The 2023-24 season is coming up fast. We are at the end of August, and teams are starting to put the finishing touches on what will be their opening night rosters. The Edmonton Oilers have made a few moves this offseason, bringing in forwards Connor Brown, Lane Pederson, and Drake Caggiula, as well as signing defencemen Noel Hoefenmayer and Ben Gleason. While Brown is a lock to make the opening night roster, the rest of the names listed will have to battle their way into a spot. There is no real battle on the blue line as far as potential surprises, but there’s one name that may find himself on the way out.
Philip Broberg is an extremely skilled young player that the Oilers have been trying to work with to boost him into a potential bottom-four role on the point. The problem is, he hasn’t fit in with any of his partners. While that’s not on him, the fit may never have been there, to begin with, and it begs the question of whether or not the Oilers will decide to trade him. Teams looking to take on a young project and overpay a little may see Broberg as a good candidate to bring in. With that being said, here are three teams that could acquire him.
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators continue to retool their team and hope to become contenders as they get closer to the playoff picture as they add some big pieces. The signing of Vladimir Tarasenko adds some much-needed firepower up front, and signing goaltender Joonas Korpisalo gives the team some stability in the crease. While they seem like a team that could surprise everyone and make the playoffs, they’ll still be focused on the future just as much as the present.
Broberg would slot into the third pairing on the Senators and if he pans out and fits on their team, he could be a really big piece for their future. He only has 69 career NHL games under his belt, with two goals and nine assists for 11 points to show for it. He isn’t an offensive-minded player by any means but is a solid defensive defenceman. The Oilers have a strong left side of their blue line while the Senators are a bit weaker, so a draft pick for Broberg would make sense for both teams if the Oilers decide to move on from their former top-ten selection.
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens have a really weak defensive group heading into the 2023-24 season. They don’t have a big-name number-one defenceman on their team and are heading into the new season with arguably the worst top-four group in the league. They could be a team that invests in another potential project player in Broberg, and see if he pans out into the player the Oilers once thought he could be.
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As mentioned, Broberg isn’t going to break the bank for the Canadiens to trade for. Assuming the Oilers decide to move on from him, he’ll cost no more than a second-round pick, which the Habs can afford. Broberg would get a much better opportunity, and likely see the top four, which he’s never going to get with the Oilers.
While the Canadiens aren’t a strong team that plans to contend this season, their future will be the focus for them. Bringing in a 22-year-old defenceman that still has the chance to break out into a star player with the right opportunity, is a low-risk, high-reward opportunity for the Canadiens.
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are the final team that could consider bringing in Broberg. While they’re trying to contend, and made that known by going out and acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois, they still have a few holes left to fill if they want to be a true Stanley Cup contender, and one of those is their bottom-four defensive core.
Broberg would get a better opportunity with the Kings than he would with the Oilers, as he would likely win the third-pairing left-side spot out of training camp, whereas with the Oilers, he’d sit every so often as the seventh defenceman. It’s been a tough go with the Oilers, as he hasn’t found a full-time spot, but a fresh start in Los Angeles could rejuvenate his career.
Any of these three teams could make sense if the Oilers decide to move on from Broberg. He is a skilled player, and it’s not a matter of him being bad so they need to trade him, but instead moving on from a player that didn’t end up fitting with the team. They might as well try to either swap him for a depth forward or a draft pick, and the Oilers could turn it into a win-win situation for them and whichever team acquires him.
