The Loss of Broberg and Holloway Gripe Thread

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

So his stats are like being the best in the special Olympics.

He’s getting dominated but getting dominated the least

There was a time when McDavid and Draisaitl were getting dominated in terms of possession numbers too (2018-2020 was truly a disgusting period of Oilers hockey) with pretty similar looking numbers. And I think we can safely say that their poor metrics were because we surrounded them with unviable top 6 forwards like Kassian/Chiasson and a disastrous defense featuring the likes of 2018-19 Adam Larsson. They were "getting dominated less" than the others. If anything it's more difficult to look respectable when you're playing with players like Colton Parayko that are basically playing for the opposing team and whatever the hell you call St Louis' non Thomas/Holloway forwards.

 

[Soundwave]

I think you have to take a longer term view with young players, saying "I know for sure Player A is going to be better than Player B" based on a small sample size doesn't always work.

At age 21, Yamamoto was nearly a PPG for a sizable stretch.

At age 22, Puljujarvi had 10 goals in his first 28 games of the season, 9 points in the first 6 games of that season.

Look at where they are today.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

There was a time when McDavid and Draisaitl were getting dominated in terms of possession numbers too (2018-2020 was truly a disgusting period of Oilers hockey) with pretty similar looking numbers. And I think we can safely say that their poor metrics were because we surrounded them with unviable top 6 forwards like Kassian/Chiasson and a disastrous defense featuring the likes of 2018-19 Adam Larsson. They were "getting dominated less" than the others. If anything it's more difficult to look respectable when you're playing with players like Colton Parayko that are basically playing for the opposing team and whatever the hell you call St Louis' non Thomas/Holloway forwards.

McDavid was over a 50%, and Draisaitl was at a 49% during that time, I dont know if i'd call that dominated.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Nurse is playing closer to his 9.25 contract than Broberg is to his 4.6

They are both market driven contracts based upon Oiler management decisions. They kicked the prime years Nurse and his negotiations down the road until the market reset with $9 million baseline for top d-men. In Broberg's case they failed to act proactively on a known damaged relationships, changing cap environment flush with big money increase, spend their own cap, double jeopardy with two pedigree young players, and through inaction enabled the market to reset the value on both.

It's great to see Nurse elevate his game and reduce an element of this fanbase from focusing on the contract this management group walked itself into. Meanwhile Broberg is delivering surefire top 4 minutes, all situational play, 21:08 toi, both special teams responsibilities with 1:34 pp and 1:03 pk. An injury has pushed the still pre-peak year defender into treading waters as a first pair player but such is the trust and belief in him. The Fowler trade, another buy-low asset deal, will help Broberg continue to establish himself as a surefire top 4 d with reasonable potential to grow into a top pair d-man as he gains experience and continues to mature.

In both cases the market set the valuation of two pedigree Oiler defensemen. And in both cases Oiler management decision making and inaction had costly effect for them.

 

[tiger_80]

They are both market driven contracts based upon Oiler management decisions. They kicked the prime years Nurse and his negotiations down the road until the market reset with $9 million baseline for top d-men. In Broberg's case they failed to act proactively on a known damaged relationships, changing cap environment flush with big money increase, spend their own cap, double jeopardy with two pedigree young players, and through inaction enabled the market to reset the value on both.

It's great to see Nurse elevate his game and reduce an element of this fanbase from focusing on the contract this management group walked itself into. Meanwhile Broberg is delivering surefire top 4 minutes, all situational play, 21:08 toi, both special teams responsibilities with 1:34 pp and 1:03 pk. An injury has pushed the still pre-peak year defender into treading waters as a first pair player but such is the trust and belief in him. The Fowler trade, another buy-low asset deal, will help Broberg continue to establish himself as a surefire top 4 d with reasonable potential to grow into a top pair d-man as he gains experience and continues to mature.

In both cases the market set the valuation of two pedigree Oiler defensemen. And in both cases Oiler management decision making and inaction had costly effect for them.

I feel Broberg is a loss. Potentially a top pairing d-man, and those don't grow on trees. Holloway's skill set is more replaceable even if he appears to be a better player now. With hindsight they should have given Broberg more opportunities even if he was not 100% ready. But I guess that's the curse of being a cup contender.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

McDavid was over a 50%, and Draisaitl was at a 49% during that time, I dont know if i'd call that dominated.

Nah man. Some of those years were rooouggghhhh. And McDrai are a completely different tier of player from Broberg. If two first ballot Hall of Fame forwards can get caved to around 48% because of their garbage teammates and system structure, Broberg being 47% isn't indicative of him individually considering his teammates are hovering around 44%.

 

[tiger_80]

They are both market driven contracts based upon Oiler management decisions. They kicked the prime years Nurse and his negotiations down the road until the market reset with $9 million baseline for top d-men. In Broberg's case they failed to act proactively on a known damaged relationships, changing cap environment flush with big money increase, spend their own cap, double jeopardy with two pedigree young players, and through inaction enabled the market to reset the value on both.

It's great to see Nurse elevate his game and reduce an element of this fanbase from focusing on the contract this management group walked itself into. Meanwhile Broberg is delivering surefire top 4 minutes, all situational play, 21:08 toi, both special teams responsibilities with 1:34 pp and 1:03 pk. An injury has pushed the still pre-peak year defender into treading waters as a first pair player but such is the trust and belief in him. The Fowler trade, another buy-low asset deal, will help Broberg continue to establish himself as a surefire top 4 d with reasonable potential to grow into a top pair d-man as he gains experience and continues to mature.

In both cases the market set the valuation of two pedigree Oiler defensemen. And in both cases Oiler management decision making and inaction had costly effect for them.

In fairness, the Oilers have Bouchard, and Nurse, and Ekholm. So decisions have to be made on who gives you the best chances to win now. Their biggest mistake may be failing to get any significant assets for Broberg. They probably could have gotten a young forward with top 6 potential if they did not let it get to the offer sheets.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

View attachment 945950
Nah man. Some of those years were rooouggghhhh. And McDrai are a completely different tier of player from Broberg. If two first ballot Hall of Fame forwards can get caved to around 48% because of their garbage teammates and system structure, Broberg being 47% isn't indicative of him individually considering his teammates are hovering around 44%.

I did the 3 year sample size like you posted

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

I did the 3 year sample size like you posted

This is what I'm seeing with my exact search parameters shown above. The main point isn't even that Broberg is as good as McDavid and Draisaitl, it's to show that on a bad team lacking quality teammates and a functional system, even SS tier players can have bad metrics, let alone a "merely good" player like Broberg.