What do the Oilers do with the Blues' offersheets?

[BKarchitect]

The more I think about it, the more I think they may actually let both walk. I’m curious if the Oilers really value Holloway as a guy they want to pay $2.2 AAV to. The “He’s young! He’s homegrown!” line only matters so much when you have a short window right now to win the Cup with this core.

This is a guy who averaged 11 minutes a night in both the regular season and playoffs…that’s fourth line minutes. Combined he had 63GP with 11 goals and 5 assists. He’s not a particularly creative or good offensive player. There’s some wiggle room for improvement and he’s a fine bottom six option - but I’d wager via the leftovers in free agency or a minor deal you can probably get a guy who does the same stuff for half the price. He just may be 32 not 22.

The Oilers are in a space where every penny matters - and I’m not positive those pennies are best spent on a guy who is a depth player on this roster…even if fans want to shoehorn him higher into their versions of the line-up because he’s youngish.

 

[BKarchitect]

To expound upon that - I think the correct move here, the bold move - is to either match both or let both walk. I’m not a fan of a wish-washy approach where you say “well…I guess our hand was forced and we will overpay or pay sooner one of these guys but not the other…”.

Either put your foot down and say “we are matching, we are not going to get boxed into a corner with these pieces we feel or ascending and developing with our core…we match both and we are gonna get aggressive with older/fringe pieces to make it work financially, even at the cost of picks, because these players represent something more important.”

Or let both walk and say “hey, you wanna overpay for our depth pieces, go ahead and give us picks. We have McDavid. We have a stellar core of superstars. As long as we have that, we are going to be able to find veterans willing to come here for a chance at the Cup. We now have extra picks and flexibility. We can fill out the roster just fine with short term pieces and simply adjust the margins every summer as we need to”.

 

[Cup or Bust]

This.

I honestly don't even know if I'd want to pay Broberg at that cap hit, even if the Oilers were able to. Take the 2nd and run.

Holloway is a no brainer though, keep him.

Broberg is definitely not worth that cap hit but the way I view it is if the Oilers can trade either Kulak or Ceci, the Oilers were going to be up against the cap even if both Holloway and Broberg got the 3 million combined they are actually worth, the only difference is the Oilers will be up against the cap without either Ceci or Kulak instead. I think if that route can be taken it is worth the risk on young players with upside.

 

[Haatley]

neither have lived upto expectations. another case of oilers failing to draft well unless it's in the top 5

 

[Voodoo Child]

(Goes to CapFriendly…)

Oh yeah, that happened.

I imagine they’ll match Holloway, that’s a touch too much for him now but based on potential it’s fairish, and the compensation (3rd) is low.

They’ll probably be losing Broberg if they still have Bouchard to sign. I imagine they want to keep him, but they are currently over the cap by quite a bit.

 

[stl76]

For some reason I get the feeling the oil are going to let them both walk and that it will be a mistake (until/unless they win a cup without them).

 

[Lunatik]

I think the Oilers let both go. If they matched on Holloway, they'd have to move out over 3m to make room for Kane when he's healthy. I know people will say "trade Ceci/Kulak", but that won't be enough since they'd still have to replace the player they move on the blueline.

 

[Bank Shot]

Wasn't Broberg the player who covered for Nurse and made him look competent on defense?

I do recall Broberg being really good in the playoffs.

Is that what a typical Vancouver fan sees when they watch hockey?

Must be why you guys thought the early season shooting % was legit.

 

[BlueSeal]

Is that what a typical Vancouver fan sees when they watch hockey?

That Nurse sucks, is a legit detriment to the Oilers and the whole situation involving his contract is a downright clusterf-ck?

Do you really want to argue that?

 

[Bank Shot]

That Nurse sucks, is a legit detriment to the Oilers and the whole situation involving his contract is a downright clusterf-ck?

Do you really want to argue that?

Ok yeah Briberg was covering for Nurse. Zadorov was a playoff beast. Boeser is going to shoot 20% next year.

Keep up your fantasies chief.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Match Holloway, let Broberg walk is the way.

I'm not as high on Broberg as many are and I think 4.5 is a crazy overpay for him.

I’m not all the way on Holloway, but I like his pay, I like his play, that’s all I can say.

And agreed, no clue why they went so high on Broberg. I know it’s not the case, but I like to imagine they just focused on the dollar lower than the next tier thing and just didn’t think to offer less.

 

[BlueSeal]

Ok yeah Briberg was covering for Nurse. Zadorov was a playoff beast. Boeser is going to shoot 20% next year.

Keep up your fantasies chief.

That 'fantasy' almost won y'all a Cup

Like Billy Joel sang on a b-side once, 'Sometimes a fantasy is all you need' .

 

[Bank Shot]

That 'fantasy' almost won y'all a Cup

Like Billy Joel sang on a b-side once, 'Sometimes a fantasy is all you need' .

Fantasy is all Canucks fans have for sure.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Losing Broberg would sting due to the obvious upside but obviously there is some animosity there with the org if he was willing to do this knowing how good the team is gonna be. He is going to be 24 and hasn't been able to crack the lineup full time, he looked good for the most part in the playoffs but in the Final he had some real shaky stretches. Not worth the cap hit at this time when there isn't any to spare unfortunately. Moving Ceci would make room but not sure the org would even value Broberg over him for next season.

Broberg played 10 games in the playoffs. He looked good for 3 of them and at the end of the playoffs he was ranked the worst by all analytics.

You let him go to at Louis and you do so happily at that contract. A big part of his desirability was he was cost controlled. He isn’t anymore. So looking at his stat line it’s a no brainer

 

[Bounces R Way]

I could definitely see them not matching either contract. They're already over the cap as is. Unless Kane's LTIR stint is going to last all season they don't have a lot of good choices.

Not to mention if they have to trade a veteran they just re-signed or played significant minutes in the playoffs what that would do to the locker room. Trading a guy like Ceci or Kulak when other teams know the position you're in wouldn't be easy to begin with. Trading them so some kid with less than a 100 career games and less than 20 career pts can get his bag would no doubt make Stan an unpopular figure among the Oil players in his 1st year as GM.

 

[McVespa99]

I don't see a way we can keep Broberg, just too much money. Really tough to lose him, he really stepped up in the playoffs. But hey, good thing we kept Corey Perry

Keeping Perry in no way affects whether the Oilers can keep Broberg of not. In no way

 

[cc]

I'd let them both walk.

Too much for an unproven dman like broberg who likely doesn't even want to be with the team.

Holloway is easier to replace for cheaper.

Use the comps in a package to get another vet on an expiring contract later on in the season to make a run for the cup