Dylan Holloway takes final shot at the Oilers after move to St. Louis!

Fans were shocked when, earlier this month, the St. Louis Blues originally tendered their double offer sheet for Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg of the Oilers. However, the Edmonton franchise was not blindsided by the offer, according to Holloway. During an appearance on the Hockey Sense podcast hosted by Blues’ reporter Andy Strickland, Holloway revealed how the Oilers never negotiated a new contract with him. He then explained that he was transparent with the Oilers even about the offer sheet, but ultimately chose what was best for his career when Edmonton wasn’t interested in making him an offer.

“We were trying to get a deal done. I don’t think we were asking for anything crazy at all. If anything we were very upfront with Edmonton the whole time, even about the whole offer sheet. We explained, ‘Hey, this was an option for us. Can we get a deal?’ And it was weird the way they handled it. I felt I had no other option but to sign the offer sheet.”

It was obvious that the young forward was hurt by how things played out since he would have prefered to stay in Edmonton.

“It was definitely hard. You have a good group of guys. You want to be with them forever, but at the end of the day it doesn’t work like that. Hockey ultimately is a business and you’ve got to look after yourself. That’s kind of the advice I was given from a lot of guys too. You’ve got to take care of yourself first.”

While there were some reports that the Oilers and new general manager Stan Bowman were considering different numbers for Holloway, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reporting that Holloway’s camp received one- and two-year offers during July, at approximately $850,000 and $1 million respectively, the lack of a decent offer pushed Holloway in St. Louis’ arms.

The Oilers had tough choices to make this summer, but made a huge move on Tuesday in signing star forward Leon Draisaitl to a historic contract. Edmonton keeps dealing financial restraints from a tight salary cap situation, and it ended with Holloway, along with Broberg, Warren Foegele and Vincent Desharnais, becoming key departures from last season’s roster.