Phillip Broberg

[bucks_oil]

Let's not let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory.

I just rewatched his post-draft interview... I stand corrected. I remember reading his family aren't Flames fans, but the quote was "aren't Flames fans anymore".

But this just INCREASES the depth of the conspiracy theory. OF COURSE Holloway was just biding his time to screw over the Oilers. The ultimate revenge for drafting him.

Unlike Viktor Arvidsson, this thread is not pointless.



Holloway himself said on Hockey Sense with Andy Strickland that he was puzzled the Oilers didn't even offer him a deal last summer. Said that his side wasn't even asking for that much. So I'm not sure what opportunity he missed when he wasn't even offered a contract. I get the whole playing for a championship argument, but either guy could have just as easily been shipped out at the deadline for other players. I think it's smart business to take the deal in front of you rather than holding out hope for what "might" happen in the future. Sounds like Holloway just wanted to get a deal done and the Oilers were dragging their feet for whatever reason.

We've been over all of this on the Oilers board, but the errors were:
1) Oilers ALWAYS wait (try to outwit) their RFA's so that they can use available space as leverage. It's a stupid strategy and it definitely backfired.
2) Jackson took the reins for UFA Frenzy because he had to... it was literally days after game 7.
3) Then he turned his attention to hiring Bowman
4) Then he allowed Bowman to handle Draisaitl and RFAs and because Edmonton was planning all along to overplay their hand (as in #1 above), Bowman made the decision to prioritize Draisaitl's deal first.
5) Kane also factors in here a bit... but less so because the plan all along was to try and maintain cap space BELOW Kane's LTIR so that they can accrue $$$.

People forget that Oilers tactics were to sign both to bridge deals that would still be active next year when Draisaitl (and Bouchard's) new deals kick in, so they did have to be somewhat cautious to avoid errors next year.

Again... it was a huge mistake to do #1 above and a tactical error to prioritize Drai above all else... you can multitask.

My point all along though is that once they messed up, the best course of action from that point was to bank cap space for the deadline. Hopefully that ends up being effectively used.

 

[Reality Czech]

I just rewatched his post-draft interview... I stand corrected. I remember reading his family aren't Flames fans, but the quote was "aren't Flames fans anymore".

But this just INCREASES the depth of the conspiracy theory. OF COURSE Holloway was just biding his time to screw over the Oilers. The ultimate revenge for drafting him.


We've been over all of this on the Oilers board, but the errors were:
1) Oilers ALWAYS wait (try to outwit) their RFA's so that they can use available space as leverage. It's a stupid strategy and it definitely backfired.
2) Jackson took the reins for UFA Frenzy because he had to... it was literally days after game 7.
3) Then he turned his attention to hiring Bowman
4) Then he allowed Bowman to handle Draisaitl and RFAs and because Edmonton was planning all along to overplay their hand (as in #1 above), Bowman made the decision to prioritize Draisaitl's deal first.
5) Kane also factors in here a bit... but less so because the plan all along was to try and maintain cap space BELOW Kane's LTIR so that they can accrue $$$.

People forget that Oilers tactics were to sign both to bridge deals that would still be active next year when Draisaitl (and Bouchard's) new deals kick in, so they did have to be somewhat cautious to avoid errors next year.

Again... it was a huge mistake to do #1 above and a tactical error to prioritize Drai above all else... you can multitask.

My point all along though is that once they messed up, the best course of action from that point was to bank cap space for the deadline. Hopefully that ends up being effectively used.

That all makes sense, plus I'm sure the regime change compounded the problem. Maybe Bowman didn't fully realize the situation or he had other priorities to attend to first. Lots of moving parts as you pointed out.

 

[bucks_oil]

That all makes sense, plus I'm sure the regime change compounded the problem. Maybe Bowman didn't fully realize the situation or he had other priorities to attend to first. Lots of moving parts as you pointed out.

I mean Bowman had three weeks to at least get an offer in front of Holloway. I hadn't heard that he hadn't even started negotiations until you mentioned it above in this thread... that was dumb... what were the AGM and all the other execs doing? They should have had one tee'd up for him to bless on day 2 of his new job.

Broberg? Meh... Just based on what he signed for and how he behaved during the season (asking for a trade), I don't think there was any chance he would stay. The parties were never going to repair that bridge. The mistakes on Broberg were made over the last two seasons, more than once keeping him (unnaturally) in the AHL due to contract status and cap constraints. From the Oilers perspective, they didn't have much choice/flexibilty, from Broberg's perspective his demotions were not merit-based. You can see that one from both sides for sure. Sucks... has happened to other cap-constrained contenders and will happen to more.