Ken Holland Appreciation Thread

bucks_oil

Registered User
Aug 25, 2005
8,328
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The Hall for Larsson equivalent today would be Draisaitl for some mediocre D-man.

No one would've had that much of a problem giving away draft picks for some proven defensive help circa 2015. But giving away your 2nd freaking best player at the time for Adam Larsson was stupid.

I'm fine with dealing picks and futures for win now options. We've been hoarding picks and prospects for 13-14 years now.

Sadly we've not been hoarding picks and prospects... it's just that our notable trades of them have not gone well.

I'm good with trading them now, too, but it's gotta be for people that we can fit into our cap structure and plan.

I'm not Holland, so I don't know if Hall does or doesn't fit the plan. But I do believe that trading for 45 games of him wouldn't really change that.... and one of Broberg or Bouchard must be a part of our plan or we will never have a #1D... we certainly can't afford to sign one in UFA and they are rarely traded.
 
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Paralyzer

Hyman >>> Matthews
Sep 29, 2006
15,625
7,344
Somewhere Up North
So where's the complainers now that Holland actually made us much better without giving up the 1st Round Pick, AND overpaying on any of those trades? HUGE PROPS to Holland! I had faith in him.
 
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Beerfish

Registered User
Apr 14, 2007
19,513
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Can never say it is a 100% win until we see these guys play. All too often in the past we cheer about a deal and find out guys can't play. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way a good day for the Oilers, did not give up any of our legit prospects, gave up a couple higher picks but for a player that has the potential to be well worth it.

Got two forwards that will help a lot with offense which is what we needed. I've always liked Green but he may not have much left.

As I said before I am hoping we can trade a few pieces of extras we have to recoup some picks even if they are not as high as the ones we gave up.

The team is for sure better now than it was yesterday and at a non prohibitive cost.
 
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bucks_oil

Registered User
Aug 25, 2005
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Great day! Lots of options on how we piece together a much better top-6/top-9. I hate to consider breaking up our "2nd" line right now, but we have the options to run with McD, Drai and Nuge all playing with passable top-6 players. That's pretty impressive considering where Holland started last summer.

We also have a bonafide #1 ppqb who spent years running one of the best pp's in history and is not really an old man quite yet. That our D depth places him on third pairing is another thing nobody would have believed last summer (Kudos to Bear, Jones, Playfair, Woodcroft, etc)
 
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TheRebuild

Bold as Boognish
Jun 12, 2014
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405
Winter
I didn't like the Kassian signing, but he made up for it today - best trade deadline the Oilers have had since 2006. It's so strange to watch a GM actually make moves that improve the club going into the last part of the season.
 
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syz

[1, 5, 6, 14]
Jul 13, 2007
28,864
12,262
Next step is to try to get out from some contracts after the season. Manning, Russell, Neal, Chiasson.
 

McJadeddog

Registered User
Sep 25, 2003
20,186
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Regina, Saskatchewan
So where's the complainers now that Holland actually made us much better without giving up the 1st Round Pick, AND overpaying on any of those trades? HUGE PROPS to Holland! I had faith in him.

Yeah, I gotta admit, Holland did a pretty bang up job today. The AA deal was a little rich for my liking, but I'm not gonna freak out about it or anything. The Green and Ennis deals were very cheap and he didn't do anything ridiculously dumb either. All in all, I think it was a pretty good day. He gave Tippett some more weapons, and when this team is healthy, it actually looks like a legit playoff team.
 

edmoil3

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Mar 26, 2010
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edmoil3

Registered User
Mar 26, 2010
892
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Yeah, I gotta admit, Holland did a pretty bang up job today. The AA deal was a little rich for my liking, but I'm not gonna freak out about it or anything. The Green and Ennis deals were very cheap and he didn't do anything ridiculously dumb either. All in all, I think it was a pretty good day. He gave Tippett some more weapons, and when this team is healthy, it actually looks like a legit playoff team.
We will likely get a prospect or 2nd at the draft for JP
 

Ritchie Valens

Registered User
Sep 24, 2007
28,201
38,971
This is such a weird feeling, actually having a good GM who’s not getting fleeced all the time. Good job Holland you da real MVP

Not just good, but one who is competent.

You can tell he's rejuvenated here. If the rumors are true about the Illitch family forcing him to hang onto players too long to try and keep the playoff streak alive, that could not have been a comfortable work environment. When he knows he needed to tear down ad re-build but the ownership was forcing his hand another direction, the fall from grace will be hard and swift.

Ken is going to do great things here.
 
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McJadeddog

Registered User
Sep 25, 2003
20,186
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Regina, Saskatchewan


That is a great quote really, and 100% true. The team has battled through some bad injuries lately, and put themselves squarely in the playoff conversation. Will they make the playoffs? Maybe, maybe not, but to just stand pat and not give them that chance wouldn't send the right message. The 2 second rounders are tough to give, but we get back a player under contract, where we hold his rights. Worst case scenario is that you trade AA somewhere else for pretty much exactly what you gave up for him, or maybe slightly less. The Green and Ennis deals are essentially "magic beans", so who cares. I'm more than willing to gamble on the 5% chance a 4th or 5th rounder turns out to be anything.
 

Burnt Biscuits

Registered User
May 2, 2010
9,164
3,179
So where's the complainers now that Holland actually made us much better without giving up the 1st Round Pick, AND overpaying on any of those trades? HUGE PROPS to Holland! I had faith in him.
The only trade that we made that makes us objectively better is the Ennis one, I'll give him kudos for that.

The Green one will probably take about 3 weeks to figure out if it will pay off or not. Enough time for the initial buzz and excitement of the trade to wear off and see what's left remaining (how much gas he has left in the tank).

The Athanasiou one will take I'd say at minimum 11 months to figure out if it was a win and even that might be a bit too quick given his penchant for running really hot and really cold.
 

Jimmi McJenkins

Sometimes miracles
Jan 12, 2006
74,837
33,608
Alberta
The job he's done taking this team from where it was to where it is now is remarkable. He's been fortunate with the likes of Bear and Yamamoto, but he's been rewarded on a lot of his signings and decisions.
 

Zerotonine

Registered User
Apr 23, 2017
4,362
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Did alot with alittle that's for sure, excited to see what happens in off season when some cap relief starts go come
 

joestevens29

Registered User
Apr 30, 2009
52,498
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Got out of Lucic's NMC and has this team in the hunt for the division at the trade deadline.

What more could we ask for?
 

OilerTitanFan

Registered User
Feb 26, 2019
4,614
1,317
Can never say it is a 100% win until we see these guys play. All too often in the past we cheer about a deal and find out guys can't play. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way a good day for the Oilers, did not give up any of our legit prospects, gave up a couple higher picks but for a player that has the potential to be well worth it.

Got two forwards that will help a lot with offense which is what we needed. I've always liked Green but he may not have much left.

As I said before I am hoping we can trade a few pieces of extras we have to recoup some picks even if they are not as high as the ones we gave up.

The team is for sure better now than it was yesterday and at a non prohibitive cost.
Everyone should definitely chill out. This isn't some trade deadline deals where our GM acquired Samsonov, Spacek, Tarnstrom and a few weeks earlier getting Roloson, and before the season began we did not acquire Pronger and Peca.

Many here make it sound like Holland just turned this into a massive playoff run. He's got a long way to go before he duplicates what Klowe did in 2005-2006.

All the negativity and biases on this board has clogged many minds here. Whatever Kevin Lowe did as GM of the oilers that year will possibly never be duplicated ever again.
 

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