Stan Bowman claims Blues overpaid on offer sheets.

The St. Louis Blues have overpaid, at least according to one National Hockey League general manager.

National Hockey League insider Pierre Lebrun recently spoke with the two NHL general managers involved in one of this summer's most controversial moves, the dual-offer sheets that the St. Louis Blues extended to Edmonton Oilers defenseman Philip Broberg and Oilers forward Dylan Holloway, and it was there that Bowman fired back at those critical of the fact that the Oilers opted not to match.

When he was asked about the kinds of offers that both players had received, Bowman did no hide the fact that he felt that the Blues had paid too much for both of the players involved in the offer sheets.

"The players can probably grow into those deals, but as of today, they’re way above their actual performance," Bowman said as per LeBrun.

Not only does Bowman feel like the Blues overpaid for Holloway and Broberg, but he also admitted that signing the two young restricted free agents wasn't his top priority at the time. To no one's surprise, Bowman admitted that he was heavily focused on securing the services of star forward Leon Draisaitl for the foreseeable future.

"Right, exactly, there’s no question about it," said Bowman of his focus on the Draisaitl contract. "That’s the reality and that was a priority for us."

Bowman did however push back on notions that the Oilers may have been trying to squeeze Holloway and Broberg with low-ball type offers, indicating that he feels there are good comparables out there to the offers made by the Oilers, even as recently as this summer.

"The way it’s being portrayed is also a little bit unfair, that the Oilers were doing some sort of poor-faith negotiating,” Bowman pushed back. “If you look at both those players, based on their performance, there’s lots of comparable players that have signed this summer and recent years."

Of course only time will tell if the gamble on the part of Blues general manager Doug Armstrong will pay off, or if it will be Bowman and his belief that the Blues overpaid that will be proven right.