ST. LOUIS — Is there anything Philip Broberg can’t do?
The St. Louis Blues defenseman can join the rush and set up goals with drop-back passes, like he did with Dylan Holloway for the game’s only goal in a 1-0 victory over the Utah Mammoth Saturday.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Broberg can defend, like he did in helping hold Utah’s Logan Cooley off the board before Cooley left with an injury in the third period. He can kill penalties, like he did when the Mammoth went on a five-minute power play after Cooley was involved in a collision with Alexey Toropchenko. He could also be on one of team’s two power-play units, but they prefer to save him for five-on-five and PK.
It seems like the 24-year-old can do it all.
“He can’t really throw a football — just bad spirals,” Blues goaltender Joel Hofer joked. “He thinks he’s QB1 on the team, but he needs to work at it. Yeah, off the ice, he needs some work. But on the ice, he’s pretty good.”
Through the first quarter of the season, Broberg has been the Blues’ MVP, and if not for them being in 28th place in the NHL standings, coach Jim Montgomery believes the defenseman would be gaining more notoriety for the season he’s having.
“He’s been incredible for us this year,” Montgomery said. “If our record was better, I think people would be talking about him a lot more in the league. If we were playing really good hockey, he would be talked about in the league a lot more. He has been a tremendous hockey player from the start of the year.”
To put Broberg’s early performance in context, the Blues have the NHL’s second-worst overall goal differential (-23) and he’s a minus-1.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Blues have scored 48 goals and allowed 62 at five-on-five, which is tied for the third most in the league. Broberg has played nearly 520 minutes of five-on-five, and despite having 58 offensive-zone starts and 87 defensive-zone starts, he’s the only defenseman on the roster who’s been on the ice for more five-on-five goals for than against (20-18).
“I’m just trying to be harder to play against, working on down low, and being a little bit more physical,” Broberg said.
Meanwhile, he has two goals, and with his pass on Holloway’s goal Saturday, he’s up to eight assists and 10 points. He’s a bit behind his pace of eight goals, 29 points and +21 rating in 68 games in 2024-25.
“But with a little more finishing touch, or a little bit better puck luck, he might have eight goals already,” Montgomery said. “Then you’re really talking about him as an offensive defenseman.”
Philip Broberg’s increasing dynamic capabilities have been a boost for the Blues’ back end. (Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)
However, on a club that’s struggled a lot more than last season, he’s been even better on a personal level.
“Attitude and self belief,” Montgomery said. “What I find is his attitude of being harder and firmer in battles and taking pucks to harder areas offensively has really made him a lot more dynamic offensively and in his 200-foot game. You can see his man strength has come out and he’s taken his game to another level, just the way he competes night in and night out. I think it’s 99 percent his realization that he can take over games, and it’s just a mindset.”
Broberg’s production, despite the limited publicity league-wide, is the type that will lead to a large payday with the Blues and perhaps could land him on Sweden’s roster for the 2026 Olympics.
He’s in the final season of a two-year, $9.16 million contract he signed with the Blues, as part of the offer sheet that allowed him to leave Edmonton. In October, The Athletic projected a 6.7 million AAV, but with Brobert’s play so far, his next deal is likely to be an eight-year, $64 million ($8 million AAV) extension, or even more. He will be a restricted free agent on July 1, if unsigned by then.
“There’s no rush with that,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said in October, referring to contract talks with both Broberg and Holloway. “We’re going to try and get them signed as quick as we can. If not, they’re restricted free agents. We’ll make sure that we leave enough space available to get those guys signed. The cap’s going up. It’s nice to know, with (other) guys signed, what we can do moving forward. And we can always create space.”
Armstrong indicated negotiations could begin in December, and while there have been none to date, the calendar has turned to the final month of the year.
“I’m confident that, when appropriate, we’ll engage in those conversations,” Darren Ferris of Quartexx Hockey, Broberg’s agent, wrote in a text to The Athletic on Sunday.
Broberg is only solidifying his future with the role he’s playing and the minutes he’s logging this season.
The Blues were in a 0-0 game with Utah Saturday when Broberg started the sequence that led to the only scoring between either team. As he’s done often, Broberg carried the puck into the offense zone and appeared to be carrying it all the way to the net. But this time, Holloway was hollering for him to drop it back.
“Yeah, he was yelling behind me, so I just gave him the puck and he made a very nice shot,” Broberg said.
Holloway had a lot of room to take the shot that beat Mammoth goalie Karel Vejmelka late in the second period because, in part, of the room Broberg had created due to the reputation he’s built of being able to drive the net.
“Every time he’s got the puck, he’s skating so fast, that drives their D back,” Holloway said. “He’s such a good skater. He’s putting the league on notice how good he can skate. He’s a one-man breakout out there.”
beautiful puck placement pic.twitter.com/w7zVaVuKVD
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 30, 2025
Then 6:17 into the third period, with the Blues still clinging to their 1-0 lead, they went on the PK when referees gave Toropchenko a major penalty and game misconduct for his role in the collision with Cooley.
The unit erased all of it, hanging onto the one-goal lead. Broberg had three shifts (:25, :58 and 1:37) and was on the ice for exactly three minutes of the Mammoth’s five-minute power play. That’s more than the 2:08 he averages per game on the PK this season.
“When something like that happens, you just want to kill it off and move on in the game,” Broberg said. “I think we did a very good job of that.”
Broberg had two blocks during that PK, including one that led to a short-handed breakaway by Nick Bjugstad that came up short. The Blues had 23 blocks Saturday, and Broberg had a team-high four.
“It fires me up,” Hofer said of the Blues blocking shots. “He’s just a horse back there. He logs a lot of minutes. Yeah, we’re super stoked to have him.”
Broberg logged 23:40 of ice time against Utah, which continued a trend building since late October. In the first 10 games of the season, he averaged 21:40, which was the fourth most among Blues defensemen. In the last 16 games, he’s averaged 25:30, which ranks first. He’s played 26-plus minutes in six of those 16 games, including a career-high 27:58 against the New York Islanders on Nov. 22.
“I do think he can handle that,” Montgomery said. “He’s just got an incredible engine and he’s in tremendous shape, and he just doesn’t seem to get tired. That three-on-three shift in New Jersey — that was incredible, the way he dug in there.” (In the Blues’ 3-2 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 26, Broberg had a shift in OT that lasted 2:33.)
This season, Broberg is averaging 49 seconds per shift, which ranks No. 92 in the NHL among defensemen.
“It’s funny because if you’re looking for something that he needs to (improve), his shift length has been long,” Montgomery said. “But it’s like, he can go 55 seconds hard and stay out there.”
Granted, Broberg was breaking into the NHL when he played in Edmonton, but in 81 games with the Oilers, he averaged just 12:42 of ice time. He knew eventually he could handle more, even as much as he’s playing with the Blues.
“Yeah, I work hard and try to stay in shape,” Broberg said. “I’ve got help from my D partner (Colton Parayko) as well. He’s making life a lot easier on me. He’s doing a great job out there to help me.”
The rest of the league may not be taking note, but his teammates are.
“I think he took a big step up with his confidence,” Holloway said. “He’s really, really found his game. Every time he touches the puck, he wants to make a play, he wants to skate. His improvement has been tremendous over the last couple of years, and I think he’s still got another level to get to. He’s going to be scary when he finds that.”
Sweden should be taking note, too, even if Broberg is saying all of the right things about a spot in Milan.
“I’m focused on this team, and helping this team any way I can,” he said. “It would be a dream to play in the Olympics for Sweden, but I also know it’s great competition on that back end and the whole team as well. I’m just trying to get better every day and help this team any way I can.”