Stan Bowman was brutally honest in explaining why he didn't match last summer's offer sheets that came from the Blues, stating he wouldn't be able to ice a team. <a href='https://www.nhl.com/blues/' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>The St. Louis Blues</a> strategically made their offer sheets to Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to <a href='https://www.hockeylatest.com/nhl-team/edmonton-oilers/massive-over-pay-on-offer-sheets-for-dylan-holloway-and-philip-broberg' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>put the Edmonton Oilers in a tricky situation last summer</a>. <a href='https://puckpedia.com/player/philip-broberg#' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Broberg signed a two-year, $4.58 million annual contract</a>, and <a href='https://puckpedia.com/player/dylan-holloway' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Holloway signed a two-year, $2.29 million annual contract</a>, both receiving higher pay than anticipated. Edmonton received a second-round pick for Broberg, which was then utilized to acquire Trent Frederic and Max Jones, and a third-round pick for Holloway. Both players have performed well since joining St. Louis. <a href='https://www.nhl.com/blues/player/dylan-holloway-8482077' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Holloway</a> has 23 goals and 58 points in 72 games, including 19 goals and 50 points in 50 games for coach Jim Montgomery. Broberg has contributed seven goals and 23 points in 59 games. <div align='center' class='pl20 pr20'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/twelcher15/status/1896351011016786336'><div style='border:1px solid #CCCCCC;border-radius:10px;padding:20px;width:300px;'>Loading from Twitter ...</div></a></blockquote></div> <h3>Not matching the offer sheets gave Stan Bowman more flexibility this season</h3> Oilers GM Stan Bowman addressed the choice of turning down the offers on Sportsnet's After Hours, stating that holding onto them would have limited the flexibility of the existing roster. 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?' And as I recounted back at the time when we decided not to, we wouldn't have been able to field a team if we matched either of those offer sheets. We would've had to move out a very important player on our team. We didn't have the flexibility. 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. <div align='center' class='pl20 pr20'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1904559371616670053'><div style='border:1px solid #CCCCCC;border-radius:10px;padding:20px;width:300px;'>Loading from Twitter ...</div></a></blockquote></div> Holloway and Broberg have become indispensable players for the Blues. According to HockeyViz, Holloway's offense is average in the league, but his defense is 8% higher than average, which positions him as a borderline first-liner. Broberg has been more balanced, generating offense 5% higher than average and defense 4% higher than average, playing at the level of a near first-pairing. Holloway's exit stings the most in hindsight. He's thrived playing in St. Louis' top six and showed considerable development during last season's playoffs playing with Leon Draisaitl. Ultimately, the Oilers' biggest failure was not losing these players, it was not properly developing them.