All the jokes about Holland got so stale and predictable, but he's still doing it. It's wild.
The retreads like AA and Green that offered nothing. The loyalty deals. The overvaluing of veteran leadership. And now, if true, going all-in on Abdelkader 2.0.
Old dog, same tricks. He's not a disaster GM or a dumb guy, he's actually a thoughtful hockey guy and runs a good ship... And that's the most frustrating part because he can't seem to recognize his Achilles heel.
Have you ever worked on a project and NEEDED that friend/coworker to reign you in? To challenge your work and make sure you weren't falling into your usual shortcomings? The guy that lets you know when you're making a misstep and need to tweak something.
I feel like Holland needs that guy with him. Someone who can challenge him and say, "I get what you're going for, but is this our best option?"
Ken Holland is the George Lucas of general managers. He has unrivaled success. And Jar Jar Binks.
I think what we're forgetting about is that Detroit suffered a major brain drain at the executive level following that 2008 cup.
We had...
Devellano, Jim Nill, Joe McDonnell, Jim Bedard, Scotty Bowman, Steve Yzerman and Hakan Andersson
We lost Nill and McDonnell to the Stars who have had slightly mixed but mostly good results. Then Bedard was behind them shortly. Bowman left Detroit as a consultant to help his son Stan out in Chicago. Yzerman left in 2010 to take the reigns of Tampa.
Leftover: Hakan and Devellano as Detroit's most senior and skilled braintrust. Incoming promotion for Ryan Martin I have to wonder why he's still there. Also incoming after Nill and McDonnel leave is our beloved Tyler Wright. A few years as a development coach (believe it or not) and then 2 years of experience as director of scouting for the bluejackets from 2011 to 2013 before taking over in Detroit. The 2 best players he drafted were Josh Anderson and Boone Jenner in Columbus. And during the years that he was a development coach in Columbus they kinda...sucked.
Coaching staff was Babcock, Paul McLean, Todd McLellan.
McLean and McLellan went on to become very successful coaches in the NHL. The assistants that Babcock replaced them with were B level or worse. Remember Tom Renney and Bill "likes to throw the N word around" Peters? Or Jim Hiller and Tony Granato? Awesome strategists there. We got Blashill out of the deal, though!
I think Holland was more a collaborator in Detroit than we realize during the successful days. After the support apparatus around him left town that's when things started to go cattywompus. The smartest guys in the room all left and Holland didn't have anyone he could ask for a second or third opinion, and there wasn't anyone there telling him that Stephen Weiss or Dave Legwand would be a bad addition. Or that firing your coach is always an option.