Ken Holland rumored to join Utah front office

[MMC]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1836890229162332523

Click to read more...

 

[Bounces R Way]

maybe he just hates his grandkids or something

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

right now somewhere in Newfoundland, Dan Cleary is getting a phone call from a Salt Lake City area code

 

[hamzarocks]

maybe he just hates his grandkids or something

Yeah I cant imagine being as old as Holland/Lou/Poile and having made the money that they did in their careers and actually wanting a job lol

These guys are very wealthy. I can not understand why you would want to be part of NHL management team in late 60s to 80s.

 

[GarlicbreadTB]

Yeah I cant imagine being as old as Holland/Lou/Poile and having made the money that they did in their careers and actually wanting a job lol

These guys are very wealthy. I can not understand why you would want to be part of NHL management team in late 60s to 80s.

Lots of wealthy people just wanna to wake up in the morning and go to work. Don't just wanna sit around and do nothing or play bunch of golf.

 

[wonton15]

Utah has acquired Cody Ceci

 

[Voight]

Smith is relatively new to hockey so there's a chance this a "resume" hire i.e. sees that he was the GM of multiple cup winners and his now former team just made the finals.

Wouldn't be surprised if hes going to be the liaison between Bill Armstrong & Smith.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

Utah want Darnell Nurse?

 

[Brookbank]

maybe he just hates his grandkids or something

Haha yeah.

It must be the same old boring staff meetings with the same old sporting cliches, all the time as a hockey exec.

 

[red devil]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1836912475838500931

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Holland has the resume but he doesn’t have the one thing Utah covets above all for people working in their front office. The last name Armstrong.

 

[Mosby]

Bill Armstrong has done a very good job, but there is little in the organization to bounce ideas off of outside of Larry Pleau. I don't mind bringing in a voice with four rings.

 

[Soundwave]

Some people just like to be "in the mix", if you can still do something in your old age, I guess you should just keep on doing it if it makes you happy.

That said, he's lived a pretty charmed life as a hockey exec basically being gift wrapped Yzerman-Datsyuk + Lidstrom for most of his time in Detroit and then McDavid + Draisaitl all his time in Edmonton. Hockey life is not so easy when you don't have those security blankets.

 

[Euro Twins]

Good. Let him ruin another team.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Good. Let him ruin another team.

Teams where Ken Holland was heavily involved have won four cups and been to seven finals. People can get into the game has passed him by despite getting his latest team to the finals. I know superstars... But they couldn't consistently hit the playoffs until he showed up. I would think if he is on your advisory board as is this rumor that is a good thing. Devellano who I basically like to call drunk uncle still has always provided a lot of good insights and he did it at an advancing age. You look around the league and see several teams with these kind of guys.

I had hoped they might do the advisory role in Detroit that he had before going to Edmonton. I would have also put Dallas at the top of the list in this kind of capacity. Interesting for Utah, I really like the investments that the ownership is making out there.

 

[Soundwave]

Teams where Ken Holland was heavily involved have won four cups and been to seven finals. People can get into the game has passed him by despite getting his latest team to the finals. I know superstars... But they couldn't consistently hit the playoffs until he showed up. I would think if he is on your advisory board as is this rumor that is a good thing. Devellano who I basically like to call drunk uncle still has always provided a lot of good insights and he did it at an advancing age. You look around the league and see several teams with these kind of guys.

I had hoped they might do the advisory role in Detroit that he had before going to Edmonton. I would have also put Dallas at the top of the list in this kind of capacity. Interesting for Utah, I really like the investments that the ownership is making out there.

Granted though ... you almost have to try to f*** up a prime Lidstrom or prime McDavid + Draisaitl for your entire tenure almost. A lot of hockey execs probably look pretty smart in the situation given a long runway.

 

[SirKillalot]

That said, he's lived a pretty charmed life as a hockey exec basically being gift wrapped Yzerman-Datsyuk + Lidstrom for most of his time in Detroit

Gift wrapped?
He was part of the scouting staff drafting Lidstrom and he drafted Datsyuk.
Could they have won another couple of cups, sure. Were they more than competitive for other longer runs? Yes. But gift wrapped geez, head out of toilet please.

 

[Soundwave]

Gift wrapped?
He was part of the scouting staff drafting Lidstrom and he drafted Datsyuk.
Could they have won another couple of cups, sure. Were they more than competitive for other longer runs? Yes. But gift wrapped geez, head out of toilet please.

Judging by his drafting the past 12-15 years, he lost whatever draft touch he had a long time ago. I doubt he's the one that made the call on the Lidstrom pick was more likely one of their Euro scouts.

The Red Wings picked Mike Sillinger from Western Canada in 1989 (1st round 11th overall), he was a Western Canadian scout for the team then ... that wasn't exactly a slam dunk pick even though he eventually carved out a decent career for himself.

 

[SirKillalot]

Judging by his drafting the past 12-15 years, he lost whatever draft touch he had a long time ago.

Which has nothing to do with your terrible statement.
Lidstrom retired 12 years ago.

You claim he was gift wrapped and he wasn't. He was part of building the teams, first as a scout, then as Director of Amateur Scouting for 7 years and 3 years as Assistant GM prior to getting the GM job. Pretty sure he was part of the group choosing who to draft as head of the department...and later on as GM.

One can argue the misses in later half of his Detroit-career, but has nothing to do with your statement.

 

[Soundwave]

Which has nothing to do with your terrible statement.
Lidstrom retired 12 years ago.

You claim he was gift wrapped and he wasn't. He was part of building the teams, first as a scout, then as Director of Amateur Scouting for 7 years and 3 years as Assistant GM prior to getting the GM job. Pretty sure he was part of the group choosing who to draft as head of the department...and later on as GM.

One can argue the misses in later half of his Detroit-career, but has nothing to do with your statement.

I don't think he had much to do with the Lidstrom pick at all. Mike Sillinger and Bob Boughner (their 1st and 2nd round picks in 1989)? Sillinger likely for sure, Boughner maybe.

He was the Western Canadian scout, this is the 80s now too, where widespread video internet was not a thing, the Lidstrom pick was almost definitely their Euro scout(s).

 

[SirKillalot]

I don't think he had much to do with the Lidstrom pick at all. Mike Sillinger and Bob Boughner (their 1st and 2nd round picks in 1989)? Sillinger likely for sure, Boughner maybe.

He was the Western Canadian scout, this is the 80s now too, where widespread video internet was not a thing, the Lidstrom pick was almost definitely their Euro scout(s).

Pretty sure it was a team effort.

"Rockstrom, a modest man, downplays his role in “discovering” Nick Lidstrom. He admits he did scout him and liked what he saw, but drafting Lidstrom was not part of his job.

“Everybody saw him a year before he got drafted and he went through the draft but the draft was only three rounds for (European) players like that,” Rockstrom said. “So, we saw him and he wasn’t one of the players picked in the top three rounds so the next year, he had made a lot of progress.”

What Rockstrom liked in 19-year-old Lidstrom’s game was his hockey sense and (unflappable) personality. He couldn’t really find a glaring weakness in his game.

“It’s more Neil (Smith) and Kenny (Holland) than me. I recognized him obviously. I had him high on my list but then they were the people that picked and decided,” Rockstrom said. “We had meetings like we always had so it’s teamwork. I find the player, I recognize the talent, I bring it to the next guy and then they make the final decision. I’m a piece of the puzzle but I’m not the decision maker."

 

[Honour Over Glory]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1836890229162332523

Probably just Sr Advisor or some crap. Otherwise that would suck for Botterill.

 

[JasonDemersWasOkay]

I hope he destroys them

 

[Euro Twins]

Teams where Ken Holland was heavily involved have won four cups and been to seven finals. People can get into the game has passed him by despite getting his latest team to the finals. I know superstars... But they couldn't consistently hit the playoffs until he showed up. I would think if he is on your advisory board as is this rumor that is a good thing. Devellano who I basically like to call drunk uncle still has always provided a lot of good insights and he did it at an advancing age. You look around the league and see several teams with these kind of guys.

I had hoped they might do the advisory role in Detroit that he had before going to Edmonton. I would have also put Dallas at the top of the list in this kind of capacity. Interesting for Utah, I really like the investments that the ownership is making out there.

They tried to give him an advisory role in Detroit. He wanted to ruin his legacy.

You're not completely off base but 3 of those cups were won before the cap and 1997 was before he was gm. So really 98 team was not his team either. 2001/02 and 07/08 sure.

But he was too loyal to certain players prone to hand out horrible contracts like Abdelkader, and Weiss. Didn't have the balls to make a big trade and when we didn't land Suter he had no clue what to do after that.

Then he goes to Edmonton and gives out big contracts to Campbell and 9.25 to nurse.

He just can't manage a cap structure. The reason Edmonton went o the finals was because of McDavid.

Signing Bouchard to a 2 year deal because he deflated your cap on nurse and Campbell is going to kill that team after this season. Cause he's going to get paid, as will McDavid after this year.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

They tried to give him an advisory role in Detroit. He wanted to ruin his legacy.

You're not completely off base but 3 of those cups were won before the cap and 1997 was before he was gm. So really 98 team was not his team either. 2001/02 and 07/08 sure.

But he was too loyal to certain players prone to hand out horrible contracts like Abdelkader, and Weiss. Didn't have the balls to make a big trade and when we didn't land Suter he had no clue what to do after that.

Then he goes to Edmonton and gives out big contracts to Campbell and 9.25 to nurse.

He just can't manage a cap structure. The reason Edmonton went o the finals was because of McDavid.

Signing Bouchard to a 2 year deal because he deflated your cap on nurse and Campbell is going to kill that team after this season. Cause he's going to get paid, as will McDavid after this year.

He was the director of scouting. Holland didn’t ascend in Detroit because he had the wrong ideas. He helped turn around the talent, then after Devellano and Bowman ill-fated thoughts on trading Yzerman he gained more power before fully gaining control outside of the three gm setup. He hired Hakan Andersson and Jim Nill. His best talent was honestly surrounding himself with good people.

Hey people can continue this strange narrative. The guy is in the HHOF for a reason. Like I said people can say the game has passed him by, but he very clearly is one of the smarter hockey minds of my lifetime. So to get advice and to have as a sounding board isn’t a bad thing. This rumor doesn’t have him as an ultimate decision maker. It has him in the kind of role Devellano assumed in Detroit for a ton of years.