Blues look to join short list of successful offer sheets tendered
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The St. Louis Blues tendered the first two offer sheets the NHL has seen since 2021 on Tuesday.
The Blues tendered offer sheets to forward Dylan Holloway and defenceman Philip Broberg of the Edmonton Oilers, offering both players two-year contracts. The offer to Holloway is for $2.29 million per year, while Broberg’s is for $4.58 million per year.
Both players are coming off their entry-level contracts as the Oilers are in a cap crunch at $357,167 over the salary cap with more than $3 million in dead money.
Holloway, 22, had six goals and nine points in 38 games last season with Edmonton. He also skated in 25 postseason games, scoring five goals with two assists as the Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final.
Broberg, 23, spent most of the 2023-24 campaign in the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors, recording 38 points in 49 AHL contests. However, he appeared in 10 playoff games for Edmonton, recording two goals and an assist.
The Oilers have seven days to match the offers.
Since 2006, the NHL has seen eight other offer sheets tendered with only two not being matched. In 2007, the Oilers gave up a first-, second- and third-round picks to the Anaheim Ducks in an offer sheet for forward Dustin Penner.
Penner would spend four seasons in Edmonton and have a career season in 2009-10, scoring 32 goals with 63 points in 82 games. He retired following the 2013-14 season after skating in 589 career NHL games and winning two Stanley Cup championships.
In 2021, the Montreal Canadiens declined to match an offer sheet from the Carolina Hurricanes for Jesperi Kotkaniemi and took the first- and third-round compensation picks.
Kotkaniemi signed an eight-year, $38.5 million contract extension with the Hurricanes on March 21, 2022. In 2023-24, the 24-year-old forward had 12 goals and 27 points in 79 games. He was drafted third overall by Montreal in 2018.
The other six offer sheets tenured were all matched with David Backes (Canucks offer in 2008), Steve Bernier (Blues in 2008), Niklas Hjalmarsson (Sharks 2010), Shea Weber (Flyers 2012), Ryan O’Reilly (Flames 2013) and Sebastian Aho (Canadiens 2019).
O’Reilly and Aho are the only remaining active players from the players whose offer sheets were matched. After having his offer sheet matched by the Colorado Avalanche, O’Reilly spent three more seasons with the team before going on to have stints with the Buffalo Sabres, Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs and Nashville Predators.
Aho has played with Carolina his entire career, and re-signed to an eight-year, $78 million contract extension on July 26, 2023. In 598 career NHL games, he has scored 254 goals with 557 points.