"Absolutely ransacked" — Ex-NHLer blasts Oilers for being fleeced by Blues in Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg deals

By Evan Bell

Modified Aug 20, 2024 16:23 GMT

The Edmonton Oilers declined to match the St. Louis Blues' offer sheets for Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway this week, leading to the two players officially signing with St. Louis. The way former NHL player Ryan Whitney sees things, newly appointed Oilers general manager Stan Bowman was fleeced by the Blues.

Initially, it didn't appear that the Oilers could match either player's offer sheet from St. Louis. Thanks to two trades over the past week, and Evander Kane being placed on long-term injured reserve, the team could have matched the offers.

To clear up cap space, the Oilers traded for Vasily Podkolzin, before then moving Cody Ceci to San Jose in exchange for Ty Emberson, adding depth to their roster while opening up significant cap space.

At the same time, the team also wound up placing Evander Kane on long-term injury reserve after the NHL vet dealt with a sports hernia late in the 2023-24 Stanley Cup Final. While Kane's cap hit will be applied to Edmonton once he returns, until then, the team is cap-compliant.

Speaking on Tuesday's episode of the "Spittin' Chiclets" podcast, NHL vet Whitney revealed that he believes Edmonton got fleeced.

"The Edmonton Oilers got absolutely ransacked, surprise-attacked, torpedoed by Doug Armstrong. Our boy Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues decides to just light the NHL summer doldrums, the boring days of August, on fire. Connor McDavid's wedding weekend

"Steener's riding the Monarch, being diabolical, dreaming up this plan—and then drops the hammer on Connor McDavid's wedding weekend. We're off and running for the next best regular season in NHL history. Are you kidding me? What is this move?"

You can hear his comments below beginning after the 18-minute mark:

Looking back at the rumor of Philip Broberg requesting a trade from the Edmonton Oilers

While Edmonton's decision to let Broberg and Holloway walk was somewhat surprising after their two most recent trades, Elliotte Friedman spoke about the rumor of Broberg requesting a trade back in December.

While Broberg was a restricted free agent, at the time, he was allowed to speak with other teams to discuss his future at Edmonton's discretion. Despite that, as Friedman recalled on an episode of his "32 Thoughts" podcast, Broberg reportedly had his mind set on parting ways with the team.

The repor was corroborated by Frank Seravalli, who said that the Oilers gave Broberg's team the green light to negotiate with other teams.

Despite that, nothing came to fruition, with Broberg playing just 12 games throughout the regular season. It wasn't until the postseason that Broberg cemented himself as a difference-maker for Edmonton when he was slotted into the team's rotation in the Western Conference Finals.

Although he impressed during the limited stretch, it's clear that little changed in his relationship with the franchise, opening the door for this summer's split.