Philip Broberg offered up the kind of pat answers you’d expect on Tuesday after the offer sheet presented to him by the St. Louis Blues was not matched by the Edmonton Oilers.
There was a lot of “very excited to be a Blue,” and “looking forward to meeting everybody,” and “excited to get to camp.”
Which should probably come as no surprise. The Swede is 23, having played just 81 big-league games over three seasons, coming off a three-year entry-level deal. Now, he has quadrupled his salary with the Blues, after Edmonton took a pass at the two-year contract worth $9.16 million St. Louis offered him.
He may very well be wondering if someone is going to pinch and wake him up.
“At the end of the day it’s business,” he said, when asked why he decided to go the offer-sheet route, the method being so rare that one had not successfully been employed in the NHL since 2021.
Having played just 12 regular-season games this past season, plus 10 in the playoffs, Broberg clearly saw an opportunity in St. Louis that he could not ignore.
“It’s been wild,” Broberg said about what life has been like for the past week, before shifting back to the, “I’m very happy to be a St. Louis Blue” line he employed diligently throughout the 15-minute Zoom call with reporters.
Whether Broberg, who was the Oilers’ eighth-overall pick in 2019, ever thought he’d actually wind up in St. Louis will remain unknown to the rest of us — “I guess you never know,” was all he’d offer when asked if he’d contemplated he’d be changing teams at the start of the off-season. He is one now, along with teammate Dylan Holloway, whose offer sheet also went unmatched.
But before he goes, Broberg made a point of making sure everyone understood this wasn’t personal.
“I have nothing bad to say about the fans at all,” Broberg said. ”I’m very happy about my time in Edmonton.
“The fans in Edmonton are great.”
No doubt many of those fans have circled Dec. 7 on their calendars. That’s when the Blues pay their first visit to Edmonton and fans can let Broberg know how much he is missed.