Ken Holland will Not Return to the Oilers

[Bryanbryoil]

RELEASE: Oilers issue statement regarding Ken Holland | Edmonton Oilers

CEO of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson has released a statement regarding President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Ken Holland

www.nhl.com

I guess we'll see who takes the reigns soon enough.

Click to read more...

 

[ZJuice]

I am neutral on Holland. Loved him (for Ekholm and the role players) and also hated his guts (Nurse, Campbell). Balances out

 

[MoontoScott]

RELEASE: Oilers issue statement regarding Ken Holland | Edmonton Oilers

CEO of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson has released a statement regarding President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Ken Holland

www.nhl.com

I guess we'll see who takes the reigns soon enough.

I wish the guy all the best but its time to move on.

In terms of Ken's grade (Cult of Hockey stuff but hopefully not as biased as Staples) I would rate him as somewhere around a B or B-. Not great but a lot better than some of the guys who have sat in that chair in the last 20 years.

He did some good things for the organization. Yes, he was gifted two of the best players in the World but before he got here that wasn't working too well. 3 appearances in the final 8 in the last 3 seasons has to count for something.

His Kane and Hyman deals will always rate (in my mind) as good. Obviously the Ekholm trade was solid as well. Brown (free agent) and Henrique trade) turned out alright as well even though I (and many others) were critical of the deals upon early inspection.

His cap management and trading abilities left something to be desired (on other deals, every poster knows the details) but really, when was the last time that the Oiler organization "stole" someone in a trade? It wasn't too often. The Viking might be the closest to a steal in a long time.

It was common place for Oiler GMs to overpay but then again when you don't play in the Sun Belt then perhaps some of that is to be expected.

I hope a younger guy will be a tougher negotiator and more "arms length" towards the players. Like all good bosses-- friendly towards you but not your buddy. I think that is something that was always missing here and ultimately hurt the club.

 

[Anemia]

Good f***ing riddance. Maybe the next GM will have a clue how to fill team gaps at the trade deadline. Just a horrible hire from day 1.

 

[McDrailers]

Is this the Stanley cup? No.

Will I treat this like we won the cup? Yes.

 

[Hollywood55]

Thanks for leaving us with 14 mil between nurse and Campbell you dolt. Okay he wasn't the worst gm ever but he made some bad signings that hurt this team's cap for years.

 

[oXo Cube]

Probably the second best GM this team has ever had.

Which is pretty damn sad because he was still more bad than good.

 

[syz]

Can he take Nicholson with him?

 

[Drivesaitl]

The analysis isn't being fair. We hit a homerun on getting Kane in a ballsy move when few other teams would. We got Nuge at considerable discount and in the apparent best phase of hic career. Bot Barrie, Got Ekholm, Flipped the switch twice on coaching to get the most out of the group.

Even guys like Janmark, getting and retaining those deserves credit.

Campbell I put on Holland, but I also put it on the org, and Woodcroft who had his other guy and was going to favor tht guy all the time. Either miscommunication or something. Holland also got Pickard in here for cheap and possibly in response to coach not trusting Campbell.

Nurse contract, what can I say. At time of contract his rumored valuation was around +8. Overpay sure, but at the time it wasn't as clear by how much. Nurse is the unpredictable example of a player that got rich and lost the fire. You can't really tell which players will do that. Nurse clearly thinks his quality of life and health is more important than punching donkeys, being uber physical and digging into the wars. At some point he backed off into passive. Terrible, but what can you do? Who knew for sure that was going to happen?

 

[timekeep]

Can he take Nicholson with him?

He has been gone all year.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

anywhere to watch the press conference for those without Oilers+?

Sports 1440 but it's audio only

 

[Drivesaitl]

anywhere to watch the press conference for those without Oilers+?

Sports 1440 but it's audio only

lol, is it only on pay? Predictable from the org. They get millions of bucks from fans emptying out their pockets all season and postseason and paying drastically elevated prices and for all that dedication the team wants more bucks just to see basic press conferences that every other team and this one used to just offer up for free? lol If this is pay only the org deserves nobody watching it.

 

[Forgot About Drai]

Very mid GM. Good but not good enough for the modern NHL where every inch counts.

 

[Hollywood55]

anywhere to watch the press conference for those without Oilers+?

Sports 1440 but it's audio only

They usually upload it to the YouTube channel after it's done

 

[RipsADrive]

Mixed feelings for me.

Some embarrassing blunders along the way, but I think ultimately he accomplished what he was hired to do by turning a cratering team into one that could win the cup without needing to catch lightning in a bottle. If we're being realistic, it's hard to look at his time here being anything but a success.

Right time to part ways though. Hope the next GM will be able to retain the good rapport Holland has with players, but be more savvy of a cap and asset manager.

 

[TheNumber4]

I always wanted to a do a final Holland report card. Should be a fun excercise, I’ll get to to do that now.

Holland was a mixed bag. Some great moves, some pretty bad. No GM bats .100 though. I hoped he’d stay on for his connections, cause I do think there’s value there and it helped us complete the Ekholm trade.

 

[5 14 6 1]

I always wanted to a do a final Holland report card. Should be a fun excercise, I’ll get to to do that now.

Holland was a mixed bag. Some great moves, some pretty bad. No GM bats .100 though. I hoped he’d stay on for his connections, cause I do think there’s value there and it helped us complete the Ekholm trade.

I give him a B for his tenure

 

[WaitingForUser]

I give him a B for his tenure

This is fair

 

[Tarus]

Writing was on the wall for this back when Jackson was hired, though it wasn't fully apparent until the Woodcroft firing when Holland looked like he was sitting in on the press conference just for appearances.

People fixate on his mistakes, but he took a team utterly gutted by Chiarelli and turned it into a contender that was within half a game of winning a cup. I hope the Oilers can hire someone better(and more aggressive) to replace him, but in a league full of recycled idiots who get passed around from job to job because of who they know rather than what they're capable of, there is just as much of a chance that they find someone worse.

 

[Hollywood55]

I give him a B for his tenure

I give him a slight bump if Holloway and Broberg are full time nhlers next year

Writing was on the wall for this back when Jackson was fired, though it wasn't fully apparent until the Woodcroft firing when Holland looked like he was sitting in on the press conference just for appearances.

People fixate on his mistakes, but he took a team utterly gutted by Chiarelli and turned it into a contender that was within half a game of winning a cup. I hope the Oilers can hire someone better(and more aggressive) to replace him, but in a league full of recycled idiots who get passed around from job to job because of who they know rather than what they're capable of, there is just as much of a chance that they find someone worse.

On your second paragraph, at least the oilers aren't afraid to give new guys a chance- Knoblauch, Woody, Jackson. Maybe we'll get somebody fresh at gm.

 

[MoontoScott]

I give him a B for his tenure

Great minds think alike

 

[sepHF]

a few gaffs but i thought Holland did good overall

could've been a lot better if he wasn't so tied to Wright, but his trades were pretty solid and some decent UFA signings too. If he had a team that could actually draft he'd be a great GM

excited to see who takes the helm next. It is a little concerning they're about to head into UFA period without an obvious replacement as no player in their right mind is going to sign a contract with a team when they dont even know who the GM is going to be

 

[BlackDogg]

Walking away from the Campbell signing eh

If he had gotten a number one goalie, Oilers probably won the cup. Too many wasted games in there and it proved one too many for Connor and Leon.

 

[Tarus]

On your second paragraph, at least the oilers aren't afraid to give new guys a chance- Knoblauch, Woody, Jackson. Maybe we'll get somebody fresh at gm.

Tough to say what Jackson is going to do, he has no track record outside of being a long time Knoblauch fanboy from when he was an agent. His first real internal executive hiring won't even have anything to do tomorrow on day one of the draft.

Sounds like he's going to do an actual GM search with interviews, so we'll see what he goes with. At least we can expect(hope) he won't just get distracted mid process by his friends from hockey Canada calling him up asking for the job this time

 

[Hollywood55]

anywhere to watch the press conference for those without Oilers+?

Sports 1440 but it's audio only

If you haven't seen it yet-