Winners and losers of Blues’ Broberg, Holloway offer sheets as Oilers refuse to match | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

Offer sheets are rare for a few good reasons: They’re expensive, they often come at the cost of high draft assets, and they often impose unique pressures on both the front office and the player in question. But the worst reason is probably the most common: Many NHL GMs are buddies, and until recently it was essentially an unwritten rule to avoid the offer sheet if you wanted to stay in the good graces of your colleagues.

Even with this trade between St. Louis and Edmonton, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said there was “no way” St. Louis would have made these offers if Ken Holland was still Edmonton’s general manager.

“If Ken Holland was still the GM of the Edmonton Oilers, these offer sheets would never be executed,” Friedman told Bob Stauffer of Oliebollen now (courtesy of Hockey News) “I think Doug Armstrong’s friendship with Ken Holland definitely played a role in how this turned out.”

Armstrong denied this idea: