Philip Broberg is off to an excellent start to his career with the St. Louis Blues.
In seven games with the Blues, the left-shot defenceman has a goal and six points, including a record-tying six-game point to open the season, tying Steve Duschesne’s record to open the 1997-98 campaign. Moreover, he’s one of nine defencemen in league history who have started a tenure with a new team with a six-game or longer point streak.
On a surface level, losing Broberg stings for the Edmonton Oilers. Once again, they’ve had a rough start to their season as they have a 2-4-1 record. For context, they started the 2023-24 season with a 2-9-1 record.
Still, the Oilers made the right decision by allowing Broberg, as well as Dylan Holloway, to walk. Let’s take a look at why specifically allowing Broberg to walk was the right decision.

Why the Oilers made the right decision allowing Broberg to walk

Coming into the 2024-25 season, Broberg had played 81 regular season games for the Oilers from 2021-22 until 2023-24, scoring two goals and 13 points while putting up a -5. The left-shot defenceman had a successful postseason once joining the Oilers’ lineup during the Western Conference Final, scoring two goals and three points in 10 games.
Broberg’s presence on the 2024-25 Oilers roster would be nice, as he could’ve played on the second pairing alongside Nurse. Through nine games, Nurse has had a rotating cast of partners, including Travis Dermott, Ty Emberson, and Troy Stecher, posting a goal share and expected goal share below 50% with all three of those players.
However, when the Blues offered Broberg a two-year, $9.16 million deal worth $4.581 million annually and he accepted, his tenure as an Oiler was clearly over. It’s hard to criticize a player for getting the bag, Nurse included, but it’s also hard to justify the Oilers giving Broberg $4.581 million the next two seasons for the production he had provided in an Oilers uniform.
Not only that but re-signing Broberg would have negative effects on the Oilers’ cap situation in both 2024-25 and 2025-26. At the time, the Oilers still had Cody Ceci on the roster, while Evander Kane’s health was in question heading into the next season. Since then, Ceci was traded for Ty Emberson, while Kane underwent surgery and is currently on the long-term injured reserve.
With Kane placed on long-term injured reserve, the Oilers currently have around $1.139 million in cap space. If the roster remains the same by the 2025 trade deadline, they’ll have $4.800 million to play around at the trade deadline.
That means that the Oilers could get a legitimate right-shot defenceman for the second pair to play alongside Nurse. No longer will Nurse need to do the carrying of that pair if they get a player such as Rasmus Andersson, for example. It also allowed Emberson to play with Kulak on the third pair, which was a pretty effective duo.
Moreover, with a two-year contract, Broberg’s cap hit would’ve impacted the salary cap in 2025-26 as well. As it stands, the Oilers have $11.613 million in cap space next season, but it should rise by a healthy $2 or $3 million.
Still, that means that $4.581 million would’ve been tied down to a player who had less than a full season’s worth of regular season experience. At the time of the offer sheets, Leon Draisaitl hadn’t signed his $112 million extension with an annual cap hit of $14 million. Not just that, but Evan Bouchard is set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the 2024-25 season, and if he has a similar season to the 2023-24 season, he could be looking at an extension worth $10 million at least.
Lastly, Broberg just wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity he’s getting with the Blues. At best, Broberg would be playing alongside Nurse on his off-hand, but this is the same player who wasn’t able to crack the roster last. That’s not indicative of his skill level, as the Oilers are a championship-calibre team, while the Blues will be lucky to get into the postseason.
With all that being said, you can’t let the Oilers management off the hook. Poor roster management put them in this position, as both Broberg and Holloway should’ve never reached a point where they could’ve received an offer sheet. If they weren’t in the team’s plans for the future, then they should have been traded. In fact, the Blues were interested in both at last season’s deadline in a potential return for Pavel Buchnevich, but former Oiler general manager Ken Holland was unwilling to move them.
The Oilers made the right decision long-term to let Broberg walk, even if he’d help the team for the time being.
If you enjoy my content, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.