On Aug. 12, the St.Louis Blues submitted an offer sheet to the Edmonton Oilers for forward Dylan Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg. Broberg’s offer sheet included a deal worth an average annual value (AAV) of roughly $4.6 million for two years, while the Oilers would get a second-round pick as compensation. As for Holloway, his deal was worth an AAV of $2.3 million for two years, while the Oilers would get a third pick as compensation for him.
After the Oilers failed to match the offers on Aug. 20, the Blues acquired both players. The critical asset among these two acquisitions is Broberg, and here’s why.
Blues Fix Their Aging Defensive Core Issue
The Blues’ defensive core players are older than 30 and have no-trade clauses (NTCs) in their contracts. Yet, keeping them on the roster prevents openings to promote young defensive prospects. While adding Broberg for $4.6 million for two years sounds like another dent in the Blues’ salary cap, it is not as bad as the other defensive contracts the Blues already have and it makes sense considering they are getting a younger defenseman.
Related: Blues Adding Oilers’ Broberg & Holloway Changes Expectations for 2024-25 Season
In 2027, defensemen Torey Krug and Justin Faulk will be unrestricted free agents (UFAs), and the Blues will free up $13 million in cap space if they let both walk. However, in 2025, both NTCs will become modified no-trade clauses (M-NTCs) with a list of 15 teams they cannot be traded to without their agreement. In 2026, defenseman Nick Leddy will also be a UFA, opening up $4 million in cap space; he, too, has an M-NTC that activates in 2025 with a list of 16 teams he cannot be traded to. That said, the Blues can use the leftover cap to cover Broberg’s contract in 2025-26 and even re-sign him if he demands more money after his contract is up after 2025-26.
The Blues, in a separate deal, traded defensive prospect Paul Fischer and a 2028 third-round draft pick to the Oilers for future considerations. This means the Blues have opened up some room for the future of their defensive lineup and allowed some space for Broberg within the main roster. The Blues didn’t give up much in that trade; however, Fischer showed some promise in the 2024 World Junior Showcase. The trade gave the Blues the pick to compensate for Holloway and allowed some space on the Blues’ defensive depth.
Another Piece to Add to the Special Teams
Last season, the Blues lacked depth on their special teams. Defensively, they didn’t have the right tools. Most of the pressure seemed to be on top penalty-killing and shot-blocking defenseman Colton Parayko since the rest of the core couldn’t produce or contribute as much.
While the team had 250 power-play opportunities and ranked 13th in the league last season, they only scored 45 power-play goals. Sure, they have Krug, who’s known for hitting the 20 to 30 power-play-point mark, but with his injury and underperformance to reach that mark in power-play points, it seems it’s getting worse and worse over time. The last time Krug hit the 20-to-30-point mark on the power play was in 2019-20 when he recorded 28 points.
Broberg is not the prime power-play consideration, but, at 23 years old, with a new team and system, he has the potential to grow. I think the Blues can give him a fresh start to rejuvenate his shaky career — he currently has 13-career points in 81-career games in the NHL — and give him the playing time he needs to improve. After all, he is a great skater and can be very useful on offense when attacking on the power play.
On the penalty kill last season, Broberg was in the defensive zone about 51.6 percent of the time, slightly above the league average of 50.4 percent. Even though his sample size is small (12 games), it’s a decent number.
Blues Get a Top-10 Draft Pick
Broberg was selected eighth overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, a draft class that included Jack Hughes, Cole Caufield, Matt Boldy, Moritz Seider, and Trevor Zegras. With the Blues, Broberg could prove why he deserved to be selected among those big names.
Before the draft, he played 89 games on loan between 2019-20 and 2020-21 with the Swedish Hockey League’s (SHL) Skellefteå AIK, where he recorded 21 points. Broberg got his first opportunity to debut on the North American professional stage, playing with the Oilers in 2021-22. He was then sent down to the AHL (American Hockey League), where he played with Oilers affiliate Bakersfield Condors, recording 23 points in 31 games, showing more promising results at the North American professional level than in Sweden.
He was again sent to Bakersfield in 2022-23 for seven games and recorded four points. That season, he played 46 games with the Oilers and only recorded eight points. Last season, Broberg played 12 games with the Oilers before returning to Bakersfield (he was recalled to the Oilers later in the season), playing 49 games with 38 points.
The Oilers made a mistake by bringing Broberg into the NHL too fast and that was most likely because of the expectations put on his shoulders as a top-10 draft pick. However, it does not mean the Blues got a bust of a player, as his AHL numbers are still great. I think if worse comes to worse, the Blues can slot him into their AHL Springfield Thunderbirds roster so he plays somewhere more comfortable with his game and eventually call him up when he is trending in a good direction.
Where the Blues Go From Here Defensively
Broberg will not be a solid player overnight, and it will take some time for him to adjust to the Blues’ shutdown defensive style. Still, the roster has several offensively- and defensively-skilled veteran blueliners to support him. He’s a two-way defenseman, so I see him fitting perfectly in the lineup, considering there are other two-way skilled defensemen like Faulk and Leddy for him to learn from.
For now, the Blues will have to work with the team they have set for the upcoming 2024-25 season and build Broberg around it.
