Sportsnet: Ken Holland close to being named GM of Edmonton Oilers

[Hasbro]

NMCs for everyone!

 

[Junohockeyfan]

For all the flack Kenny is getting, I think he's a decent GM, and is definitely an improvement over anything the Oilers have at the moment.

Oilers have nothing at the moment. That is arguably better than Holland!

 

[Soundwave]

Oilers have nothing at the moment. That is arguably better than Holland!

If the Oilers hadn't traded Hall (something I doubt Holland would've done) or could draft OK-ish support players around McDavid like Larkin, Athansiou, Mantha (all picked without benefit of being in the top 10) ... they probably would be in the playoffs right now.

So in that respect, no, what the Oilers have had is not better than Holland.

That said, his tendency to overpay vets is problematic, he better have learned something from that.

 

[Soundwave]

His very first step needs to be firing everyone in management. Every single one. Lowe, Wayne, Keith Gretzky, etc.

Keith Gretzky drafted Pastrnak, McAvoy, and Debrusk for the Bruins all outside of the top 10 and has taken Evan Bouchard for the Oilers at 10 and that pick looks pretty good right now.

I don't really see why he should be fired.

 

[Sweetpotato]

This thread looks exactly like the Chia hiring thread from years back. Boston fans(now Detroit fans) warning everyone and everyone else saying "can it really be worse?". Whoever takes this job will have partial full control, they won't be able to fire anyone of the OBC and will slowly be surrounded by nepotism and mediocrity.

 

[Amadeus]

Honestly, hard to see this happen. Ken Holland has deep roots in Michigan. He's got an extremely comfortable gig. I'm not sure he'd want this disruption. That, along with the fact that he doesn't have a lot of flexibility to work with coming in.

I think they'll stick with Keith Gretzky in the end.

 

[Soundwave]

This thread looks exactly like the Chia hiring thread from years back. Boston fans(now Detroit fans) warning everyone and everyone else saying "can it really be worse?". Whoever takes this job will have partial full control, they won't be able to fire anyone of the OBC and will slowly be surrounded by nepotism and mediocrity.

Except most of the Detroit fans in this thread are saying good things about Holland here, lol.

 

[obey86]

They have zero cap space this year where are you getting twenty ? They have eight then whatever they lose from injuries the next year .

They have approximately 20 after the expected cap hike to 83M and LTIR savings from Franzen and Zetterberg

 

[Nanuuk]

Take anything Mark Spector says with a large grain of salt then ignore it. We'll see if Holland wants to leave the States after being with the Wings for 36 years. It would be a huge challenge for him to re-build the Oilers just as it will be with Stevie Y and the Wings.

 

[Del Preston]

This thread looks exactly like the Chia hiring thread from years back. Boston fans(now Detroit fans) warning everyone and everyone else saying "can it really be worse?". Whoever takes this job will have partial full control, they won't be able to fire anyone of the OBC and will slowly be surrounded by nepotism and mediocrity.

Detroit fans are the ones defending him in here.

 

[McRpro]

Except most of the Detroit fans in this thread are saying good things about Holland here, lol.

Ya it's actually comforting to see lol. Bruins fans filled us with dire warnings about Chia.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

This has got to be a joke...

 

[Menzinger]

Except most of the Detroit fans in this thread are saying good things about Holland here, lol.

Which is strange considering Detroit has lousy roster and a meh prospect pool

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

Thread title is extremely misleading and disingenuous.

 

[Soundwave]

Take anything Mark Spector says with a large grain of salt then ignore it. We'll see if Holland wants to leave the States after being with the Wings for 36 years. It would be a huge challenge for him to re-build the Oilers just as it will be with Stevie Y and the Wings.

It's not like he'd be "rebuilding" from nothing though, dude is going to inherit the best player in the world and another All-Star forward.

If he can put players of Larkin/Athansiou/Mantha quality around those two, likely the Oilers will do well. In Detroit, he's missing the big guns post Datsyuk-Zetterberg era.

In Edmonton they can't get enough solid support players around their two big guns.

In theory anyway that part of it lines up.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Whatever happened to Hunter?

 

[Cursed Lemon]

Pros:

• Finally figured out how to trade players, like, three years ago

Cons:

• Loyalty deals
• Will trade away your prospects/picks for washed up vets
• Thinks rebuild years are playoff contending years
• Will only play your young guys when he literally has no other choice

 

[Canes]

Honestly, hard to see this happen. Ken Holland has deep roots in Michigan. He's got an extremely comfortable gig. I'm not sure he'd want this disruption. That, along with the fact that he doesn't have a lot of flexibility to work with coming in.

I think they'll stick with Keith Gretzky in the end.

The allure of having the best player in the world to build around is strong though.

It's similar to Rutherford and the Pens when Carolina pushed him aside for a new, shiny GM.

If the offer is right, he'll take the job IMO

 

[Aoko]

Article says Holland would have complete control over hockey ops and full autonomy to hire and fire whom ever he'd like to.

People will give this move a lot of flack but comparing Holland to Chiarelli is the dumbest opinion you could possibly have. Holland gave out a handful of bad contracts (which aren't actually affecting the Red Wings in any negative way as they have over 20mil in cap space) but he's amazing at RFA negotiations, has done well in trades in recent years, and his drafting resume speaks for itself.

IF it is true that he would have complete control, as in no major influence from the old boys club, then it really isn't an awful hire. The Oilers could do... and have done... a lot worse.

What gems has he gotten lately? No need to bring up Zetterberg. I wanna know recent draft steals he has pulled out of his hat.

 

[The Red Line]

They have zero cap space this year where are you getting twenty ? They have eight then whatever they lose from injuries the next year .

This had been explained sooo many times on here. Zetterberg and Franzen are on LTIR. They will have over 20mil to spend THIS off season. Man, people are so bad at reading cap websites.

 

[Soundwave]

Which is strange considering Detroit has lousy roster and a meh prospect pool

If the Oilers could pick even Larkin, Athansiou, Mantha tier players to go around McDavid, Draisaitl, RNH though ... they probably are in a very, very different spot.

The Wings have made some decent picks outside of the top 10-15, the Oilers haven't.

Whereas conversely for the Wings, their lack of McDavid/Draisaitl style fire power upfront has really worked for them, but obviously Holland would have that if he opts to take the job.

 

[The Red Line]

What gems has he gotten lately? No need to bring up Zetterberg. I wanna know recent draft steals he has pulled out of his hat.

Seriously? Filip Zadina, Joe Valeno in just last year's draft. Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi in recent years. Why even ask this question if you've been paying so little attention?

 

[jetsforever]

Whoa, it'd be crazy to see him somewhere other than Detroit

 

[Cursed Lemon]

Seriously? Filip Zadina, Joe Valeno in just last year's draft. Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi in recent years. Why even ask this question if you've been paying so little attention?

Those aren't steals. Those players were drafted exactly where they were supposed to be drafted.

 

[Soundwave]

What gems has he gotten lately? No need to bring up Zetterberg. I wanna know recent draft steals he has pulled out of his hat.

If the Oilers had players like Larkin, Athansiou, Mantha with any of their non-top-5 picks, they likely would be in a very different position. It doesn't have to be a Datsyuk, even an Athansiou would be a huge improvement over the Ty Ratties of the world.