Thanks for posting this. I really was yelling at clouds... in the wrong thread. It's much more helpful to form an opinion on Holland's strategy when you hear it from the man's mouth. Or hands, lol. I've never seen so many hand gestures. I've got to find a way to edit the hand motions to music or something, just crazy. I wonder what the experts who study body language would say about that conference.
Anyways, nothing new. A couple of puzzling comments:
- The Wings might be in on the FA market, depending on the term? Then he says only as an upgrade, or that really they're thinking of drafts now and support later. Kind of confusing.
- Comparing the idea of rebuilding in 2015 to 2013, Holland's reply is "What difference does it make?" Sort of sidestepped the question of how much the new arena factored into their thought process.
-He's seen a team throw 20 kids on the ice? Was he referring to Edmonton? If so that's far from reality.
-When asked about goalies, he says "we don't have anyone signed do we?", and for a second didn't know who Jimmy was.
-Several times referred to the draft as the lottery. Unless he knows something we don't...
I still dislike the consistent attitude that young players will come in only when they're "ready" (or "competitive" he said a little later). How many times have prospects proven to be much more effective than they believed? Same thing as only letting go of Tatar, further signs their plan is to keep rebuilding on the fly.
Holland did admit a few of the contracts aren't great (but all teams have them) and they didn't draft well for defensemen. But I'm surprised their wasn't more passion expressed or personal responsibility taken.
For the record he never brought up the FO personnel. Only after the suggestion said he'd be open to changes. Funny his concept of upgrades was hiring two PD directors instead of one. Oh well I'm not sure what I was expecting. Onto the draft... er lottery.