly)


What are we just hoping Free agents will sign here? We have an old roster and will get older after the deadline.

The goal this year is to win the cup, full stop. Next year or years will get dealt with in due course and I have every faith that JJ and SN will based upon what I’ve seen thus far.

They will be able to add a 2RD, depth F and mid range F for picks and not have to trade their top prospects as we have a lot of draft capital in the bank now as well.

 

[belair]

I think the reason most teams don’t use it, is that you end up paying Philip Broberg $4.5 million a year.

I don't think they care if three years from now he ends up becoming that defenseman. They're getting a high pedigree plug-and-play 23-year-old defenseman for a 2nd round pick. We weren't giving that guy up for anything short of a top 10 pick.

For a rebuilding or retooling team that's in a cap situation where teams won't easily return fire, this method of essentially poaching high-end prospects should be used. Because contracts should be paying for what a player produces. Not based off of what they've done in the past.

 

[unicornBLOOD]

Well, I have confidence that the management knows what they are doing and I understand why they choose not to match.

Having said that, I trade Kulak for a right defender, and put Broberg on the 3rd pair. Super left side with depth and future.

You prove yourself just fine, when your thrown into the finals and look as good as Broberg. Too many defenceman are critiqued at that age. Nurse or Ekholm get hurt, we're facked too.

As mentioned, I think our management will make it work anyhow

and what if Broberg can't hack it, even on the 3rd pairing, which is insane to pay a 3rd pairing dman 4.6 per. Or what if he's just ok on the bottom pairing, and when his 2nd year is up, your option is to qualify him at 5 million per or let him hit unrestricted free agency. All this while wasting McDavid's final 2 years at 12.5 per, and Drai's last year at 8.5, and Bouch's last year at 4, and if Broberg isn't at least an average 2nd pairing dman at 4.6, we probably don't win shit, because the team had negative cap space and 2 extremely overpaid 2nd pairing Dmen. It's too big of a gamble. Yes, no one wanted to lose either of these guys, but at 6.9 per combined, they aren't fits on this team anymore. If kulak struggles, we can move him and upgrade this year, you can't move Broberg or Hollaway for a whole year, and if they underperform, they'd be hard to move the 2nd year. Overpriced, poor producing, inexperienced players don't tend to get traded easily.

 

[Reasonable Oil Fan]

The injuries scare the shit of me the most
We simply do not have the depth to overcame a key injury to the top 3

Such a pivotal season in so many ways

 

[Mr Positive]

I’m not losing sleep losing either. Do I like losing 2 guys we tried to properly develop and they showed signs last year of that? No. But we are a true cup contender this year and next, the players we added are objectively better now, atleast offensively. Knob and Coffey play a d friendly system and just as unknown as broberg was so is emberson and brown

The cost benefit analysis is better on Podkolzin and Emberson but Holloway and Broberg have a much better chance at being impact players.

But maybe on our team there is a contender boost. A rising tide lifts all ships

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I'll be mad with everyone else if Bowman doesn't have a greater plan for this D group. Absolutely agree it isn't good enough, but also argue it wasn't last year either, nor would it have been if we just kept all the same guys.

As you point out, there were some absolute miracles that sent us to the finals. Stuff that likely won't happen again. We need to be better than we were and can in no way take that run for granted. We have the best in the world, IMO it's time to actually win our division for the first time in forever. Maybe even consider we should be challenging for a pres trophy. Weaknesses in our depth and D, and goaltending too have kept us away from all that for McDavid's entire time here.

Bowman has cap space and some assets IMO to finally position us to be a team that can actually finish near the top. Hope he pulls a rabbit out of the hat and solidifies the top 4 with a real compliment to Nurse. If not, I guess hope for more miracles, but I don't like the odds for that to repeat.

They clearly can't and won't stand pat with an Arizona Coyotes alumni reunion d-corp. What that looks like at trade deadline will mean more assets out the door and an unknown talent pool from which to fish. Right shot d carry about a 10% premium and upper level ones somewhat of the game's mystical unicorns. Glad they have that 3rd round pick for Holloway...

I feel reasonable good about this team's management group and their information based decision making approach that cross from its CEO, GM, to their coaching staff. Still will be a big job to stretch out a sustaining window with their prospect pool three years away aside from a non Savoie support piece. Time to start cooking again.

Stringing together a lot of critical high variable events that help drive winning a Cup is difficult. For the Oilers Skinner in net elevating to elite level, quality own zone goal suppressions and pk, sustained health for an old roster. The team should score. But playoff hockey also demands caretaking your own goal suppression as competition ratchets up to final elite survivors.

 

[unicornBLOOD]

Meh, I'm not really happy with all these moves.

The biggest short-term loss is Ceci, who was way better than most on here give him credit for. As a solid, defensive right-shooting Dman, he's just what the club needs more of. The mystery is why they sent him packing if also letting Broberg (and Holloway) go...? I have to think they're planning some other fairly major acquisition on defence, but that they want to clear-up cap space first.

In the long-term, obviously sucks to lose the two younger guys. Odds are good that at least one of them (please not both) ends up being a high-impact NHL player (that is, top-4 D or top-six forward).

I'm optimistic about Emberson, but is he really ready for big/hard minutes in the playoffs? I doubt it, and beyond him the bottom four is currently Nurse, Kulak, Stecher... That's frightening.

Surely, there's some other D-acquisition that Jackson/Bowman are working on.

The issue with Ceci is he had already proved that he was no longer a fit with Nurse on Rd 2nd pairing, and we couldn't afford to have his salary on the 3rd pairing. One of him or Kulak had to go, just for cap space. It's as simple as that. We needed to save the cap space so that we would be able to add that upgrade on 2nd pairing RD at some point before the deadline. Kulak was better than Ceci last year, especially in the playoffs. I like Ceci, he was a solid Oiler, he just got priced out in Edmonton.

I like our good 4 D Bouchard, Ekholm, Nurse (hopefully, the Nurse of old, and not the Nurse from the 2nd half of last season, and Kulak). Emberson is interesting, I like what I've heard. The rest... Stetcher, Brown, guys on the farm, don't give me a lot of confidence. There is a clear hole at 2nd pairing RD, the amount the Oilers struggle with those bottom pairing guys will determine how quickly they are forced to find their upgrade.

 

[unicornBLOOD]

Holloway's Stat Line for last year: 38 GP 6G 3A 9PTS. If you told me the Oilers signed a player with that stat line for $2.29M, would you think that was a good deal?

Broberg's Stat Line for last year: 12 GP 0G 2A 2PTS. If you told me the Oilers signed a player with that stat line for $4.58M, would you think that was a good deal?

so true. this isn't even taking shots at these 2, most Oilers fans really like these guys. But, other than a solid playoffs for both, they hadn't proven themselves yet. These deals are insane, and do not fit on a team that is trying to win now. If the Blues were trying to win now, they never would of offered these deals. NOT A CHANCE.

 

[Shathar]

Holloway can clearly see the consequences of his actions.



Idk if I've ever seen Holloway not beaming ear to ear before. He looks pissed; he signed a poison pill contract and he knows it. I wonder if he fires his agent. Lol.

He's straight up the 4th LW on their depth chart behind Saad, Neighbors, and Buchnevich.

He's likely not getting top 6 minutes at center either; again 4th behind Schenn, Thomas, or Kyrou.

Maybe he can find some time at right wing, which is kind of weak, but even still he's battling for a spot against Sundquist & Joseph for a top 9 spot because he's likely slotted clearly behind Kapanen and Faksa.

He looks about as 'excited' as Eeyore in the rain.

 

[iCanada]

Meh, I'm not really happy with all these moves.

The biggest short-term loss is Ceci, who was way better than most on here give him credit for. As a solid, defensive right-shooting Dman, he's just what the club needs more of. The mystery is why they sent him packing if also letting Broberg (and Holloway) go...? I have to think they're planning some other fairly major acquisition on defence, but that they want to clear-up cap space first.

In the long-term, obviously sucks to lose the two younger guys. Odds are good that at least one of them (please not both) ends up being a high-impact NHL player (that is, top-4 D or top-six forward).

I'm optimistic about Emberson, but is he really ready for big/hard minutes in the playoffs? I doubt it, and beyond him the bottom four is currently Nurse, Kulak, Stecher... That's frightening.

Surely, there's some other D-acquisition that Jackson/Bowman are working on.

Huh?

Are you talking about Cody Ceci? Is there another Ceci I'm not aware of? We're talking about the fit that got statistically dominated by Stecher, Broberg, and Desharnais all year last year, right?

Maybe we just have different ways to define loss.

Statistically and stylistically Emberson seems like a good fit. Stecher was already better than Ceci.

I still think we need an RD upgrade, but I don't think we're worse of than we were last year.

 

[bellagiobob]

I see that Armstrong is getting similar kudos that Tre got in the Summer Of Brad year where the Flames ended up imploding. Hopefully history repeats itself.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

Was listening to one of Stauffer's segments from last week. He had the former GM, Brian Lawton on.

I had no idea that Holland's buddy, Armstrong, was inquiring about Broberg and Holloway during the regular season. He wanted to trade Buchnevich for them in a package deal.

Holland knowing this still didn't sign them. Nevermind both but at least sign one. Easy to read between the lines...

Another GM leaves this team with a nasty parting gift.

 

[The Panther]

Stecher was already better than Ceci.

That's ridiculous.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

That's ridiculous.

Better breaking the puck out for sure. I still think that his size greatly limits him against physical teas though.

 

[ORRFForever]

Too bad about Holloway. A big loss. I always thought he was underrated / terrific.

 

[Soundwave]

Was listening to one of Stauffer's segments from last week. He had the former GM, Brian Lawton on.

I had no idea that Holland's buddy, Armstrong, was inquiring about Broberg and Holloway during the regular season. He wanted to trade Buchnevich for them in a package deal.

Holland knowing this still didn't sign them. Nevermind both but at least sign one. Easy to read between the lines...

Another GM leaves this team with a nasty parting gift.

"Who cares about the Brown overage, it won't matter" they said, lol.

That extra 3.25 million sure woulda been nice to have.

 

[Tarus]

Was listening to one of Stauffer's segments from last week. He had the former GM, Brian Lawton on.

I had no idea that Holland's buddy, Armstrong, was inquiring about Broberg and Holloway during the regular season. He wanted to trade Buchnevich for them in a package deal.

Holland knowing this still didn't sign them. Nevermind both but at least sign one. Easy to read between the lines...

Another GM leaves this team with a nasty parting gift.

I'm more irritated that he didn't make a trade, rather worrying about whether they could sign them. They should have honored Broberg's trade request and gotten something for him rather than let someone else force the issue for them.

Holland wasn't a proactive manager though. He wanted to mediate everything to try to smooth over hard feelings(just look at the Pulj drama), and left other young players sitting unsigned all summer to force better contracts over the years he was running things.

 

[Soundwave]

Bowman would be smart to look at the mistakes Chiarelli and Holland made here to understand why you don't do stupid shit.