St. Louis Blues: Oilers making moves, appear to show hand at what they will do with offer sheets

The Edmonton Oilers made two trades on Sunday night that appear to shape the direction in which they will go in regards to what they will do with the offer sheets tendered to defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway by the St. Louis Blues.

First, the Oilers acquired forward Vasily Podkolzin from the Vancouver Canucks for a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft (originally owned by the Ottawa Senators.

Hours later, the Oilers traded veteran defenseman Cody Ceci and a 2025 third-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Ty Emberson.

For those behind on the recent happenings, the Blues tendered offer sheets to Broberg and Holloway last Tuesday, giving the Oilers one week to either match or allow both or one to leave for picks (a second-round pick for Broberg, a third-round pick for Holloway).

Should the Oilers match the offer sheets to each player, it currently puts them at $5,925,541 over the cap after adding Podkolzin’s $1 million cap hit for the next two seasons while subtracting Ceci’s $3.25 million cap hit with one year remaining but adding Emberson at $950,000.

What does all this mean? Well on the surface, in acquiring Podkolzin, initially it appeared as it could very well have been a sign that Edmonton was willing to allow Holloway and his two-year, $2.29 million AAV to walk. But in shedding Ceci’s contract, it very well indicates they could be more than willing to not only match the offer sheet to Broberg and his $4.58 million AAV but also Holloway.

The Oilers need to make their decision by Tuesday morning when the Blues submitted their offer at roughly 8:30 a.m. (CT), and the decision is outlined here by Puck Pedia as to how they can now keep both players and it revolves around Evander Kane:

What’s important here for the Oilers, and a counter-punch to the Blues is that Edmonton did not retain salary on anyone, more importantly, on Ceci and his $3.25 million cap hit.

By putting Kane on long-term injured-reserve to begin the season, it eliminates $5.215 million in cap space, meaning the Oilers would only have to either assign/lose to waivers someone in the $850,000 or higher range, and as friend Mark Spector of Sportsnet outlined, it could very well be Emberson or Podkolzin, or a veteran like Josh Brown or Derek Ryan, and the Oilers would be cap-compliant of all this.

Blues GM Doug Armstrong, when he made these moves, came in feeling like he had backed the Oilers into a corner, and initially, he did. But these moves prove that the Oilers are tipping their hand that they are not interested, despite the larger than they wanted to pay costs, in losing two drafted first-round picks for a second- and third-round pick. Now if Armstrong, who orchestrated the contracts where the Blues would only lose these two picks, had offered just $1 more for each, well then the compensation would have been a first-rounder for Broberg and a second-rounder for Holloway.

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/N1qhucSqPbfqDcGVravlyw–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MQ–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_hockey_news_st_louis_blues_articles_393/6e57d63b2034a08144feb2346f634035″/>

Nothing has officially been decided yet, but it appears as if the Oilers found their pipeline out of this predicament. Armstrong tried to make his team better by taking a couple of promising players away from the Oilers. Can’t fault him for trying.

If Edmonton does match, move on and continue with what the Blues are doing. At the very least, this was a sign that the organization is not just sitting back waiting for something to happen.

The Blues tried something, and in the end, if it doesn’t work out. Work with what they have at the moment and shift gears elsewhere.