As the St. Louis Blues prepare to face the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, all eyes will be on Dylan Holloway, the young forward who has blossomed into a top-six talent under head coach Jim Montgomery. Holloway’s breakout season with the Blues is the kind of story that stings for Oilers fans, who watched him leave Edmonton via an offer sheet this past offseason.
Zach Hyman said during the summer, when it was learned that the Blues were using a rare mechanism to poach two of Edmonton’s rising young stars, “It doesn’t happen very often that anybody gets offer sheeted, let alone two on the same team.” He added, “That was shock, but it was a great move by St. Louis to put us in a position where we were vulnerable — up against the cap and just coming off the finals. Those are two young, great players. You just tip your cap to them for doing that.”
And, early results suggest it was an ingenious decision by the Blues. Philip Broberg’s season —another former Edmonton prospect excelling with the Blues— has gone off the rails a bit because of an unfortunate injury, but Holloyway remains the Oiler that got away. Probably more so than Broberg because of the smaller cap hit involved in his two-year deal.
Holloway has been on an impressive run lately, notching seven points (four goals, three assists) during a four-game scoring streak. His all-around play has elevated his linemates and made him a fixture on St. Louis’ second line and power play unit. Despite a terrifying early-season incident where he collapsed after being struck in the vagus nerve by a puck, Holloway hasn’t missed a game, tallying 13 points through 25 games this season.
