Oilers Could Have Avoided Offer Sheets

Upper management of the Edmonton Oilers wanted their top prospects extended, but then-GM Ken Holland never made the deals.

Jun 7, 2024; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland, left, and head coach Kris Knoblauch take questions during media day in advance of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports / Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

The Edmonton Oilers aren’t far removed from hiring a new general manager in Stan Bowman, but he’s already being tasked with a tough situation. The St. Louis Blues tendered offer sheets to a pair of restricted free agents still under Oilers’ control, and now they have a week to make a decision on a pair of their top young players.

The Blues did something never before seen in the NHL and sent offer sheets to forward Dylan Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg. Both are in their early 20s and were likely to be NHL regulars with the Oilers in 2024-25.

 While this is an unprecedented situation for any team, it appears the Oilers could have avoided it. According to radio color commentator Bob Stauffer, Oilers’ upper management wanted to see Holloway and Broberg signed to extensions in the early portions of the 2023-24 season.

“Sometimes you have to be ahead of the curve,” Stauffer said on Oilers Now. “I can 100% guarantee you that upper management, Ken Holland, the general manager at that time, as far back as December and January, were instructed at the top levels of the Oilers’ organization to get Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg signed to contract extensions.”

Stauffer added that the target time to extend the soon-to-be NHL regulars was in January when both were in the American Hockey League.

“Especially in the month of January when both players were in the minors,” Stauffer said. “Players are at their most vulnerable when they’re dealing with injuries or if their star players or top-end picks are demoted down to the minors.”

Holloway and Broberg are both first-round picks of the Oilers and were ready to become big, productive pieces in the NHL lineup. With no new deals in place, despite the instruction of higher-ups, the two were left unsigned well into the offseason.

“It should be mentioned the two best prospects in the Oilers organization,” Stauffer said. “From the top levels of the Oilers’ organization, the Oilers management team headed up by Ken Holland was instructed… to get a deal done with both guys.”

Holland left the Oilers organization soon after their Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Final and had nothing to do with the work the team put in during the offseason. Regardless of who was in charge, someone within the Oilers organization wanted their top prospects extended, but no deals were ever finalized.

“It was communicated, ‘Hey, we need to prioritize getting these guys done,” Stauffer said. “That didn’t happen.”

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