I think the majority of fans are just upset and don't really know where to put their anger.
Instead of going back and looking at things logically, they don't care about why we did what we did. They just want to point the finger and call people stupid to make them feel better.
When you look at the Broberg he had problems the moment they drafted him back in 2019. Despite showing an incredible toolbox, he had injury concerns and didn't get along with his coaches in Sweden over the next 2 years. In those 2 years in the SHL he played 89 with 4G 17A and -5. Still, he put up 0's in his 12 playoff games as he was pushed down the lineup. Broberg was supposed to play a more meaningful role in the men's league but was never able to earn it. Now was that the team that "didn't believe in him" or was that Broberg being impatient and showing that he just wasn't ready?
Instead of working through it, Edmonton brought him over to the AHL. He looked good enough to earn a callup to the NHL but it was obvious that he wasn't ready in his D+3 season where he was -8 in 23GP with 1G 2A.
Heading into his D+4 season with Woodcroft, Broberg was finally able to prove he was an NHL defenceman with 46GP. He had 1G 7A for 8P. He also played 9 playoff games where he didn't register any points. A big reason Broberg was able to get these games in was that Woodcroft loved his 11-7 but when the Oilers acquired Ekholm his ice time and opportunity went down. I think Ekholm/Nurse/Kulak on the left side really set the stage for Broberg and his cap to ask for a trade. He wanted the opportunity to prove more elsewhere.
Now we enter in D+5 and he's clearly too good for the AHL but not really good enough in the NHL to take someone elses job. I think people forget how terrible we started last year and Broberg was sent down. In his 12GP last year, Broberg was here in October/November for 10 games where the Oilers were 2-8. He then finished the year with 2 more games where they lost both.
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Now we heard rumors that other teams were asking for Broberg in trades and that Broberg had asked for a trade. At that point you could definitely argue that Holland should have looked at trading him even though he was still an RFA. After all, he had not really found much success and at that point, no one was looking to spend big money on a player who couldn't even stay in the league. To be fair, I think trading him at the deadline would have seen a pretty low return - like a 2nd round pick. Keeping him as an asset for a playoff run was valuable depth and even if they wanted to trade Broberg down the road, they could have looked at trading him at the draft or free agency.
Obviously, Broberg comes in and looks great against Florida and starts making a name for himself. At that point you have to think it's time to pivot and maybe consider giving Broberg more than he's worth. Now the Oilers are in a difficult situation, but no one is really talking about it. Rightly or wrongly the assumption by both fans and media are that we need to get better and the RFA's will have to wait. We are all happy with signing two proven goal scorers in Arvidsson and Skinner up front. On the backend we still have the same defense (less Desharnais).
Fast forward, everyone is on vacation and the priority for Bowman was to sign Leon Draisaitl. He's on the job for less than a couple weeks and he's hit with the offer sheets. It's only after the offer sheets happen that everyone begins to panic - so I don't see how this is Bowmans fault. He was stuck with NTC's and would have had to move some serious cap out to keep Broberg. Kane, Arvidsson, Skinner and Henrique all had NTC's so I don't see who else he's moving in less than 7 days with a gun to his head.
Looking at its now though, I would rather have Walman in that spot. He comes in at a lower cap hit and is a better player even if it cost more to get him.