As of today, the Calgary Flames have the most cap space in the NHL. In their rebuild, they don’t need to spend anything additional if they don’t want to. But what if there was a way to get a good young player or two and mess with your bitter rival at the same time? Let’s get into it.
The Oilers had a terrific free agency period, signing Viktor Arvidsson, Jeff Skinner, and Josh Brown while retaining Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark, Connor Brown, Corey Perry, and Troy Stecher. However, all of those moves have resulted in the Oilers being over the cap, as seen below:
The health of Evander Kane remains in question. Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway are both restricted free agents and in need of new deals. The Oilers being capped out gives teams a chance to offer sheet and pry these two young players away from the Oilers. And both certainly fit needs for the Flames.
Broberg—who turned 23 at the end of June—surprised people in the playoffs with three points and a plus-eight rating in 10 games. In the AHL last year, Broberg had five goals and 38 points in 49 games. Broberg has flip-flopped between the two leagues but has played 81 NHL games to this point. The 6’3″, 200 pounds defenceman was drafted eighth overall in the 2019 NHL Draft.
Holloway—who will turn 23 at the end of September—had five goals and seven points in 22 playoff games this past spring. He had six goals and nine points in 38 regular season games, as well as 10 goals and 16 points in 18 AHL games. To date, the 6’1″, 203 lbs LW/C has nine goals and 18 points in 89 NHL games.
How the Flames stand on offer sheet ability
According to CapFriendly.com, the Flames have the capability to offer sheet in two categories:
- $1 – $1,511,701 – no compensation required
- $2,290,458 – $4,580,917 – 2025 2nd round draft pick
Because their 2025 first and 2025 third-round picks are tied up in conditions in the Sean Monahan trade, they are limited in the compensation ranges they can offer. Still, they do have some opportunity to strike, especially in the second-round pick range.
Proposal on how the Flames do this
In my opinion, this is how the Flames should do this. Of course, you would need the player to accept the offer to proceed with the offer sheet.
- Offer a two-year, 4.58M AAV offer to Philip Broberg.
- Offer a one-year, 1.511M AAV offer to Dylan Holloway.
The offer to Philip Broberg is the maximum the Flames can offer him. It would cost their 2025 2nd rounder. The Flames could go more or less years, but I think a two-year offer is fair to account for the risk of Broberg not being fully developed yet. For the Flames, you try to add some very promising young players and have the extra draft capital to do so.
If everything works out, you essentially traded Andrew Mangiapane for Philip Broberg. It would be extremely difficult for the Oilers to match a 4.58M offer, and Broberg would have to be intrigued by the dollar value.
I would be less sure about Holloway accepting the 1.511M offer, given that it’s still a low salary. But hey, the Oilers couldn’t even offer that to him and be compliant, so maybe he takes it. He’s a Calgary kid as well, so you never know. The Flames could also offer him the 1.511M offer with the understanding of a higher AAV on a longer-term extension when Holloway would be available to sign.
An opportunity to piss off your rival and add young talent to the organization
General Manager Craig Conroy has talked about wanting to add younger players between the ages of 18 and 23 to the organization. Broberg, in particular, fits a need for a left-shot guy who is projected to be a top-four defenceman if everything works out.
How about taking them directly from your biggest rival or causing them a massive headache? It would be an extremely fun thing to watch. There is no downside besides pissing the Oilers’ management off. And really, is that even a downside? Assuming the players accept, you either get them or the Oilers match and have to do cartwheels to figure out their cap.
