Oilers trade tree: Broberg and Holloway offer sheet fallout

The first sign of trouble of Stan Bowman’s tenure was with the two offer sheets.

Shortly after joining the Edmonton Oilers, Bowman was faced with a dilemma: allow two young players to walk for a measly second- and third-round draft pick, or match their offers and go well over the cap and deal with that issue before the start of the season. Bowman chose the former, which turned out to be his first mistake as the general manager of the Oilers.

As you know, both players blossomed after joining the St. Louis Blues. Dylan Holloway, the 14th overall selection in 2020, scored a career-high 26 goals and 63 points in 2024-25, then added 22 goals and 51 points in 59 games last season. After scoring five goals and seven points in 25 games during the Oilers’ 2024 postseason run, his contract of a little under $2.3 million annually should have been matched.

Philip Broberg, the Oilers’ eighth overall selection from the draft prior, could never find footing on the Oilers’ backend. Upon joining the Blues, he scored eight goals and 29 points in 68 games, with a goal and two points in seven playoff games. Last season, he scored six goals and 34 points in 81 games, all while becoming a strong two-way defender.

In this trade tree, we’ll look at what the Oilers did with the assets they acquired as compensation for losing Holloway and Broberg.

The Philip Broberg portion of the tree

Broberg signed a two-year deal worth $4,580,917 annually. Any cent more than what he earned would have seen the Oilers receive a first and a third. But since the Blues signed him at that price point, the Oilers essentially got a second for Broberg.

That second wasn’t used by the Oilers, as it was packaged alongside prospects Max Wanner, Shane Lachance, and a 2026 fourth for Trent Frederic with 75 per cent retention, Max Jones, and Petr Hauser.

In turn, the Bruins used that pick to select centre Will Moore, who scored four goals and 10 points in 33 games with Boston College last season. Wanner, a defenceman that the Oilers drafted in the seventh round of the 2021 draft, played just 29 American Hockey League games in 2025-26, scoring a goal and three points.

As for LaChance, it was reported by OilersNow host Bob Stauffer that LaChance probably would not have signed for the Oilers, so at least the Oilers got something for him, an additional 25% retention on Frederic’s contract. Last season, LaChance made his National Hockey League debut, playing one game. Most of his season was spent in the AHL, where he scored 10 goals and 25 points in 62 games.

At the time, this trade wasn’t very good, considering Frederic was injured with a high ankle sprain. In hindsight, it’s even worse given that Frederic played one regular season game with the Oilers in 2024-25, amassing just over seven minutes of ice time. The Oilers paid a heavy price for Frederic’s 75 per cent retention, even though they didn’t really need it.

Frederic at least played in the postseason, scoring a goal and four points in 22 games. Eventually, the Oilers made another mistake with Frederic, signing him to an eight-year deal with a no-move clause in the first half of the contract. Again, he was coming off a high-ankle sprain.

So eventually, this branch of the trade tree became Broberg for a second, which was then part of another deal that involved a fourth-round pick, and two prospects for Frederic and Jones. Not great.

The Dylan Holloway portion of the tree

In the moment, I was fine with the Oilers not matching Broberg’s offer sheet, but the Oilers should’ve matched Holloway’s $2,290,457 offer sheet. The forward was coming off a five-goal, seven-point playoff run playing in the top six alongside Leon Draisaitl, and it appeared that the two had chemistry.

Instead, the Oilers declined to match, getting a measly third for someone who would’ve been quite valuable these past two seasons. Unlike the second that the Oilers got for Frederic, they kept the third, using it to select Tommy Lafrenière 83rd overall in the 2025 draft.

If there’s any saving grace from the two offers sheets, it’s that Lafrenière looks like the real deal. In his draft year, the winger scored 24 goals and 56 points, not bad production. But he took his game to a whole new level in 2025-26 with the Kamloops Blazers, scoring 41 goals and 77 points in 67 games.

Lafrenière’s 41 goals ranked tied for sixth in the Western Hockey League, one behind teammate JP Hurlbert, who is likely to be selected in the first round of this year’s draft. In four postseason games, Lafrenière picked up two goals and three points. Then he joined the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, scoring a goal and two points in five games to end the regular season, followed by an assist in their three playoff games.

The 19-year-old is committed to play for the 2025 NCAA National Championship winners, Western Michigan. It’ll be a big step forward for the winger, but he has cemented himself as a legitimate prospect in the organization.

The additional compensation the Oilers received

After the offer sheets on August 13, 2024, the Oilers made three trades over the coming week. On August 18, 2024, the Oilers made two separate trades. First, they replaced Broberg by acquiring Ty Emberson from the Sharks, giving up Cody Ceci and a 2025 third that was used to select Teddy Mutryn.

The other move panned out much better for the Oilers, as they sent the 2025 fourth that they acquired for Xavier Bourgault early that month to the Vancouver Canucks for Vasily Podkolzin. That alone is a win, given how Podkolzin has played in Oil Country, but it helps that the Oilers got that fourth back for Evander Kane.

August 20 was the day the Oilers had to decide whether to match the two offer sheets. The Oilers didn’t, and the Blues essentially sent additional compensation in the form of defence prospect Paul Fischer and a 2028 third-rounder.

Fischer, drafted in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, spent his junior season at Notre Dame and scored six goals and 23 points in 33 games. Still unsigned, the Oilers need to decide on Fischer, as he’ll become an unrestricted free agent following the 2026-27 season, his senior year in the NCAA.

As for the 2028 third-round pick who knows what will come of it in two years from now. Assuming the Oilers are still contending for a Stanley Cup by the 2028 trade deadline, it could be used to improve their team somehow.

Even with the additional trade, a second, two thirds, and a prospect still isn’t enough to justify losing Broberg and Holloway. This issue runs far deeper than Bowman not matching those contracts, as both players’ development was mismanaged, and they could have been traded ahead of the 2024 trade deadline had the Oilers wish to maximize on their value.

This offer sheet and the following trades will almost certainly never go down in favour of the Oilers. We just have to hope that Lafrenière and Fischer find a way to become NHL players.