Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman Finally Comments on Disastrous Offer Sheets Last Year
Photo credit: TSN
The Edmonton Oilers lost two young, important players to offer sheets last season, and now GM Stan Bowman has addressed them for the first time.
This past off-season, the NHL world was rocked by one of the first offer sheets seen in years when the St. Louis Blues stole not only Dylan Holloway but Philip Broberg from the Edmonton Oilers as well.
While nobody saw a team putting in an offer sheet for both players, it was a wise move for the Blues, as both have contributed very well for St. Louis thus far, and using hindsight, it's very shocking that the Oilers didn't match their price.
Now, several months later, Edmonton Oilers General Manager Stan Bowman has addressed the entire situation, noting that he believes they couldn't field a team if they attempted to match the offer sheets.
«I think they both have had good years in St. Louis, so that's got a lot of attention saying, 'Well why wouldn't we have matched?', but it really came down to a fundamental salary cap challenge for us,» said Bowman. «We wouldn't have the team we have now if we would've matched either one of those offers. We would've had to have gotten rid of a pretty core player. Simply, the math didn't work. It's not like we didn't like the players or didn't think they could be good players for us, but when you look at the salary cap, that was what we're studying, was 'Is there any possible way to match either or both?'
As a result, the team brought in several young players like Vasily Podkolzin and Ty Emberson, and while they've not had much of an impact for the Oilers, Bowman believes that given how cheap they are, they've done a good job.
«I think we pivoted pretty good. We brought in Podkolzin and Emberson, and they've played really well for us. Low-priced players that came in and found a role on our team. I think we made it work and we like where we're at.»
Many Oilers fans clearly see through these comments however, with many comments on this report calling out Bowman's idea that they couldn't field a team if they matched one or both offers.
Ultimately, this was simply bad business from the prior regime in Edmonton as well, as Holloway especially should have been locked up long before these offer sheets came in, but now the Oilers have to move forward without them and hope their free agency gambles pay off.
| POLL | ||
MARS 25 | 193 ANSWERS Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman Finally Comments on Disastrous Offer Sheets Last Year Should the Oilers have matched at least one of the offers? | ||
| Yes | 161 | 83.4 % |
| No | 32 | 16.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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