It’s been quite a year for Philip Broberg.

The eighth overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft spent most of last season playing in the American Hockey League before being thrown in at the deep end in the Western Conference Finals this spring . He seized the opportunity and completely changed the trajectory of his career.

With the Oilers losing 2-1 in their series against the Dallas Stars, head coach Kris Knoblauch replaced Cody Ceci with Broberg in the second defensive pairing alongside Darnell Nurse. Edmonton won the next three games to eliminate the Stars and Broberg scores his first goal with the Oilers in 2023-24 in a massive road victory in Game 5.

The Nurse and Broberg duo remained intact for much of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers and they performed much better than the Nurse and Ceci duo earlier in the playoffs. More than 170 minutes at equal strength togetherNurse and Ceci were dominated 12 to 5. Meanwhile, Nurse and Broberg played 66 minutes together at even strength and dominated their opponents 4 to 2.

Broberg’s entry-level contract ended this summer and the Oilers had no rush to sign him. The young defenseman ended up signing a deal with the St. Louis Blues for two years and $4,580,917 per year, which was much higher than the Oilers expected to pay. They chose not to match and received a second round pick as compensation.

This move has worked out very well so far for Broberg and the Blues. Through the first weeks of the season, Broberg is second behind St. Louis with seven points in eight games. He’s averaging 19:58 per game, which is significantly more than the 12:24 he averaged in 81 regular-season games in Edmonton over three seasons.

Earlier this week, Broberg appeared as a guest on the 32 Thoughts podcast with Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas and talked about how ready he is for a new opportunity.

“I’m glad it happened.” Broberg said about the offer sheet. “I had a great time in Edmonton. I appreciated it. But I think I was ready for a new chapter.

Broberg also noted that he was buried on the left side of the blue line depth chart in Edmonton, behind a few veteran players. He had to move to the right side to get more minutes with the Oilers and he now plays a top-four role with the Blues on his natural left side.

“They have a very good D core in Edmonton. You have (Mattias) Ekholm, a great player. (Darnell) Nurse, also a very good player, and (Brett) Kulak is the same. I had to play offside a lot. I’ve done this a lot in Sweden, so I’m used to it, but it’s different playing on the right side on a small ice surface.

The Blues entered the 2024-25 season looking to end a two-year playoff drought and they are off to a strong start with a 5-3-0 record. Edmonton will get its first look at Broberg as a member of the Blues on Dec. 7 when the Oilers host St. Louis for the first of three meetings between the two teams this season.