Blues GM makes ‘overpaid’ admission on Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg

The St. Louis Blues made a massive move to acquire promising players this summer. The Blues signed Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg to two-year contracts after extending offer sheets to the restricted free agents. General manager Doug Armstrong is excited to have the two players into the fold. However, he did admit they went a bit overboard financially.

Armstrong appeared on Sportsnet 590 The Fan recently. The Blues general manager spoke more about the process of signing Holloway and Broberg. He admitted to overpaying the young players but went on to explain why he felt overpaying for these two made sense to his front office.

“We overpaid, obviously. If you look at their careers and what they’ve done to date, it doesn’t match what their contracts are. But cap space is a weapon. And we had the cap space. We weren’t going to use it in another this year or likely next year. So we wanted to use it to acquire young players,” the Blues general manager said, via Sportsnet 590 The Fan.

Why Doug Armstrong targeted Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg

Offer sheets are a rarity in the NHL. In fact, some general managers around the league consider offer sheets as sort of a taboo. Doug Armstrong is not one of those general managers, though. He is on record saying he would offer sheet his own mother if he needed to.

Deciding to do an offer sheet is one thing. Choosing which players to target with those offer sheets is another. Armstrong mentioned that Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg were on a team with an advantageous cap situation. This made extending these offer sheets much easier.

“You look at Boston and they have left a hefty amount of money for (goalie Jeremy Swayman.) And you look at the Red Wings with two good players (Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond) and they left a hefty amount of money,” the Blues general manager said, via Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “I’m not speaking for other teams. But I don’t see an avenue to get players of that ilk because of the situation and how they set that up. Edmonton’s situation is a little bit different.”

Holloway and Broberg are players who have yet to reach their potential. In fact, only Holloway has played 50 or more games in a single season. And he only played 51 games that year. Holloway played 38 games in the NHL in 2023-24, while Broberg played in 12.

However, both players did play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Holloway scored five goals and seven points in 25 games for the Oilers. Meanwhile, Broberg played 10 games in the playoffs. But he played in the Western Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Final.

Both Broberg and Holloway could earn major roles with the Blues. And they could prove that Armstrong’s overpayment was well worth the investment. They figure to make their St. Louis debut when the team opens its season against the Seattle Kraken on October 8.

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