Stan Bowman thinks the Blues paid too much for Holloway and Broberg

The Oilers lost two players to the Blues this summer. St. Louis won their bid with two hostile offers for the services of Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.

Oilers general manager Stan Bowman had the opportunity to match the offers, which would have weighed approximately $4.58 million and $2.29 million on the team’s payroll, but decided against it.

This time, he told The Athletic’ s Pierre LeBrun he believes the contracts offered to Broberg and Holloway will cost the Blues far too much.

Oilers GM: Philip Broberg, Dylan Holloway offer sheets ‘way above’ their performance. https://t.co/kgKELZcgOP pic.twitter.com/2X5ERIPgDE

– theScore (@theScore) September 9, 2024

In fact, Bowman doesn’t think these players deserve such salaries yet, and he’s right!

Broberg has yet to play 82 NHL games, and his new contract will cost the Blues about $4.58 million. He’s playing well, but he’s far from turning heads.

What’s even crazier is that this offer comes after he played 49 games in the AHL last season.

Had the Oilers agreed to match the offer, Broberg would have been paid more than the team’s top defenseman, Evan Bouchard ($3.5 million).

On the other hand, the offer for Holloway made a little more sense at around $2.29 million per season, but it was still too expensive for a team with title aspirations that counts its pennies.

For the Blues, these contracts were probably a way of forcing their hands on these players. They will cost the team dearly in the early years, but they are now the property of St. Louis.

We’re still talking about two players selected in the top-15 of their draft year.

The problem for the Oilers in this situation is that they looked like an organization that negotiates poorly with its players. Bowman believes he made good offers to his former players, but had no intention of overpaying.

The contracts offered by the Oilers would have been $1.1 million per season for Broberg and $1.05 million per year for Holloway.

Told the original offers from the Oilers to Phillip Broberg was a 2 year deal with an AAV of $1.1 million. The offer on the table from Edmonton to Dylan Holloway is believed to have been a 3 year deal at $1.050 million. #LetsgoOilers #stlblues

– Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) August 20, 2024

Bowman is aware that these players could one day play hockey at the value of their new contracts, but that’s not the case at all right now.

Overtime

– Larsson stays in Seattle.

Hearing Adam Larsson extension with Seattle will be 4x$5.25M when done.

– Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 10, 2024