With the St. Louis Blues narrowly missing the payoffs last season, they needed to tinker with their roster to get them over the hump. They may have done that this week with the additions of forward Dylan Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg from the Edmonton Oilers, who can contribute right away. They did so without giving up any players from their roster and only submitting a third-round and second-round picks in exchange for the young stars.
Blues' Holloway, Broberg provide spark
The Blues acquired the two promising players after the Oilers failed to match the offer sheets to both players within the seven day deadline. St. Louis wasted no time in signing them both to new contracts, as both Broberg ($4.58 AAV) and Holloway ($2.29 AAV) signed two-year deals. With the Blues average age of 28.25 years old, the duo brings some youth to the lineup as Holloway (22 years old) and Broberg (23 years old) are in the early stages of their career.
In Return, Edmonton would acquire a second-round pick for Broberg (eighth pick in 2019) and a third-round pick for Holloway (14th pick in 2020). Last season, Broberg had two assists in 12 NHL games and Holloway had six goals and three goals for nine points in 38 games.
This move gives the Blues two young players who can be part of the core going forward and lead this team into the future. St. Louis is in a rebuild on the fly stage and these two can certainly push this forward because they have proved they can play at the NHL level. They can also be two fresh faces in the lineup that bring depth scoring and energy on every shift. The 2024-25 line combinations from dailyfaceoff.com has Holloway on the second line with Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad, while Broberg is set on the third-pairing on defense with veteran Ryan Suter. Holloway may see time on the power play and penalty kill, while Broberg will likely be seen on the penalty kill.
Giving up draft picks for these two promising players is a great deal for general manager Doug Armstrong. He played this well and knew that if he signed these young stars to offer sheets that the Oilers would have a tough time matching because of their salary cap situation. These are two players who can step right into the lineup that are former first-round picks not so long ago that still have loads of potential. They have not reached their full potential and a change of scenery could benefit them sooner than later. This was a good manage of the offer sheet strategy by Armstrong to get two players without giving up much.