As Oilers' clock ticks, let's look at where Broberg, Holloway would fit into Blues lineup (2024)

ST. LOUIS — In July, The Athletic asked St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong if the roster was essentially set for the 2024-25 season.

Armstrong said yes, but noted, “We can alter it a little bit if we can improve it.”

Less than 24 hours later, the Blues signed Ryan Suter to a one-year contract worth $775,000. The addition of the veteran defenseman seemed questionable in the moment, but made more sense a week later when it was learned Torey Krug would be sidelined for at least two months, and possibly the entire season, with pre-arthritic changes in his left ankle.

Now the Blues are attempting to make more improvements, and they’re taking a rarely used approach to do so. On Tuesday, they rocked the NHL with a pair of offer sheets for two Edmonton Oilers players, defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway.

The team tendered Broberg a two-year contract with a $4,580,917 annual average value (AAV), and Holloway a two-year contract with a $2,290,457 AAV. That means both players have agreed to the deals; however, Edmonton has seven days to match the offers and keep the players.

Thus far, there’s been no indication of what Oilers GM Stan Bowman plans to do — keep both Broberg and Holloway, keep just one of them or let both go to the Blues. The decision could come at any time but must be announced before the seven-day period ends Tuesday morning.

If Edmonton doesn’t match either player, the Blues will be adding to an already crowded roster and climbing a lot closer to the NHL’s $88 million salary cap.

They would have 14 forwards on one-way contracts, which doesn’t include Jake Neighbours, who’s on a two-way deal. They would have 10 defensem*n on one-way contracts, though again, Krug’s injury could keep him out for the season.

Regarding the cap, PuckPedia currently lists the Blues with a cap hit of $80.7 million, leaving $7.3 million in available space. The combined salaries of Broberg and Holloway would be $6.9 million, but they’d have more wiggle room than $400,000 because of the players who would be pushed off the 23-man roster on opening night and not count against the cap. Also, if they’re up against the cap and Krug is out for the season, they could enter long-term injured reserve (LTIR) and eclipse the cap by his salary — $6.5 million.

There was only one way the retooling Blues were going to be a cap team this season, and Blues chairman Tom Stillman touched on it during an interview with The Athletic in May.

“We’re not going to spend to the cap for the sake of saying we spent to the cap,” Stillman said. “I guess you could say that at a time when we are bringing on young players, maybe our payroll would drop some. That’s fine if it does, and we wouldn’t pass up some opportunities to save some money on the cap.

“But we’re also not going to say, ‘Well, we’re below the cap, so we better do something to get up there.’ If there’s a player out there and he’s 22 and we can drop a bunch of money on him, then great. But usually, that doesn’t exist and that player who could fit is not available.”

Three months after Stillman’s comments, the Blues found two of those young players in Broberg and Holloway and believe they fit. They weren’t available by a typical transaction such as a trade, but an aggressive play by Armstrong has made the acquisitions possible.

With the offer-sheet clock ticking, let’s see where the two Oilers could slide into the Blues lineup.

On July 9, prior to Suter’s signing and Krug’s injury announcement, The Athletic attempted to project who will be on the ice for the 2024-25 season opener in Seattle on Oct. 8.

Let’s start with the forwards.

In the initial projection, I decided to make Pavel Buchnevich the second-line center because Armstrong mentioned him specifically in that spot. It would certainly change a lot if captain Brayden Schenn stayed at that spot or if prospect Dalibor Dvorsky was impressive enough in camp to play there. But for now, I’m going to keep Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Neighbours on the top line and Buchnevich, Schenn and Brandon Saad on the second line.

Here’s where it gets a little tricky. With Holloway, the Blues could have as many as 10 players battling for seven or eight spots on the bottom two lines and as extras. They are Alexey Toropchenko, Radek Faksa, Alexandre Texier, Zack Bolduc, Mathieu Joseph, Oskar Sundqvist, Kasperi Kapanen, Nathan Walker, Zach Dean and potentially Holloway.

We know about the returning Blues and have a handle on a couple of the newcomers. But where would Holloway figure into the equation?

Colleague Daniel Nugent-Bowman, who covers the Oilers for The Athletic, pointed out that Holloway, 22, was a depth player last season. He played some on the second line and fourth line because the Oilers had a solid third line with Mattias Janmark, Adam Henrique and Connor Brown. The belief is that Holloway can be a third-line winger during his NHL career.

So I’m putting Holloway on the Blues’ third line on the left side, which moves Toropchenko to the right side and pushes Texier down to the fourth line and Kapanen out of the starting lineup. It also means there’s a possibility Bolduc and Dean are not on the roster and get more time in AHL Springfield. Given the way Bolduc finished last season and that he’s an apparent part of the future, this may not make much sense, but unless he shows he’s top-six-ready in camp, I don’t see how the Blues play him ahead of some of the guys they brought in on the bottom six.

There’s a chance the Blues could make Schenn a third-line center and Faksa the fourth-line center. That would open a spot in the top six for Bolduc and move Sundqvist, who’s returning from a torn ACL, to the wing. Either way, with the additions this offseason and the possibility of Dvorsky making the team and Holloway also being a part of it, this is a much deeper group.

Projected lines

Neighbours – Thomas – Kyrou
Saad – Buchnevich – Schenn/Bolduc
Holloway – Faksa – Toropchenko
Joseph – Sundqvist – Texier

Extras: Kapanen, Walker

Defensively, there’s a little more speculating to do this time around with Krug out, Suter in, and perhaps Broberg in as well.

I’m sticking with Nick Leddy and Colton Parayko in the top pairing. Broberg could eventually be a top-pair player on the left side, but Leddy and Parayko played a lot of minutes together last season and fared pretty well, so it doesn’t seem there would be an appetite to change that.

I’m going to put Broberg in the second pair with Justin Faulk. Last season with Edmonton, Broberg (6-foot-4, 212 pounds) replaced Vincent Desharnais in Game 4 of the Dallas series and stayed in the lineup through the Stanley Cup Final. He was partnered with Darnell Nurse in the playoffs, and despite being a left-shot defenseman, handled his own on the right side, opposite the lefty Nurse.

This could potentially knock Perunovich out of the lineup. Even though Suter was likely signed because of Krug’s situation, I don’t think they brought him to be a seventh defenseman, not to mention he could be a reliable veteran playing alongside Matthew Kessel. Perunovich’s ability to quarterback the power play could help his case, but if the Blues were to add Broberg, playing time could be a challenge for Perunovich, unless Suter just can’t keep up anymore.

This could also make it tough for Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who is hoping to play with his older brother Mathieu, to make the roster. He or Tyler Tucker could be the eighth defenseman or assigned to AHL Springfield if necessary.

Projected pairings

Leddy – Parayko
Broberg – Faulk
Suter/Perunovich – Kessel

Extras: Joseph, Tucker, Krug (injured)

All of the Blues’ moves this offseason have come at forward and defense, which is where attention was necessary. There was nothing needed regarding the goaltending, where Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer are expected to be the tandem for the second straight season.

Goalies

Binnington
Hofer

Extra: Vadim Zherenko

(Top photo of Dylan Holloway shooting the puck against Colton Parayko and the Blues: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)

Jeremy Rutherford is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the St. Louis Blues. He has covered the team since the 2005-06 season, including a dozen years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He is the author of "Bernie Federko: My Blues Note" and "100 Things Blues Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." In addition, he is the Blues Insider for 101 ESPN in St. Louis. Follow Jeremy on Twitter @jprutherford