On 12 August St. Louis Blues submitted a Offer sheet to the Edmonton Oilers for striker Dylan Holloway and defender Philip Broberg. Broberg’s offer sheet included a contract with an average annual value (AAV) of around $4.6 million for two years, while the Oilers would receive a second-round pick as compensation. As for Holloway, his contract had an AAV of $2.3 million for two years, while the Oilers would receive a third-round pick for him as compensation.

After the Oilers could not match The Blues accepted the August 20 offers and acquired both players. The key advantage of these two acquisitions is Broberg, and here’s why.

Blues fix the problem of their ageing defensive core

The Blues’ core defensive players are older than 30 and have no-trade clauses (NTCs) in their contracts. Nevertheless, it is prevents openings to develop young defensive talent. While signing Broberg for $4.6 million over two years sounds like another dent in the Blues’ salary cap, it’s not as bad as the other defensive deals the Blues already have, and it makes sense considering they’re getting a younger defenseman.

Related: The Blues’ signing of Broberg and Holloway from the Oilers changes expectations for the 2024-25 season

In 2027, defensemen Torey Krug and Justin Faulk will be unrestricted free agents (UFAs), and the Blues will free up $13 million in salary cap space if they let both go. In 2025, however, both NTCs will become modified no-trade clauses (M-NTCs) with a list of 15 teams they cannot be traded to without their consent. In 2026, defenseman Nick Leddy will also be a UFA, freeing up $4 million in salary cap space; he too has an M-NTC that will be activated in 2025, with a list of 16 teams he cannot be traded to. That means the Blues can use the remaining salary cap space to cover Broberg’s contract in 2025-26 and even re-sign him if he asks for more money when his contract expires after 2025-26.

The Blues have in a separate deal traded defensive candidate Paul Fischer and a 2028 third-round draft pick to the Oilers for future considerations. This means the Blues have created some room for the future of their defensive lineup and made room for Broberg on the main roster. The Blues didn’t give up much in this trade; Fischer showed some promise at the 2024 World Junior Showcase. The trade gave the Blues the opportunity to compensate for Holloway and created some space in the Blues’ defensive depth.

Another addition to the special teams

Last season, the Blues lacked depth in their special teams. They did not have the right tools on defense. The biggest pressure seemed to be on best minority and defender who blocks shots Colton Parayko because the rest of the core could not produce or contribute as much.

Despite having 250 power play opportunities and ranking 13th in the league last season, the team only scored 45 power play goals. Sure, they have Krug, who is known for hitting the 20-30 power play point mark, but with his injury And Below average performance to reach that mark in power play points, it seems like it’s getting worse as time goes on. The last time Krug reached the 20-30 point mark on the power play was in 2019-20 when he scored 28 points.

Broberg isn’t the first power play player, but at 23, he has the potential to improve with a new team and system. I think the Blues can give him a fresh start to revive his shaky career – he currently has 13 points in 81 games in the NHL – and give him the playing time he needs to improve. Finally, he is a great skater and can be very useful on offense during power play attacks.

In shorthanded play last season, Broberg was in the defensive zone about 51.6 percent of the time, slightly more than the league average of 50.4 percent. Even though his sample size is small (12 games), that’s a decent number.

Blues receive a top-10 draft pick

Broberg was selected eighth in the 2019 NHL Draft, a draft year that also Jack HughesCole Caufield, Matt Boldy, Moritz Seider and Trevor Zegras. With the Blues, Broberg could prove why he deserves to be selected among these big names.

Before the draft, he played 89 games as a loan player for Skellefteå AIK in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) between 2019-20 and 2020-21, where he recorded 21 points. Broberg got his first opportunity to debut on the North American professional stage when he played for the Oilers in 2021-22. He was then sent to the AHL (American Hockey League), where he played for the Oilers affiliate team Bakersfield Condors and recorded 23 points in 31 games, showing more promise at the North American professional level than in Sweden.

In the 2022-23 season, he was again sent to Bakersfield for seven games, scoring four points. This season, he played 46 games with the Oilers, scoring just eight points. Last season, Broberg played 12 games with the Oilers before returning to Bakersfield (he was recalled to the Oilers later in the season), playing 49 games, scoring 38 points.

The Oilers made a mistake by bringing Broberg to the NHL too quickly, and that was most likely due to the Expectations as a top 10 draft pick. However, that doesn’t mean the Blues got a bust of a player, as his AHL numbers are still great. I think if worse comes to worst, the Blues can add him to their AHL roster with the Springfield Thunderbirds to play somewhere he can better accommodate his game and eventually bring him in if he starts to develop in a good direction.

How the Blues will continue defensively from here

Broberg won’t become a solid player overnight and it will take some time for him to adjust to the Blues’ defensive style, but the squad does have several experienced defenders with offensive and defensive skills to support him. He’s a two-way defender, so I think he’s a perfect fit in the lineup, especially considering there are other accomplished defenders like Faulk and Leddy that he can learn from.

For now, the Blues need to work with the team they have assembled for the upcoming 2024-25 season and build Broberg around it.