Blues excited by offer sheets: 'Good to see some fight from the management'
Published
The St. Louis Blues are feeling buoyed by general manager Doug Armstrong's bold strategy to acquire defenceman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway via offer sheets as the team looks to return to the playoffs this season.
The Blues successfully landed both players this week after the Edmonton Oilers elected not to match their offers.
“It’s good to see some fight from the management in order to show confidence in our team to be better, faster and be more competitive,” Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington said, per NHL.com. “And I think we can feed off that.”
“It’s pretty exciting, two players who played a role in Edmonton’s deep Stanley Cup Playoff run and good young pieces,” forward Robert Thomas added. “We’ve got a lot of young guys who aren’t necessarily prospects but have had a good taste of the playoffs at this level.
“It’s really exciting to be part of the Blues right now.”
The offer sheets tendered last week were the first signed in three years and the only dual offer sheets of the cap era. Edmonton received a second-round pick back for Broberg and a third-round pick back for Holloway from the Blues as compensation. St. Louis also traded their 2028 third-round draft pick and unsigned 2023 fifth-round draft selection Paul Fischer to Edmonton for future considerations to help complete the deal.
The offer sheet strategy wound up costing the Blues an additional third-round pick as well as the team was without their own 2025 second-rounder, which was needed to sign Broberg. St. Louis had sent that pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins in June to move Kevin Hayes in exchange for future considerations. Ahead of inking the offer sheets, St. Louis sent a 2026 second-round pick and a 2025 third-round pick (the Ottawa Senators' selection) to the Penguins to get their pick and a 2026 fifth-rounder back.
Broberg signed a two-year offer from the Blues at $4,580,917 per season, while Dylan Holloway joins the team at $2,290,457 per year on a two-year term.
Broberg, 23, had two assists in 12 games with Edmonton during the regular season in 2023-24 and posted two goals and an assist in 10 games during the postseason, playing in all seven games during the Stanley Cup Final. He averaged 15:47 of ice time in the playoffs.
Holloway, selected 14th overall by Edmonton in the 2020 draft, split time between the Oilers and AHL's Bakersfield Condors this past season, posting six goals and nine points in 38 games with the NHL club. The 22-year-old forward appeared in all 25 games during the postseason, posting five goals and two assists.
The two now-former Oilers join a Blues team that has missed the playoffs in two straight seasons. St. Louis was largely quiet in the off-season before inking the offer sheets, adding veteran defenceman Ryan Suter among their few moves.
“We’ll build off of this,” Binnington said. “And going into camp, I know everyone’s excited, getting two new good pieces and just taking on this season.”