Insider Says Oilers Will Match Offer Sheet For Only 1 of Broberg/Holloway, Not the Other

Speaking with Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now, Sportsnet hockey insider Elliotte Friedman says he believes the Edmonton Oilers will only match one of the offer sheets that the St. Louis Blues shocked them with this week, and that will be the one for Dylan Holloway. He infers that there's too much bad blood between Broberg and the team, and at that $4.6 million AAV price, they just won't go there.

Friedman takes us back to earlier in the season, back in December, when Broberg was simmering down in the AHL, and he reportedly requested a trade out of Edmonton.

That was true... It’s becoming more and more clear to me now that Broberg had thought long and hard (about his future with the Oilers)... I'm just not convinced he ever changed his mind.

Broberg and the Oilers were never close on a new deal in negotiations this offseason. In fact, Friedman says the Blues are giving him 250% more than Edmonton was offering. "The bottom line is this: they were far, far apart on Broberg. They knew they had a player that was unhappy.”

Holloway, says the insider, took more convincing to sign the Blues offer sheet of two years, $2.29 million AAV, even though that was for about 100% more than he was discussing on a new deal with Edmonton.

I think the Oilers will match on Holloway... If you match Broberg, that really throws you out of whack (with the salary cap)... There's much more risk with the Broberg offer sheet than there is with Holloway.

The risk, of course, in addition to over-burdening the cap, when they have extensions for Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard to deal with over the next 12 months, is that what if Broberg doesn't play like a $4.6 million player? As noted by Sportsnet's Mark Spector, "He’d be very difficult to trade at that point."

The Oilers are still working on moving out some money, as they are currently over the cap, and they have until Tuesday morning to match or let the players go (and receive a couple of draft picks as compensation).