EDMONTON — To most people, pickles are a good thing.
But the current Edmonton Oilers General Manager Stan Bowman, finds himself in a pickle no one wants to be in. Yesterday, two of the team’s players were targeted in offer sheets by the St. Louis Blues.
Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway signed two-year offer sheets valued at $4.58-million and $2.29-million respectively. The Oilers have seven days to either match or accept compensation for one or both players.
This is a bad pickle to be in.
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Every other General Manager in the league understands the salary cap bind that the Oilers are in. Unfortunately, this dual offer sheet tactic could have been completely avoided.
According to Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer, the Oilers top dogs wanted contract extensions for Broberg and Holloway to get done during the regular season, “as far back as December and January (Ken Holland) [was] instructed at the top levels of the Oilers organization to get Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg signed to contract extensions. Especially in January when both players were in the minors.”
At this moment in time, it’s unclear why these negotiations didn’t take place. And if they did occur, who decided to table them until a later date?
This decision to not sign Broberg and Holloway to extensions could prove to be one of the biggest missteps of Ken Holland’s tenure in Edmonton. From a business perspective, it would have made a lot of sense to get this deal done when both players were in the minors.
Broberg and Holloway showed up well in the Oilers playoff run. This massively boosted both of their value on the open market, as these offer sheets reflect.
Unfortunately for Bowman, he’s going to have to be the one to clean up Holland’s mess. Hockey fans will see over the next week if he is up to the task.
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