Former Leafs forward's contract clause could have been the culprit behind offer sheet drama

When St. Louis pried away Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway from Edmonton it was a shrewd move from GM Doug Armstrong, with Edmonton unable to match the offers given; and the way the Blues structured the deal, Edmonton was going to get the least amount back possible.

With Edmonton already being in a cap crunch, they couldn't afford the $6.87M combined for both players, but they may have been able to re-sign one of them if not for a caveat in one of their players contracts.

Former Maple Leaf and current Oilers forward Connor Brown signed a 1-year deal last offseason coming off an injury-plagued season; and to give the forward some incentive to play, the Oilers added a bonus to his deal. If Brown were to play in 10 regular season games, he would receive an additional $3.25M for reaching the milestone, rewarding him for perseverance.

The thing is, Brown played in 71 games. While you can't fault Edmonton for trying to incentivize the forward, paying him that amount seems ludicrous. Nothing against Brown, but clearly Edmonton knew they would be heading into a rough cap situation and giving such a large amount for a miniscule amount of games doesn't seem logical.

Sure, coming off and ACL injury is cause for concern, but Brown was only 28 at the time; he isn't a 37-year old veteran and his propensity to bounce back was way more likely. It seems like just another misstep in the Ken Holland-run days of the Oilers; but props to Brown for getting paid.

Source: HockeyDB
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