Defenseman, who Blues acquired via offer sheet from Edmonton Oilers in 2024, gets $48 million ($8 million average annual value)
The St. Louis Blues have locked up a promising young defenseman when they signed Philip Broberg to a six-year extension worth $48 million.
The contract, which carries an average annual value of $8 million that runs through the 2031-32 season.
The contract, confirmed by Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, will pay Broberg $10 million in 2026-27 and 2027-28, $9.25 million in 2028-29, $6.75 million in 2029-30 and $6 million in 2030-31 and 2031-32. The first two years are restricted free agency years eligible, a full no-trade clause in 28-29 and 29-30, a 20-team NTC in 30-31 and a 15-team NTC in 31-32.
“It's exciting to have him for this year plus six more that basically takes him right through the meat of his prime years,” Armstrong said of Broberg, who has 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) in 45 games this season and has played a career-high 23:18 average ice time per game. “He's been one of the few bright lights in a season that hasn't gone anywhere near the way we expected. He's a player on the back end I think we can build around. He touches right now our penalty kill, our 5-on-5 play, getting incorporated a little more into the power play, which I think he will take a bigger chunk of that as time goes on. A cornerstone player on the back end that it's nice to have in the fold. He and I had a good conversation that he's held up his end of the bargain and now it's up to the management to hold up their end of the bargain to put up a team around him that can have success.”
Selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round (No. 8) of the 2019 NHL Draft, Broberg has 56 points (12 goals, 44 assists) in 194 regular-season games for the Oilers and Blues and five points (three goals, two assists) in 27 playoff games; the Blues signed Broberg (two years, $9.16 million; $4.58 million AAV) and Dylan Holloway (two years, $4.58 million; $2.29 million AAV) to offer sheets on Aug. 13, 2024 that the Oilers did not match a week later.
It’s clear that Broberg, named last week to Sweden's Winter Olympic squad at Milano-Cortina, is someone the Blues want to build the next generation around and feel quite comfortable in making him the highest paid defenseman on the team ahead of Colton Parayko and Justin Faulk (each at $6.5 million AAV).
“I think last year we were obviously very pleased coming into a difficult situation with the offer sheet and the pressure that went with that,” Armstrong said. “I thought he handled it well and quite honestly, we wanted to take the first half of the season to allow a more normal path this year to see where his game was at and where we think it’s trending towards. I’ve been very impressed with his game. I’m very impressed with his demeanor quite honestly as much as his game. As things go awry this year, he’s one the few people that is able to come in every day and do the task at hand and do it at a high level.”
Broberg is at an age and with continued progression, would have likely from a player’s perspective benefited from a shorter-term deal. Likely in the 2-4 year range. The Blues would obviously liked the full eight to take him to age 32, but settling at six is good for both because it will give Broberg an opportunity to get another lengthy contract when he turns 30, and the Blues will have his services for the better years of his career.
“I'm very comfortable with six,” Armstrong said. “I think eight just gives you two more years of security. But I also think having that carrot out in front on a shorter term, I think is beneficial. His idea was four. That wasn't an area that we wanted to go to today. We would have just continued to play this today and try to get a longer term deal later. Even if we did a one-year deal and tried to get a longer-term deal next year. Four wasn't a number we were comfortable with. It didn't provide security for the Blues for the compensation that was going to be needed.
“I understand too and I was texting Mr. [Tom] Stillman today that we all understand and no one in hockey loses the sight of the value of a dollar, but in this industry, even though it's a lot of money, there's a belief that the cap continues to grow and I think the players believe there's no end in sight of the growth and so not wanting to get locked into term, I certainly understand. I think that everyone believes that six is a sweet spot. Obviously it's generational money barring a lifestyle that I don't foresee. He or his family never need to worry again. Now it's just putting the work in, and we've talked to some of our guys about this recently, it's not the money, it's now the legacy, and he can now start working on a legacy.”
Armstrong added, “We don't really have a choice on the term. We were going to give him a qualifying offer, then he could go to arbitration for two years and then walk, so he needed to want to be here. I think it shows his character. He wants to take ownership in this team. We've talked to him about that, there's a group like Jake Neighbours up front, Philip (on the back end), we want these guys to start taking ownership in this group to help push it forward and to help play a major role in that. We brought him here under different circumstances and I think he appreciates that opportunity we've given him and now what I'm excited about is the trust that he has in Alex [Steen] and the group moving forward that we can build a winning team around him. He's a high-character person, and our research showed that before we gave those offer sheets to (Broberg and Dylan Holloway). We knew they were high character people.”
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