Oilers and Canucks working on trade in wake of offer sheets to Broberg and Holloway

All was quiet in the offseason just a few days ago as all the free agents had more or less signed and training camps were still weeks away. Then the St. Louis Blues decided to spice things up by signing Oilers defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway to offer sheets, forcing the Oilers to make a move unless they are okay with losing the players for a 2nd and 3rd round pick, respectively.

Since the Blues made this shocking move, numerous reports have come out of the Oilers camp. It seems as though Jeff Jackson and Stan Bowman are frantically attempting to give themselves enough cap room to match the offer sheets to both players, but so far they have had no luck. That may very well be because teams know how tough a spot they are in, and are asking for big returns for effectively doing them a favor.

One team that could give them a hand would be the division rival Vancouver Canucks. The Providence reporter Patrick Johnson proposed his own trade idea, with the Oilers effectively trading Brett Kulak to the Canucks for free. In return, the Canucks would send Tucker Poolman, who remains on LTIR for chronic migraines, and will likely never play in the NHL again.

Trading away Brett Kulak and getting Tucker Poolman in return would free up 2.75 million dollars in cap space while adding 2.5 million to their LTIR pool as well. Currently, the Oilers are 7.2 million dollars over the salary cap though, so that 2.75 million dollars of extra room won't go very far when it comes to signing Broberg and Holloway. Still though, teams are allowed to be 10% over the cap in the offseason, so making this move could give them just enough space to match the offer to one of the players, but not both.

In this case, one would have to imagine that the team will keep Broberg. After all, the team has already invested a very valuable asset in him, as they drafted him 8th overall in 2019. That is a big commitment to the player. Holloway, on the other hand, was drafted 14th overall. Losing him for a 3rd round pick would still be a tough pill to swallow, but perhaps one that Stan Bowman and Jackson will just have to accept. Broberg has appeared in 81 career Games with the Oilers and has 2 goals and 13 points. He also has three playoff points in 10 games, all of which came last season. Will he still be an Oiler in two days time? Stick around to find out.

Source: HockeyPatrol
Potential trade scenario between Oilers and Canucks emerges to address offer sheet dilemma

Source: HockeyReference
Philip Broberg Career Statistics