According to insider Jeff Marek, the Calgary Flames were close to doing what St. Louis did and tendering an offer sheet to two former Oilers.
The St. Louis Blues were not the only team that considered tendering an offer sheet to former Edmonton Oilers Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.
During the debut of Jeff Marek’s new hockey show, The Sheet, Marek said there were three teams prepared to do offer sheets. St. Louis was the third candidate because they needed to make a trade with Pittsburgh first. Two other teams were interested to try and get the ingredients together to make an offer.
“One of the teams was the Calgary Flames,” he says.
Both players signed two-year offer sheets with the St. Louis Blues over the summer, but it turns out these two could have gone to Edmonton’s provincial rival.
Marek admitted he still doesn’t know who the third team was.
Marek revealed that the Calgary Flames almost submitted an offer sheet for both Holloway and Broberg, which would have escalated the Battle of Alberta to new heights. He noted that Flames GM Craig Conroy could have added two young NHL-caliber players, something he’s been open to doing since the start of the season. Both would have aligned with his timeline for improving the team and these would have been considered big swings.
In the end, the offer sheet saga didn’t involve Calgary, and Holloway and Broberg signed with the Blues, where they’ve already made an impact.
Holloway has set new career highs, while Broberg has impressed before a knee injury sidelined him. The Blues will face the Oilers this Saturday at Rogers Place, but it’s clear the rivalry would’ve been even more heated had they ended up in Calgary.