It is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time.
It is just as possible to regret the loss of two young Edmonton Oilers players as it is to believe the club remains a favorite to return to the Stanley Cup Final.
What I will grant you is that the path Stan Bowman is now forced to take may not have been the preferred one two weeks ago. But I forcefully submit that this is also not his fault.
So, then who is to blame for the departure of Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway?
That answer awaits, in this edition of…
9 Things
9. Cody Ceci became a whipping by for many Edmonton Oilers critics. I suspect the Joni Mitchell lyric “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone” will soon apply. Was Ceci sometimes deployed in a role above his paygrade? O.K. But how is that a reflection on the player? I for one appreciated his largely solid contributions on what amounted to a value contract.
8. We will talk a fair bit this week about the double offer sheet. But let me get this out of the way first: NHL careers can be very short. On average, players get a 4.5-year career. But the bottom 75% only average two years. Players work all their lives for this and often have no immediate fallback. So, it is difficult to criticize any player for getting whatever he can get while he can.
7. Philip Broberg is represented by Darren Ferris of Quartex. Ferris has a history of working very aggressively on behalf of his clients. This is the same Darren Ferris who worked for the Orr Group at the same time as now Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson. The two eventually went their separate ways. Ferris left and formed his own agency. Jackson later helped negotiate the Orr merger with agency giant Wasserman. More on Broberg in a minute…
6. Young Ty Emberson has an opportunity to make an impression in camp this fall. There is room on the roster for the hard-nosed, defense-first rearguard if he can impress. Emberson is coming off an injury. But Hall of Fame writer Jim Matheson reports that Emberson “had a serious cut to his foot on February 29 that needed immediate surgery”. But Matheson reports that Emberson is fine, training hard, and will be in town in about three weeks.
5. Vasily Podkolzin is a decent gamble on the Oilers part. A 2019 10th overall draft pick, Podkolzin had a particularly good 2021-22 rookie year for a bad Vancouver team: 14-12-26 in 79 GP, +7. But then he regressed, including after starting the 2024 training camp in the Canucks’ Top 6. But parts of those last two years were a tumultuous time in Vancouver, including a coaching change. Podkolzin arrives in Edmonton with tools and tenacity. Can a fresh start help unlock them in? Stan Bowman is betting so.
4. I do firmly believe that there is smoke there is fire on former Oiler Tyson Barrie potentially returning to Edmonton on a value contract. Barrie spends a lot of time out here on the coast very close to where I am. There is no secret that Barrie loved being an Oiler, never wanted to leave, and would certainly welcome an invitation back. And there is a fit off the ice. But Stan Bowman will kick tires on comparable options, such as Justin Schultz and Kevin Shattenkirk. Barrie would be my pick of the three. But I will concede that all three of them are third-pairing D-men at this point in their careers.
3. I like both Philip Borberg and Dylan Holloway lots and wish they were still Oilers. It would be disingenuous for me to say otherwise. For Holloway in particular, I am on record multiple times calling for Holloway to get way more time on ice and with better linemates. I had been much more reserved about Philip Broberg. But I did see positives from him during his ten playoff games this past Spring. And it was easy to see both players earning more prominent roles in 2024-25. But as much as we all focus on the personnel in this controversial transaction, the real challenge in this whole deal with much broader implications was the cap space…especially with Broberg. Is he really a $5m D-man? Really?
2. So, I am not in the “sky is falling” camp over this. You did not want to lose them. But it is not like either player was at the heart of this roster. Broberg has all of 81 NHL regular season games under his belt and thirteen points. Holloway has eighty-nine games and eighteen points. Neither played the Power Play nor were they on the PK. Neither play regular Top 6 or Top 4 pairing minutes. Whether or not either or both of these promising players ever realizes their potential in St. Louis or elsewhere in the league remains very much to be seen. And both have had nagging injury issues. In the end, yes, the Oilers lost two bright lights. But they also ended up with far greater cost certainty. And that is currency in today’s NHL. And lets call a spade a spade: The future contracts of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard are far more critical to this team’s success than the results of those offer sheets.
1.When it comes to attaching any blame for this mess, I am having a hell of a tough time assigning much of it to Jeff Jackson. And practically none of it sticks to Stan Bowman. Bowman is brand new in the organization and position. Most of this situation was baked before he even showed up. In fact, I would submit the Oilers are lucky they had an experienced G.M. on the job to deal with it. As for Jackson, until about 2 months ago, he had a long-time veteran NHL General Manager who was presumably still watching the store. And in my view, the seeds of this were sown on Ken Holland’s watch. Holland drafted them and oversaw their development. Murmurs of a trade between Edmonton and St. Louis had lingered for months, involving Broberg, Holloway and Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich. If all of us heard that, then how in the world could have Holland not at least had an inkling as to Doug Armstrong’s interest? And if they are such close friends, then how did Holland not pick up the phone and say, “Hey Doug, what gives”? Ken Holland also could have locked both players up on multiple year deals back in early January. I am made to understand that he had both the advice to do so at the time and the support of ownership. But Holland chose to ignore that, believing the danger of offer sheets was slight. As it turns out, he could not have been more wrong.
And look: Ken Holland did a lot of good things here. A lot of people conveniently ignore that stuff. He brought stability and respectability to the franchise. The Zach Hyman signing was among the best free agent decisions. The acquisition of Mattias Ekholm was transformative. Most importantly, Holland got them to the Stanley Cup Final. But this offer sheet business? This was not one of his finest moments. In short…he did not finish the job he started.
In the end, the Broberg situation was unsalvageable. A bridge irreparably burned between player and organization. Successive assistant coaches prior to Paul Coffey refused to play Philip Broberg. Ken Holland did not step in because he believed in empowering his coaches. That pissed off both the player and his counsel. The trade demand from the Broberg camp in December of 2023 was not a request. It was a demand.
On the other hand, I do not believe that Dylan Holloway ever wanted to leave Edmonton. He and his inexperienced agent were simply caught in the Broberg crossfire. Holloway was collateral damage. I do not blame him for this.
