With the dust settled on him getting successfully offer sheeted by the Blues, former Oiler Dylan Holloway provided some insight into how the whole process went.

During an appearance on Hockey Sense with Andy Strickland, Holloway revealed that the Blues began the offer sheet process well before the Oilers started negotiating with him.

“We knew about the offer sheet before we even had any negotiations with Edmonton, which was kind of weird,” he said. “We were trying to get a deal done and I didn’t think we were asking for anything crazy at all. If anything, we were very upfront with Edmonton the whole time, even about the whole offer sheet. We explained to them, ‘Hey, this is an option for us. Can we get a deal?’

“It was weird the way they handled it, so I felt like I had no other option but to sign the offer sheet.”

It is certainly odd that Holloway was aware of the possibility that he would be snagged up by St. Louis via an offer sheet early on this offseason, but even more so that the Oilers did not act on that threat sooner to prevent him from leaving. He sure sounded like a guy that was hoping to remain in Edmonton but the way the team handled his negotiations forced him to look elsewhere instead.

The Oilers, according to Strickland, had offered Holloway a three-year deal with a $1.05-million cap hit. It was certainly plausible for Edmonton to match his asking price and retain the 14th overall pick of the 2020 Draft, but whatever prompted them not to match his asking price led to a stalemate that Blues GM Doug Armstrong took full advantage of.

Although he hoped to stick around in the Blue and Orange, he said he looks forward to his next chapter in the Midwest.

“I knew if I did go to the Blues, I was going to a really good organization with good people, and a good vision for the future,” he said. “When that whole week went down, I didn’t actually expect it to be as kind of big news as it was. I thought I was going to go under the radar a little bit, but definitely didn’t go under the radar. Edmonton fans wanted my head there for a bit, they probably still do, but I’m excited to be part of the Blues now.”

It is understandable why some Oilers fans feel hurt and betrayed by his decision to take an offer sheet and leave town. After all, Holloway was slowly working his way up the depth chart and was a regular in the lineup during the Oilers Cup run. He is fresh off a year where he recorded nine points (six goals and three assists) in 38 games while chipping seven points (five goals and two assists) in 25 playoff games. It was his two-way play that helped keep him in the lineup and people in the league took notice, especially Wayne Gretzky who compared Holloway to a young Adam Graves.

If there is one aspect that the Edmonton faithful may feel relieved for the team to move on from Holloway is the fact that he has been dealing with wrist problems for a couple of years now. It dates back to 2021 when he suffered an injury to his wrists (more specifically breaking his scaphoid) while attending the University of Wisconsin. He spoke with Strickland about trying to play through the injury but it was difficult for him to be effective, even after a surgery he conducted just before the NCAA playoffs where he felt he was not effective. It ultimately cost Holloway his summer where he was unable to train or workout before getting surgery done that September which kept him out of commission for three months.

While Holloway feels the ailment won’t hold him back hockey-wise, he admitted it has impacted his life away from the rink.

“My wrist is kind of mangled, to be honest. It’s not ideal, but for hockey it’s fine,” he said. “I can’t do pushups, I can’t bend it back. So that’s a problem.”

“It’s nothing that’s gonna hold me back hockey-wise, but it’s kind of like day-to-day stuff and there’s stuff I can’t deal with it, but it’s good.”