I agree that the Oilers should have been more pro-active in attempting to sign both Holloway and Broberg. It's not "amateur hour", though -- the franchise was GM-less for most of the off-season, and interim Jeff Jackson made some very impressive signings that are helping the club this season. By the time Bowman Jr. was hired, he presumably had his plate full with other immediate things, and -- voila! -- St. Louis sweeps in with two offer-sheets. This happens, like, once every 10 years, so it's hardly something that was expected or predictable.
Why didn't the Oilers sign those two players earlier? Ken Holland, as everyone knows, likes his gray-beards, and the Oilers are still in-process of creating a veteran team for a Cup-run. Their window is 2025. The club's current prospect isn't worrying about three years from now; it's worryng about THIS season and playoffs.
Over a year ago, a frustrated Broberg basically told the Oilers he wanted to leave. My guess is that that pissed-off Holland, who enjoys doing long-term deals with the Yzermans, Lidstroms, and McDavids of the world, and who probably doesn't have a lot of patience for young players who've barely cracked the line-up making demands on him. So, he let Broberg wait in the weeds a bit.
As an Oilers fan, I would have preferred to keep both players, but you can't really predict an offer-sheet (to
two guys, no less) to suddenly come out of nowhere, esp. when it happens 5 minutes after a new GM takes over. The timing was unfortunate.
On the other hand, would I rather have Holloway and Broberg on the 2024-25 roster or J. Skinner, Arvidsson, and Henrique? If we take the position (which the Oilers' org. seemingly has) that the whole focus is on winning the Cup
now, then the latter group seems more helpful.
Also, you're quite wrong that the Blues "gave up nothing". If this site --
https://puckpedia.com/team/st-louis-blues -- is correct, he Blues are currently losing
$6.87 million in cap-space to Holloway and Broberg, and, like most clubs, they have next-to-no cap space to work with.
Like everything in the cap-world of high-priced pro-sports, the Oilers and Blues are each taking calculated risks here, based on each club's relative priority. The Oilers' priority is "win now" and the Blues is (I guess) "compete now, win later".
The $6.87 million the Blues lose in cap-space to Holloway and Broberg could have, theoretically, paid for another (younger) Brayden Schenn, or a couple of experienced players like (the Oilers' signings of) Jeff Skinner and Adam Henrique.
Obviously, if Holloway improves a bit and Broberg continues his nice start, it will work out nicely for St. Louis. On the other hand, if Holloway and Broberg don't progress much beyond where they were/are in 2023-24 (which is quite possible, as each is 23), it will be an overpayment by the Blues. (Broberg has 3 career goals, and Holloway is pacing at 8 goals per 82 games.)
There's no "amateur hour". Clubs have different priorities.