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

[CupofOil]

So just to be clear...I never advocated for Kulak to be traded. I think that he is a solid bttom pairing dman. What I expected to see from Holland was for him to at least try amnd fix the RHD issue a year or 2 years ago.
He did npothing. In his mind Ceci was good enough. Ceci might have been good enough if he wasnt paired with a scatter brained dman like Darnell Nurse.
So instead of fixing the obvious issue...plan B was to try and fit Broberg into a RHD role.
That IMO was a massive mistake and not because Broberg wasnt a talented dman but because it was clear that he was struggling playing his off side.
I am acutally surprised that posters are defending this. Many posters dismissed the wrong side issue and just assumed it was just the player. Anything to protect the team I guess.

I get the need to defend everything oilers but the evidence suggests that the team didnt handle Broberg very well at all. It also suggests that Broberg was right to be disillusioned with the way he was managed.
The Puljujarvi situation is different IMO because Jesse wasnt a dman.
Dmen have to be developed differently than forwards. It takes much longer and thats especially true when it comes to wingers.
The team owed it to themselves and to the player to try and develop him on his natural side.
They failed to do that and that isnt on Broberg at all.

Regarding matching the contract...of course they coudlnt do that, The issue is that they shouldnt have painted themselves into that corner in the first place.
This entire scenario is primarily a failure of Oilers management.

Ok, so you expected Broberg to be the #4 LHD then?
How do you they develop him on this natural side when Ekholm , Nurse and Kulak are solidified in those spots.
You say that you didn't advocate for trading Kulak so who does Broberg supplant of those three?

Also, "the need to defend everything Oilers" "anything to protect the team I guess" wasn't necessary. I expect better from you than a response like that. I thought my post was reasonable enough to not elicit that reply.

 

[guymez]

Ok, so you expected Broberg to be the #4 LHD then?
How do you they develop him on this natural side when Ekholm , Nurse and Kulak are solidified in those spots.
You say that you didn't advocate for trading Kulak so who does Broberg supplant of those three?

Also, "the need to defend everything Oilers" "anything to protect the team I guess" wasn't necessary. I expect better from you than a response like that. I thought my post was reasonable enough to not elicit that reply.

Well...eventually I expected Broberg to be a #4 LHD.
How do they develop him? They develop him in such a way that he eventually takes over for either Ekholm or Nurse.
See for me Nurse is the problem with this defence.
Its Nurse that really f**ks things up because so much of what you do with this defence depends on Nurse.
A player that isnt worth $6M much less $9.25M. A player that is barley a 2nd pairing dman much less a top pairing dman and the team is forced to accommodate Darnell Nurse and his albatross contract.
So Holland really screwed himself and essentially kicked the team in the junk by signing Nurse to that deal.
Everything cascades down from Nurse. He affects everything the team tries to do with the defence.

 

[TheNumber4]

I think I’m ready to call these prospects damaged goods (not as players but as Oilers prospects) from the Holland/Wright era. On the one hand, I thought it was reasonable for a cup contending team to stave off adding risky prospects to the core team when trying to win. They really weren’t ready for most of the time they were here, they only proved to be ready in the playoffs just recently though. But on the other hand, i could totally see that not being communicated well or explained to the prospects due to Hollands general negligence or laziness.

I’ll chock this up as Holland mistake mostly to how it got to this point. Failed or not attempt past negotiations is one part of that blame. The prospects not really wanting to be here in the case of Broberg also on Hollands handling.

 

[Stoneman89]

I'd argue that is what Armstrong has to say publicly. Any hint of collusion among GMs regarding offer sheets would be investigated immediately by the NHLPA.

Not that this validates the Holland rumors, but Armstrong has no incentive to confirm them, even if true.

That's fine, but the initial assessments should not have been made then in the first place, based on that.

It's because Holland is golfing buddies with Armstrong, that's why Matheson was claiming that.

If it was Matheson who made that claim, then enough said.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I think I’m ready to call these prospects damaged goods (not as players but as Oilers prospects) from the Holland/Wright era. On the one hand, I thought it was reasonable for a cup contending team to stave off adding risky prospects to the core team when trying to win. They really weren’t ready for most of the time they were here, they only proved to be ready in the playoffs just recently though. But on the other hand, i could totally see that not being communicated well or explained to the prospects due to Hollands general negligence or laziness.

I’ll chock this up as Holland mistake mostly to how it got to this point. Failed or not attempt past negotiations is one part of that blame. The prospects not really wanting to be here in the case of Broberg also on Hollands handling.

Holland had adult supervision for a hockey calendar year before OfferGate. Jackson was active immediately replacing staff and adding new ones to build up his vision for a modern hockey operations organization. It included curating his pick for head coach.

There's shared accountability for the season that cratered then rebounded to Cup championship. The succession plan was firming in place and acting soon after the hiring. That includes oversight of the club's personnel. It's not a binary lazy negligent guy out the door and new guy getting the glory. Jackson's greatest asset for this CEO job is the bonafides he did as a super agent including finding value for clients navigating the CBA. Exhibit A: the polarizing Connor Brown contract.

Alot of reasons why it got to a passive signing strategy with its two top NHL young players and forced into a reactive position to a poison pill double barrel market opportunity play by a rival. A guy who was known to be coveting the two young players as a trade deadline return.

That's fine, but the initial assessments should not have been made then in the first place, based on that.


If it was Matheson who made that claim, then enough said.

I think there was also a Blues reporter who referenced the golf trip.

 

[Stoneman89]

My situation is a hypothetical alternative to the passive, slow cook choice the Oilers made. A framework of how a pro-active approach on a damaged, vulnerable relationship might have been handled as a risk mitigation scenario in a changed Cap year of big financial bumps. And a GM who favoured both players at trade deadline making public noice in June that prospective offer sheet(s) could be a play for their organization. There was clear and present risk.

Again, I'd think some risk management work would have a clear financial value threshold on your two young RFA both for budgeting and in event of offer sheets being tendered. The only alleged confirmed information (no surprise) is from the agency side which said the Oilers offer was $1.2 million. There's good reason Bowman framed out his media avail as a chronology starting with the offer sheets being tendered. The real media questions should have been about what happened in the month and a half of team control to sign these players.

All potentially true, but again, we also don't know if Broberg and his agent told them to shove it all the way through and they were moving on regardless. The glass may already have been well poisoned long before any opportunity came up.

 

[bellagiobob]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1826344253498556890

 

[Stoneman89]

Well...eventually I expected Broberg to be a #4 LHD.
How do they develop him? They develop him in such a way that he eventually takes over for either Ekholm or Nurse.
See for me Nurse is the problem with this defence.
Its Nurse that really f**ks things up because so much of what you do with this defence depends on Nurse.
A player that isnt worth $6M much less $9.25M. A player that is barley a 2nd pairing dman much less a top pairing dman and the team is forced to accommodate Darnell Nurse and his albatross contract.
So Holland really screwed himself and essentially kicked the team in the junk by signing Nurse to that deal.
Everything cascades down from Nurse. He affects everything the team tries to do with the defence.

If they screwed him up by not playing him in his natural spot, how do you think they should have done that? Nurse unfortunately isn't going anywhere with that contract and is untradeable without massive sweeteners going the other way. That's been discussed ad naseum. Ekholm is a godsend, and Kulak is a solid if not great 3rd pairing guy who has excelled in the playoffs. If all three of them are solidly locked in, where do you play Broberg if not on the off side? There literally was no room at the inn based on that. Not sure what management could have done differently in that scenario.

 

[TheNumber4]

Holland had adult supervision for a hockey calendar year before OfferGate. Jackson was active immediately replacing staff and adding new ones to build up his vision for a modern hockey operations organization. It included curating his pick for head coach.

There's shared accountability for the season that cratered then rebounded to Cup championship. The succession plan was firming in place and acting soon after the hiring. That includes oversight of the club's personnel. It's not a binary lazy negligent guy out the door and new guy getting the glory. Jackson's greatest asset for this CEO job is the bonafides he did as a super agent including finding value for clients navigating the CBA. Exhibit A: the polarizing Connor Brown contract.

Alot of reasons why it got to a passive signing strategy with its two top NHL young players and forced into a reactive position to a poison pill double barrel market opportunity play by a rival. A guy who was known to be coveting the two young players as a trade deadline return.


I think there was also a Blues reporter who referenced the golf trip.

JJ was there. But JJ did President of Hockey Ops type things like hire all the new support staff. As he said himself, Holland is the GM and he is not.

Now there is some ambiguity as to what that relationship actually entailed. How much did JJ just let Holland do his thing as a GM, we don’t really know. But watching the TDL episode of the Drop, I saw JJ enter a scouting meeting LATE as if he wasn’t essential to the meeting after Holland had already got discussions going with his staff, and JJ just sat there quietly and let Holland do his GM work, including shaping discussion of players. So I’m of the opinion that JJ was more hands off with Holland than we may imagine.

We’ve also heard from Bob that Holland was asked to negotiate and get a deal done mid-season by “upper management”. And that either didn’t happen at all or a failed attempt was made. So Holland is the main guy in terms of negotiating with these prospects, as a GM should be. JJ we know wasn’t involved in that.

Also, JJ was here for one year of Holloway and Broberg. Much of the mistakes in handling these guys happened in the many other years prior to JJ even being here.

I’d say the blame to JJ should be minimal. Maybe there’s some, but it’s not a lot.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

All potentially true, but again, we also don't know if Broberg and his agent told them to shove it all the way through and they were moving on regardless. The glass may already have been well poisoned long before any opportunity came up.

I'm sure they would never outright say that. Why would they cut off a negotiation front and make clear an exit strategy. It's where the organization has to assess its risk level for a player whose agent made a trade request like six months ago. And the rising favourable market conditions with their own financial vulnerability with its free agency strategy aimed.

It's also not a new thing that there's been a struggle with this player getting ice-time with frustrations on both sides.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

JJ was there. But JJ did President of Hockey Ops type things like hire all the new support staff. As he said himself, Holland is the GM and he is not.

Now there is some ambiguity as to what that relationship actually entailed. How much did JJ just let Holland do his thing as a GM, we don’t really know. But watching the TDL episode of the Drop, I saw JJ enter a scouting meeting LATE as if he wasn’t essential to the meeting after Holland had already got discussions going with his staff, and JJ just sat there quietly and let Holland do his GM work, including shaping discussion of players. So I’m of the opinion that JJ was more hands off with Holland than we may imagine.

We’ve also heard from Bob that Holland was asked to negotiate and get a deal done mid-season by “upper management”. And that either didn’t happen at all or a failed attempt was made. So Holland is the main guy in terms of negotiating with these prospects, as a GM should be. JJ we know wasn’t involved in that.

Also, JJ was here for one year of Holloway and Broberg. Much of the mistakes in handling these guys happened in the many other years prior to JJ even being here.

I’d say the blame to JJ should be minimal. Maybe there’s some, but it’s not a lot.

He did crossover GM things like hiring a coach (his coach) and the staff he hired have reporting structure lines to the GM. It's why he was in the muddled Knoblauch hiring media conference with Holland and their discombobulated not prepared speaking points. Lobbied for Coffey as assistant coach which is way down what even a GM should be doing.

Stauffer is an unreliable narrator as a team employee extended PR function. He's not media and his point of view is coloured by his employment by Katz's team. Has a bad habit of sucking up to current hockey ops colleagues and tearing them down when let go.

This was an organization in significant transition from the moment Jackson was hired. He had oversight and engagement with Holland on all facets of hockey operations including firing some of Holland's hires. Broberg issues were for a long time. However with a trade request not long after Ken and Jeff fired the coach it is clearly a relationship all would keep an eye on. Especially the new CEO who played the game and has a players perspective but mainly as a super agent who dealt with challenging player club relationships through a highly successful career.

 

[Stoneman89]

I'm sure they would never outright say that. Why would they cut off a negotiation front and make clear an exit strategy. It's where the organization has to assess its risk level for a player whose agent made a trade request like six months ago. And the rising favourable market conditions with their own financial vulnerability with its free agency strategy aimed.

It's also not a new thing that there's been a struggle with this player getting ice-time with frustrations on both sides.

One of the biggest issues for the player though, has been his issues with injury. More than anything else, IMO, that played a major part in stunting his growth and acceleration through the system. Every time it seemed he was getting traction, he got injured, and it was never one or 2 games. Tough for management to make proper assessments and push for more from the player when that keeps occurring.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1826344253498556890

But he said they are building something special in StL! (as he departs the team with the best 2 players on the planet literally building something special)

 

[TheNumber4]

He did crossover GM things like hiring a coach (his coach) and arguably the staff he hired have reporting structure lines to the GM. It's why he was in the muddled Knoblauch hiring media conference with Holland and their discombobulated not prepared speaking points. Lobbied for Coffey as assistant coach which is way down what even a GM should be doing.

Stauffer is an unreliable narrator as a team employee extended PR function. He's not media and his point of view is coloured by his employment by Katz's team. Has a bad habit of sucking up to current hockey ops colleagues and tearing them down then let go.

This was an organization in significant transition from the moment Jackson was hired. He had oversight and engagement with Holland on all facets of hockey operations including firing some of Holland's hires. Broberg issues were for a long time. However with a trade request not long after Ken and Jeff fired the coach it is clearly a relationship all would keep an eye on. Especially the new CEO who played the game and has a players perspective but mainly as a super agent who dealt with challenging player club relationships through a highly successful career.

Well he suggested Knoblauch at a time when the org was looking for candidates. A discussion with Holland was still had, sounded like they made the decision together. And knowing Holland he’d take the easy move and take the recommendation rather than put in any of his own leg work.

Stauffer may have some bias. But I’ve heard him tear Kenny down even when Kenny was around. It’s not all PR, he lets a lot of his personal feelings slip out in his rants. And he really is one of the few sources we have for inside information. We are left to speculate much of it cause we aren’t in the room. Stauffer is actually in the room though or close to it.

I think if he was pure PR he’d tried to spin anything negative about the Oilers. But he doesn’t. There’s some honesty in his opinions IMO.

By the time Brobergs trade request came in, much of the damage was already done. Holland and maybe JJ did “handle it” as best they could though. They had a convo with him, and explained to him and his agent that AHL time would be best instead of sitting in the press box. Broberg went down like a good soldier and did the right thing for himself and the organization by upping his value with great AHL play. You could argue JJ did as much he could in that situation, assuming he was involved.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

I'm sure they would never outright say that. Why would they cut off a negotiation front and make clear an exit strategy. It's where the organization has to assess its risk level for a player whose agent made a trade request like six months ago. And the rising favourable market conditions with their own financial vulnerability with its free agency strategy aimed.

It's also not a new thing that there's been a struggle with this player getting ice-time with frustrations on both sides.

That was the mistake I think Jackson made, he should have explored trading them. But I think they truly believed the relationship was salvageable with Broberg and Holloway wouldn’t sign an offer sheet and the risk of a broberg os was manageable. It would have been hard to consider trading them because ultimately you want to keep both no matter what.

With Darren Ferris his main goal was to get his client out of Edmonton (and paid) so it would of served him to be duplicitous in dragging out negotiations with Jackson on things like position and deployment even if they were close on money to maximize the chances of the offer sheet plan working and Edmonton not matching. To that end it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he had a part in convincing Holloways camp to sign an offer sheet to put even more pressure on the Oilers to have to walk away. They probably thought the relatively minor cap hit differential and more importantly, low pick compensation would mean Oilers would surely match and not lose both players, meaning Holloway could have his cake and eat it too but it looks like maybe Holloway has a bit of signatory remorse, but what does Ferris care he got what he wanted for his client.

 

[GOilers88]

I don't have to tell you this took legendary effort from several players who had to have near or at career type years and Bouchard elevating to a superstar. It wasn't the touted Connor Browns that led to any regular season success.

All the Oilers guns had to dig up everything they had to resurrect the season and a coaching change too.

What happened last year is by no means something that would happen every year. We've now lost several pace energy players. On a team that will be exhausted easily this season having played till near end of June, having hardly any time off, and that played around 110games last season.

Bjugstad and Kostin would've been helpful last season. Just like the several players we lost this offseason could be helpful.

The Oilers big guns were just as much to blame for their start last year as the coaches and any roster moves they made. The whole team quit outright.

The Oilers being graced with McDrai and Bouchard doesn't negate the fact that the entire team propelled them to where they ended up. Guys like Conor Brown and Mathias Janmark more than earned it during the post season.

Taking Holloway and Broberg away doesn't dump them down from contender. They simply swapped them out for different players. This is likely how it's going to be every year for the duration of the McDrai era.

It happens to pretty much every team that contends long term. Your core pieces get locked up and everyone else is a rotating cast. Does losing some youth suck? Absolutely. But the team is not some lethargic, slow, geriatric group. They have immense talent and firepower up front, and when they shore up the roster as the season goes (which I see no reason to believe they won't), it will cause more turnover next summer again.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Oilers made the lowball offer and then according to holloway nothing was heard after. Thing is a prospect like Holloway is an asset. he is that anywhere. Its up to the Oilers to retain their assets, its what good orgs do is accrue and retain assets. It doesn't fall on the asset to sign himself. Somebody was going to be happy to have Holloway and Broberg. Other clubs were interested as well and according to Broberg he got to pick among 3 offersheets.

The Oilers seemingly did the bare minimum with respect to these two.

Asset management is on any org. That falls on the Oilers to have regular communication, but an org that has failed in that in offseason several times.

RFA’s with no arb rights regularly get signed deep into the summer, even in situations where a team is against the cap and needs to clear space. In hindsight we’re asking Jackson to plan for something that almost never happens but also something that has never happened in history which is too players signing an offer sheet from the same team simultaneously. There’s been like ten offer sheets in decades but yeah I totally believe GM’s were just lining up to offer sheet these guys all of a sudden even though they’ve never done it before when there has been plenty of opportunity. Sounds like some spin from an agent trying to reduce blowback, same as “reports” the oilers lowballed them, where do you think those reports came from? Think the Oilers side is the one saying they lowballed Broberg?

Teams weren’t suddenly lining up to throw out offer sheets, Ferris wanted his guy out and Armstrong being willing to break from convention was the vehicle to hatch this plan.

 

[SK13]

NHL twitter is hysterical.

Holland could not draft and ruined the Oilers but also, losing two of his four first-round picks to offersheets was the crippling blow to the Oilers contention status. Somehow both of these thoughts can exist in the brains of Leafs fans simultaneously.

 

[Drivesaitl]

RFA’s with no arb rights regularly get signed deep into the summer, even in situations where a team is against the cap and needs to clear space. In hindsight we’re asking Jackson to plan for something that almost never happens but also something that has never happened in history which is too players signing an offer sheet from the same team simultaneously. There’s been like ten offer sheets in decades but yeah I totally believe GM’s were just lining up to offer sheet these guys all of a sudden even though they’ve never done it before when there has been plenty of opportunity. Sounds like some spin from an agent trying to reduce blowback, same as “reports” the oilers lowballed them, where do you think those reports came from? Think the Oilers side is the one saying they lowballed Broberg?

Teams weren’t suddenly lining up to throw out offer sheets, Ferris wanted his guy out and Armstrong being willing to break from convention was the vehicle to hatch this plan.

Broberg alone had a pick of 3 or more potential offersheets to sign. He picked one. We rarely hear about the others but in this case Broberg and others have said there were multiple offer sheets.

Just going on whats been stated. If you think its a hoax and only STL was going this route than I disagree, based on whats stated. Did Broberg and his agent lie in your opinion?

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Broberg alone had a pick of 3 or more potential offersheets to sign. He picked one. We rarely hear about the others but in this case Broberg and others have said there were multiple offer sheets.

Just going on whats been stated. If you think its a hoax and only STL was going this route than I disagree, based on whats stated. Did Broberg and his agent lie in your opinion?

Who stated it?

Show me a quote from one NHL executive who said their team was interested in or did offer sheet Broberg.

 

[Drivesaitl]

The Oilers big guns were just as much to blame for their start last year as the coaches and any roster moves they made. The whole team quit outright.

The Oilers being graced with McDrai and Bouchard doesn't negate the fact that the entire team propelled them to where they ended up. Guys like Conor Brown and Mathias Janmark more than earned it during the post season.

Taking Holloway and Broberg away doesn't dump them down from contender. They simply swapped them out for different players. This is likely how it's going to be every year for the duration of the McDrai era.

It happens to pretty much every team that contends long term. Your core pieces get locked up and everyone else is a rotating cast. Does losing some youth suck? Absolutely. But the team is not some lethargic, slow, geriatric group. They have immense talent and firepower up front, and when they shore up the roster as the season goes (which I see no reason to believe they won't), it will cause more turnover next summer again.

The Oilers are missing Broberg, Holloway, McLeod, Foegele, Desharnais, Ceci, Gagner, fwiw. We'll also be missing Kane this season from all reports.

Are people really expecting Hyman to repeat a legend 55 goal season. Teams were adjusting and the scoring in bunches wasn't coming as much. Seems like every year we expect all our guns to have legend seasons even while we've depleted bottomsix drastically.

You know as well another calendar year flipped on a team that for starting players is very old.

 

[CupofOil]

Well...eventually I expected Broberg to be a #4 LHD.
How do they develop him? They develop him in such a way that he eventually takes over for either Ekholm or Nurse.
See for me Nurse is the problem with this defence.
Its Nurse that really f**ks things up because so much of what you do with this defence depends on Nurse.
A player that isnt worth $6M much less $9.25M. A player that is barley a 2nd pairing dman much less a top pairing dman and the team is forced to accommodate Darnell Nurse and his albatross contract.
So Holland really screwed himself and essentially kicked the team in the junk by signing Nurse to that deal.
Everything cascades down from Nurse. He affects everything the team tries to do with the defence.

No disagreement on the Nurse situation, to state the obvious, but I'm still not understanding how they botched Broberg's development if there was no room for him on the left side? Are you saying that Broberg should have played Nurse's minutes and Nurse should have been the #4 LHD or as the extra Dman? $9.25m is expensive for a #7 Dman.

 

[guymez]

If they screwed him up by not playing him in his natural spot, how do you think they should have done that? Nurse unfortunately isn't going anywhere with that contract and is untradeable without massive sweeteners going the other way. That's been discussed ad naseum. Ekholm is a godsend, and Kulak is a solid if not great 3rd pairing guy who has excelled in the playoffs. If all three of them are solidly locked in, where do you play Broberg if not on the off side? There literally was no room at the inn based on that. Not sure what management could have done differently in that scenario.

Well..I thin ktha t they should have committed him to playing excelusively on the left side in the AHL.
Then you shift a vet over to his off side once Broberg gets to the NHL.
You utilize him in a way that actually helps his development and over the long haul helps the team.

What you dont do is exactly what thyey ended up doing.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Who stated it?

Show me a quote from one NHL executive who said their team was interested in or did offer sheet Broberg.

Show me something that NHL executives never release as details. That has never ever occurred. How can I show that?

You don't hear about the teams willing to sign offer sheets, only the ones that are signed, and for obvious reasons.

All we have is what Broberg stated, agent related, and as I'm seeing Andy Strictland reporting on this. As can happen tons of others are retweeting the comment. But you could be right in that it could just be limited people saying this.

Anyway thanks for the feedback. We likely won't know, and for sure we're not going to know what other teams were potentially interested.

 

[guymez]

No disagreement on the Nurse situation, to state the obvious, but I'm still not understanding how they botched Broberg's development if there was no room for him on the left side? Are you saying that Broberg should have played Nurse's minutes and Nurse should have been the #4 LHD or as the extra Dman? $9.25m is expensive for a #7 Dman.

Thats one potential solution.
Having a vet NHL player play his off side as opposed to a very young dman still learning the position is an obviously better solution.

Nurse is making $9.25M...why not have him bear the burden of playing on his off side?
Why lay that burden at the feet of a player who hasnt even had a chance to crystalize his game because his AHL experience didnt even allow him to play his natural side enough?