Refresh my memory...Since when has Holland preferred 'grit' over 'talent'?
Are you forgetting the massive multi-year contracts given to such notable offensive threats as Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader, Danny Dekeyser, and (thankfully expiring soon) Johnathan Ericsson? Especially the latter three.
Anyways, on the topic of the thread, I'd be all over getting Ron Hextall. Repeating Vegas is extremely unlikely, so it's better to bunker down and enter with the mindset of this being a multi-year project with a heavy focus on prospects and young talent. Hextall has shown he can take a prospect pool that has absolutely nothing in it and turn it into a top-5 pool in the league, and while he does tend to stick with a coach, this is not an issue for a rebuilding team. It's better to have a locker room that is great while sucking rather than being a desolate room.
If Hextall does not want the spot or his interview goes south, the next candidates I'd seriously consider would be Sean Burke or Trevor Timmins. I'd want both of these for the same reason as Hextall, to build an elite prospect pool to compete in the future with. TT also is currently a(n) AGM for Montreal, so he would have a few years experience before being hired as well, it wouldn't be a trial by fire.
Finally, I'd be cool with Gillis, if only because he seems to have actively made an attempt to become a modern-style GM as well as learn to embrace analytics as a tool.