Correct me if I’m wrong, because maybe I don’t understand all of the rules, but was there not a buyout window that took place during the off-season that ended just prior to free agency starting? All of this bitching and moaning that Sekera was bought out “for no reason,” is such BS. Holland had to make the decision to gain some cap space before he knew if he could sign a replacement or not. So while it’s maybe fair to be annoyed that he didn’t end up signing someone, to actually allow himself the luxury to TRY, he felt that he HAD to buyout Sekera to afford himself and the team the space. And we all know that some of the same shit posters would be complaining that Holland didn’t try to clear space before free agency if he hadn’t bought out Sekera - yes, I realize that there are other ways to clear cap space, but Holland isn’t a dumb GM, he clearly had/has a plan, and while the plan doesn’t always come to fruition, he had to at least try.
Also: most teams struggle when they lose a dman who was set to play 20 mins a night, this is not an Oilers-specific ailment. Most teams would have to get creative to fill that gap, unless we are talking about some of the top defensive teams in the league, which we aren’t. It sucks to lose a major player (again), but somehow making this about Holland failing to provide sufficient coverage is a pretty weak argument, considering that Holland has taken over this team from one of the worst GMs we’ve seen. He’s not a wizard, he can’t create solutions to our problems out of thin air, he has limitations of players not wanting to play in Edmonton, GMs not wanting to trade their players or asking for too much in return, etc.
Maybe - just maybe - we need to give the man more than one game to see if he can actually do something positive with this team and bring us out of the bottom heap eventually. But guess what? It might take a couple years. That’s a hard f***ing pill to swallow, agreed, but you can’t change the past, and Holland is the best chance we have right now.
Larsson, hurry up and get healthy!