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Edmonton Oilers

Oilers Likely to Send Broberg Back to Sweden After WJC

The Edmonton Oilers are sending Philip Broberg to the World Junior Championships to join Team Sweden, but will he stick around afterwards?

The Edmonton Oilers have a good young crop of defenseman bubbling up through the system and currently playing all over Europe. Many of them are said to have a legitimate shot at making the Oilers roster this coming season as a 7th defenseman or part of the Oilers taxi squad. But, it seems one blueliner who was in that group, may no longer be in the running.

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According to Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal, Philip Broberg is on his way to Edmonton to join Team Sweden at the World Junior Championships. It makes sense that once that tournament is done, Broberg would simply stay put and join the Oilers for their camp before the NHL season, assuming camps are running at that time.

Instead, Leavins believes that Broberg will play the WJC and the Oilers will immediately send him back to Sweden to finish out the season. Leavins writes:

Once it’s done, I fully expect he goes back to Sweden and finishes that season. There is no saying he could not then return to the AHL for the Bakersfield playoffs (assuming the AHL plays again this year at all). But if the AHL does resume, I expect it to be in an almost exclusive development role with a heavy diet of regular season games and a (very) brief and limited playoff round.

Philip Broberg Oilers Skelleftea

Why Not Keep Broberg Around?

Broberg is still playing well. He’s still considered to be a big part of the Oilers future. That said, if the Oilers aren’t certain Broberg will get better looks by being part of their NHL roster, it seems the smarter bet to let the defenseman go back, eat up huge minutes and continue playing. From there, if the season ends and the AHL is still running, the Oilers can consider bringing Broberg back.

Even then, because the AHL season could look so much different than in year’s past and there’s no certainty about where the team will even play from since travel across the border is an ongoing concern, it might serve both Broberg and the Oilers better to simply leave him where he is and not complicate things.

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