The real answer is Oilers management should have never let it get to that point.
Based on the rumors both the asks from Holloway and Broberg were a very digestible $1.2M and $1.8M respectiveky.
Those deals should have been signed before July 1 and before any of Skinner, Arvidsson and Henrique were signed.
Oilers tried to squeeze them for closer to league minimum and got burned for it.
In the end matching wasn't really an option because they messed it up prior to that and are at the cap without both of them right now.
|