https://preview.redd.it/nif89t58ry8d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=044b5177eb43b8793c2b9b02650d2cd3c879a161
Give Kane this many to come back
Holland took the oilers from the disaster Chiarelli left them in. Half ahl roster In cap hell------to game 7 of the Stanley cup finals in 5 years.
Hey if it were up to me he would re sign to finnish what he started. And get the oilers past game 7 next year
I feel like Ceci was pretty decent this playoffs via the eye test. But I suppose even he looks like a defensive stalwart when coupled with Darnell Nurse.
Right, he just took an Oilers team that missed the playoffs for two straight years before he took over, got them into the playoffs every year and after 5 years a win away from the cup.
Has he made some mistakes? Absolutely. But find me a GM that hasn't. Is the Campbell contract bad? Yes. How's the Zach Hyman contract? Evander Kane? Ekholm? You talk about draft capital, but he held onto Bouchard when some Oiler fans were screaming to trade him, same with Broberg who grew into exactly what the Oilers needed at the exact moment we needed him. Other GMs rush a guy like Broberg and would have already traded him.
I'm not saying Ken Holland doesn't make mistakes, but he at least makes progress. The Oilers got better every season he was here. There are far worse choices the Hawks could make than someone who already has experience building a team around a generational player.
Meh, call me disingenuous, but I'd argue that the Oilers' run was achieved *despite* being burdened with Holland, and he deserves very little credit.
And yes, I'd argue the very same for the Habs run in 2021 and Bergevin.
You'd be wrong. Look at the oilers roster today and compare it to chiarellis group 5 years ago. They used to be unable to even make the playoffs with Leon and connor.
One can just as easily argue that Draisaitl worked out how to produce on his own line, and having the the top two offensive centers in the league on your roster makes being a playoff team a rather low bar to reach. It’s possible for you to make decent decisions and that have little to do with the rise of an existing roster.
You’re a wings fan, so you should know better than this. I was a season ticket holder through the lean years. I watched his team’s raise 4 cups.
It’s pretty obvious to anyone paying attention the bad contracts were partially a mandate from ownership to keep the playoff streak alive. When we finally collapsed in 2017 holland did what all GMs do and sold everything that wasn’t stapled to the floor. He got great value for Tatar and accumulated a lot of the draft capital that Stevie then used and gets credit for making good picks on.
Did he have blunders? Yes. Franzen over Hossa. Zadina over Hughes. But at the time people forget those weren’t clear cut decisions.
If they scored 2 more goals yesterday the narrative would be how he managed to put a team around the stars and win instead of that team won in spite of his management. Ekholm, Kane and Hyman were good additions. Broberg was a good draft choice. Those were decisions holland was behind. Those decisions pushed his team within 2 goals of the cup.
It's just coincidence that the Holland era attracts good free agents, has featured the post-season every year, and a consistently improved team that makes it deeper and deeper.
Anyone could have built that... they just... didn't?
Might sound dumb, but if you have to have 3 guys break records, including *80s-era Gretzky & Kurri* records to get to the Cup finals, accounting for almost 70% of your team's offense, you haven't built a good team.
McDavid is beyond good, but if your team's success relies on a player - even him - breaking the Great One's records, what happens when he goes from godlike to 'merely' superhuman, or worse, what if he gets injured? You're left with a (begrudgingly) defensively solid team with a dearth of depth and only a couple high-danger threats. Edmonton's second and third line don't scare anyone like Tampa's or Colorado's cup-winning teams.
Yea, people are ignoring just how much McDavid and Draisaitl carried the Oilers through the playoffs. They don’t even make it to the final if McDavid and Draisaitl are even 5% off what they were in these playoffs.
How can people say Holland built a good team when the team can’t even trust it’s highest paid defenceman to play on the top pairing? A player that **he signed**. The four most important players for the Oilers cup run (McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard and Skinner) were already in the organization when Holland joined.
Holland hasn’t hurt the team but he’s absolutely reaping the benefits of having 2 of the 3 best players in the league in their prime. He’s riding the rising tide he had no part of creating and taking credit.
> McDavid and Draisaitl carried the Oilers through the playoffs
Did you even watch the Oilers all playoffs, or just spout off what you read on reddit? Yes, McDavid broke records, and Drai was great before his injuries. But the depth guys are who got us to game 7 of the finals. McDavid scored close to his usual rate, Leon was even lower. It just added to high totals due to playing more games than they had before.
McDavid
* 2024 playoff PPG: 1.68
* 2023 playoff PPG: 1.67
* 2022 playoff PPG: 2.06
* **Career** playoff PPG: 1.58
Drai
* 2024 playoff PPG: 1.24
* 2023 playoff PPG: 1.5
* 2022 playoff PPG: 2.0
* **Career** playoff PPG: 1.46
If you want to talk about players that Holland was responsible for bring in, lets take a look:
* Hyman, 16 goals 22 points
* Ekholm, 10 points, rock solid two-way defender
* Janmark, Henrique, Kane each had 4 goals, many at key moments. Janmark had two SHG. Kane missed time to injury, likely could have had more.
* Brown and Janmark led a record setting PK
* Key contributions from other guys like Kulak, Foegele, Perry. Pickard played well as backup when called upon.
Drai got 4 points against Dallas and I think 4 points against the Panthers ... so yea to you too. The Oilers have had great runs from McDavid and Drai in previous years too and they didn't make the finals. You know why? Because their depth sucked dick.
You're saying take the work of a bottom percentile GM and compare it with that of a very average to below-average GM. The Nurse and Campbell contracts are egregious.
How much of the success is due to his moves? Personally, I think there are other GMs that could've done better to build a solid supporting cast around McDavid/Draisatl. The Nurse contract alone puts the team in a tough spot going forward.
I wouldn't say he's done a bad job but I wouldn't say it was great either. Not a big loss
Nurse is slightly overpaid, and Campbells contact is horrible. But then you have guys like Hyman and Nuge who have great value, Ekholm trade was amazing, plus filling out the depth with impact players like Janmark, Brown, Kulak.
You're severely underestimating how hard McDrai carry. Each of them put up historic numbers (except for Drai in the finals).
As good as Hyman has been, Nurse has been just as detrimental.
As good as Skinner came up, Campbell's caphit handicapped them.
There’s worse choices in general sure, but for a team rebuilding with a shit load of picks and cap space he has to be one of highest on the keep him the fuck away list. Dude would blow the picks chasing some mediocre ass guy coming off an abnormally good season then sign that dude and 4 other similar free agents to fat deals leaving the team with no space to resign/extend Bedard/Vlasic.
If he’s coming in as some advisory role or into scouting or just about anything outside of making active roster decisions sure why not, but Davidson has been managing through this rebuild like an expert and put the team in probably the best position they could possibly be in at the moment. No reason to change anything
https://x.com/jayzawaski/status/1806029899137950059
> A high-ranking #Blackhawks source tells me there is no truth to this, adding that the rumor is “bizarre.”
Also subscribe. Edmonton signs a couple very good dmen with that cap space, and wins next year. Paul Maurice gets his wish that the jets win a cup in 2035. Maple leafs win a cup in 2064
This would *maybe* make sense in like 4 years when Bedard is entering his early prime and all of their prospects and picks are starting to emerge as NHL contributors. He’s shown that even with boneheaded moves he can can build around an elite core into true contenders.
But now?! Last thing the Hawks should do is totally force things. Their prospects are too young and the rest of their roster is too shit to make it worth pushing for the playoffs. Their goal should be for their young teens to take another step while still sucking enough for a high puck (like the Habs did)
FWIW, Barstool Chief says this is untrue via his source. He’s not the most reliable but this seems more black and white as opposed to something like trade, signing, or draft rumors
CHGO goes live with Craig Button in a couple minutes, they’re opinionated but they do have reliable sources within the org. I’m sure we’ll get a straight answer soon.
Kind of feels like he bumbled into that position rather than out-managed the rest of the league to get there. In other words, imagine if Zito had been handed a roster with McDavid and Draisaitl on it 5 years ago.
Yeah, if Edmonton won the cup, it would probably be the weakest on paper team to do so in a while. Now I don’t mean weak like they have no business being there, because they beat everyone else, what I mean is they have 4 top 6 forwards, 2 top 4 d men in Ekholm and Bouchard and a bunch of 5-6 d men in the rest. Their goaltending is subpar at best and people are acting like that’s an elite team that Holland built. The team made it to the finals in spite of Holland’s team construction, not because of it.
The weakest on paper ≠ reddit opinions
I mean they occupied the top 4 scoring wise with 3 players above 30. 2 of them breaking legendary records in Coffey and Gretzky.
13 different goal scorers is the most by any team too
People are acting like the Oilers were a wagon this season because the Oilers were a wagon this season. You want to rag on Holland, be my guest, I'm not that emotionally invested, but the guy took over management of a team that was already anchored down by some bad contracts and had a lot of bad players on it and turned it into a team that almost won the cup. I'd take him on my team. And yea sure, I'd take Bill Zito too lol ... like that's the benchmark and Holland fell one game short of it? Bill Zito also lost the cup last season.
Because he has arguably the two best players in the league and has made enough major blunders that had he done a better job maybe Edmonton doesn't come up 2 goals short.
Too many people playing EA games think they know how to GM. He's made far more good decisions than bad and the team made progress every year during his time, ultimately coming one win from a cup. He steadied a franchise that was so chaotic for so long. It's mind boggling to see someone as respected around the league as Holland is, have as long a track record of success as Holland has, be constantly shat on by internet trolls. He's not infallible but he's destined for the hall of fame, that kind of person is valuable to have in any organization.
A better question is why aren’t oiler fans furious with him? They lost the cup by one goal with 5 mill on a buried goalie (not even a backup) and a 9 mill green jacket contending dman. Even just allocating the Campbell money somewhere even remotely useful probably seals the oilers a cup.
Bc hiveminds are gonna hivemind. Reddit will bend over backwards to defend Kyle “can’t get past the first round” Dubas and shit on Kenny “4 cups and oh by the way Datsyuk and Zetterberg” Holland. It’s nonsense but they want the young analytics zealot to be their King
The Holland slander in the thread is outrageous. Holland is a good gm. Made the oilers a cup contender for years to come. A couple bad signings blinds people to some of the masterclass trades and signings that man has made. Literally a hall of fame gm.
Same with the Wings. He came in after the '97 Cup, but was responsible for the trades and draft picks that kept them competitive after that - Chelios, Hasek, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, making sure players like Lidstrom didn't flee the coop.. And people dump on him for the end of his tenure here, except Holland was clearly under orders to keep the team in the playoffs from Mike Illitch, the dying owner who didn't want to see his teams be lousy while he was still alive. (It's not a coincidence the Wings and Tigers, two different teams in different sports with different GMs, both tried to stay competitive years past when they should have and both ripped the rebuild band-aid off almost immediately after Illitch passed away.)
I’ll pass. The only reason he had any sort of success with the Oilers is because they lucked into four first overall picks in six years, one of which was Connor McDavid.
Yeah I was scrolling these comments for fun and surprisingly little people seem to be pointing out that Chicago already has a GM and he not only hasn't been fired but doesn't seem like he will be any time soon.
Doesn’t automatically mean he’s becoming gm. Could be another role like a consultant, or any vacant role the hawks have available. Could also be fake and this is nothing more than a rumour too. We shall wait and see lol.
It’s Reddit man, do you really expect people to read and interpret things before they make an opinion? I don’t haha. The top of the post even says “position to be determined” so assuming the rumour is true, they don’t know what his job will be yet.
I would assume its a President of Hockey Ops role, since i don’t see Kyle Davidson going anywhere (yet)
The Blackhawks also currently dont have a President of Hockey Ops, so it makes sense.
He may not have been the GM or decision maker, but he was still in that room and knew what everyone else knew. I’m not telling anyone how to feel about him, I’m just saying I was surprised nobody cared in Winnipeg.
Congratulations to the Edmonton Oilers on Ken Holland's departure. Sorry that you'll still be dealing with some of his poor decisions (ie. Nurse) for years to come.
Sweet, he can overpay some 30 year olds on contracts for too damn long. That way when Bedard's contract is up in 2030, he can come here instead. Thanks Holland.
The best playeron earth?! Wow, I can’t wait to see how many assists he gets with the Hawks, cuz, you know, youonly get an assist if the guy scores off your pass. That was Kane’s issue, he’d get the puck, look around, and think “Jeez, none of these guys can finish.” And off to Detroit he went.
For what role and what fucking purpose, though?
8x8 extension for Nick Foligno incoming, obviously.
Don’t forget the NMC
Who could forget the NMC?
Not Kenny! He made sure Dan Cleary always got his.
Abdelkader 😟
Him too! Only two more years left on that cap!
Will probably give Samsonov the Campbell contract as well…
General manager of concession sales
I would rather take Jimmy Wichard from King of the Hill tbh
https://preview.redd.it/nif89t58ry8d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=044b5177eb43b8793c2b9b02650d2cd3c879a161 Give Kane this many to come back
Start selling some Sodas Tommy!
55378008
Holland took the oilers from the disaster Chiarelli left them in. Half ahl roster In cap hell------to game 7 of the Stanley cup finals in 5 years. Hey if it were up to me he would re sign to finnish what he started. And get the oilers past game 7 next year
GM. Davidson promoted to President of Hockey Ops to focus more broadly on operations. Holland to assume primary roster management duties.
No thank you
Overruled, let's give him a decade.
GM of Janitors maybe. Davidson is doing great as GM no need to put Holland in any position dealing with the roster
Wearing the Tommy Hawk suit on weekends.
How good is his wrestling with fans?
Trading Bedard for Dan Cleary.
To make sure another generational Conner doesn’t win anything
Left wing. At least he would do less damage there...
Right? They already signed their Darnell Nurse contract with Seth Jones.
Technically Nurse signed a Seth Jones contract👀
He only works with fresh generational talents. To mould them into something less than their full potential.
Repeat his success with Mcdavid. Clearly knows how to surround generational talent…… with anchor contracts
For a pizza pie. Gonna be positioned at the bar.
8x8 Duncan Keith revenge tour
Jay Zawaski already debunked it. I'm sure they're looking for a team president. I'm surprised wirtz is still doing it tbh.
[18 days as senior vice president](https://www.capfriendly.com/staff/ken-holland)
Chaos baby
Head of vacuum sales.
Fuck it, play-by-play guy.
Few people I’d trust less with all that cap space and draft capital than Ken Holland.
Slaps roof "this bad boy can fit so many horribly overpaid depth players" -Ken
Hawks next team to sign Cody Ceci then
If I were a Hawks fan, I was be super stoked for Duncan Keith’s triumphant return to Chicago.
To be fair, Ceci did have an amazing assist on Janmark's goal! The only goal Edm scored in Game 7
That's Mr. Game 7 Cody Ceci you're talking about!
Oh totally! I’m happy he’s experienced much more playoff success now he’s left my awful Leafs haha
I feel like Ceci was pretty decent this playoffs via the eye test. But I suppose even he looks like a defensive stalwart when coupled with Darnell Nurse.
Ceci has as many game 7 goals in the last 5 years as the Leafs
Cody Ceci being on during the final two minutes of a finals game 7 was a sight
"Overpaid 35 year old depth players." Fixed that for you.
Bah gawd that’s Daniel Cleary’s music
Do it! First order of business, Detroit trades for Campbell.
Peter Chiarelli has entered the chat
Just Chiarelli things.
Pain.
Right, he just took an Oilers team that missed the playoffs for two straight years before he took over, got them into the playoffs every year and after 5 years a win away from the cup. Has he made some mistakes? Absolutely. But find me a GM that hasn't. Is the Campbell contract bad? Yes. How's the Zach Hyman contract? Evander Kane? Ekholm? You talk about draft capital, but he held onto Bouchard when some Oiler fans were screaming to trade him, same with Broberg who grew into exactly what the Oilers needed at the exact moment we needed him. Other GMs rush a guy like Broberg and would have already traded him. I'm not saying Ken Holland doesn't make mistakes, but he at least makes progress. The Oilers got better every season he was here. There are far worse choices the Hawks could make than someone who already has experience building a team around a generational player.
Meh, call me disingenuous, but I'd argue that the Oilers' run was achieved *despite* being burdened with Holland, and he deserves very little credit. And yes, I'd argue the very same for the Habs run in 2021 and Bergevin.
You'd be wrong. Look at the oilers roster today and compare it to chiarellis group 5 years ago. They used to be unable to even make the playoffs with Leon and connor.
Call me crazy but a team in the position of the Blackhawks should probably aim higher than "better than chiarelli" with their gm
Call me crazy but going from a lotto team to a cup favorite is a good gm.
One can just as easily argue that Draisaitl worked out how to produce on his own line, and having the the top two offensive centers in the league on your roster makes being a playoff team a rather low bar to reach. It’s possible for you to make decent decisions and that have little to do with the rise of an existing roster.
Cool. Our depth is what beat Dallas and kept us alive against Florida in games 6 and 7
oilers fans make trading for depth sound like the most impossible task ever
I mean, no shit. Do you know anything about the Oilers?
You’re a wings fan, so you should know better than this. I was a season ticket holder through the lean years. I watched his team’s raise 4 cups. It’s pretty obvious to anyone paying attention the bad contracts were partially a mandate from ownership to keep the playoff streak alive. When we finally collapsed in 2017 holland did what all GMs do and sold everything that wasn’t stapled to the floor. He got great value for Tatar and accumulated a lot of the draft capital that Stevie then used and gets credit for making good picks on. Did he have blunders? Yes. Franzen over Hossa. Zadina over Hughes. But at the time people forget those weren’t clear cut decisions. If they scored 2 more goals yesterday the narrative would be how he managed to put a team around the stars and win instead of that team won in spite of his management. Ekholm, Kane and Hyman were good additions. Broberg was a good draft choice. Those were decisions holland was behind. Those decisions pushed his team within 2 goals of the cup.
The whole “Kenny hasn’t actually done anything in his career and teams were good in spite of him” narrative has gotten real old.
It's just coincidence that the Holland era attracts good free agents, has featured the post-season every year, and a consistently improved team that makes it deeper and deeper. Anyone could have built that... they just... didn't?
Might sound dumb, but if you have to have 3 guys break records, including *80s-era Gretzky & Kurri* records to get to the Cup finals, accounting for almost 70% of your team's offense, you haven't built a good team. McDavid is beyond good, but if your team's success relies on a player - even him - breaking the Great One's records, what happens when he goes from godlike to 'merely' superhuman, or worse, what if he gets injured? You're left with a (begrudgingly) defensively solid team with a dearth of depth and only a couple high-danger threats. Edmonton's second and third line don't scare anyone like Tampa's or Colorado's cup-winning teams.
Yea, people are ignoring just how much McDavid and Draisaitl carried the Oilers through the playoffs. They don’t even make it to the final if McDavid and Draisaitl are even 5% off what they were in these playoffs. How can people say Holland built a good team when the team can’t even trust it’s highest paid defenceman to play on the top pairing? A player that **he signed**. The four most important players for the Oilers cup run (McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard and Skinner) were already in the organization when Holland joined. Holland hasn’t hurt the team but he’s absolutely reaping the benefits of having 2 of the 3 best players in the league in their prime. He’s riding the rising tide he had no part of creating and taking credit.
The Oilers would never have reached the Finals or Game 7 without the contribution of their depth players and their defense.
> McDavid and Draisaitl carried the Oilers through the playoffs Did you even watch the Oilers all playoffs, or just spout off what you read on reddit? Yes, McDavid broke records, and Drai was great before his injuries. But the depth guys are who got us to game 7 of the finals. McDavid scored close to his usual rate, Leon was even lower. It just added to high totals due to playing more games than they had before. McDavid * 2024 playoff PPG: 1.68 * 2023 playoff PPG: 1.67 * 2022 playoff PPG: 2.06 * **Career** playoff PPG: 1.58 Drai * 2024 playoff PPG: 1.24 * 2023 playoff PPG: 1.5 * 2022 playoff PPG: 2.0 * **Career** playoff PPG: 1.46 If you want to talk about players that Holland was responsible for bring in, lets take a look: * Hyman, 16 goals 22 points * Ekholm, 10 points, rock solid two-way defender * Janmark, Henrique, Kane each had 4 goals, many at key moments. Janmark had two SHG. Kane missed time to injury, likely could have had more. * Brown and Janmark led a record setting PK * Key contributions from other guys like Kulak, Foegele, Perry. Pickard played well as backup when called upon.
Drai got 4 points against Dallas and I think 4 points against the Panthers ... so yea to you too. The Oilers have had great runs from McDavid and Drai in previous years too and they didn't make the finals. You know why? Because their depth sucked dick.
Discounting the blue line he built, and the 95% PK. This run was a whole team effort. If you don't think so, you didn't watch the games.
You're saying take the work of a bottom percentile GM and compare it with that of a very average to below-average GM. The Nurse and Campbell contracts are egregious.
> call me disingenuous Will do.
How much of the success is due to his moves? Personally, I think there are other GMs that could've done better to build a solid supporting cast around McDavid/Draisatl. The Nurse contract alone puts the team in a tough spot going forward. I wouldn't say he's done a bad job but I wouldn't say it was great either. Not a big loss
Nurse is slightly overpaid, and Campbells contact is horrible. But then you have guys like Hyman and Nuge who have great value, Ekholm trade was amazing, plus filling out the depth with impact players like Janmark, Brown, Kulak.
Darnell Nurse would like to speak to you sir
You're severely underestimating how hard McDrai carry. Each of them put up historic numbers (except for Drai in the finals). As good as Hyman has been, Nurse has been just as detrimental. As good as Skinner came up, Campbell's caphit handicapped them.
There’s worse choices in general sure, but for a team rebuilding with a shit load of picks and cap space he has to be one of highest on the keep him the fuck away list. Dude would blow the picks chasing some mediocre ass guy coming off an abnormally good season then sign that dude and 4 other similar free agents to fat deals leaving the team with no space to resign/extend Bedard/Vlasic. If he’s coming in as some advisory role or into scouting or just about anything outside of making active roster decisions sure why not, but Davidson has been managing through this rebuild like an expert and put the team in probably the best position they could possibly be in at the moment. No reason to change anything
Yeah he was/is hamstrung by some bad signings by his predecessor. Nurse’s awful contract still has a number of years left.
Detroit fans have seen this post before.
Jim Benning?
Yeah, all of those Stanley Cup championships he's won are a bad look, aren't they?
The guy gets ragged on a lot but he took a pretty terrible Oilers team and inked them all the way to within 1 win of the SCF. I think he did well.
If he’s a consultant guy okay as long as we do the opposite of what he says
As long as we’re learning lessons one way, doesn’t matter if it’s listening to someone or doing the opposite of what they tell you lol.
Bruh.
This is your punishment since you ended up with Bedard after the last thing
He is a secret agent meant to keep the next potential greats from passing Wayne by filling their teams with meh
Sleeper agent Holland bout to trade Bedard to the Oilers for Nurse.
The trade is 1 for 1
Nah Holland will throw in a few firsts. He hates drafting in the first round...too much pressure
He's gonna trade bedard to Detroit, excuse me!
With a second
Chicago thought they could dodge Karma forever. Ken Holland is your guy!
We get Kane and they get Holland.
Had Kane\* currently in limbo. We do have Cat though.
The trade was 1-for-1
https://x.com/jayzawaski/status/1806029899137950059 > A high-ranking #Blackhawks source tells me there is no truth to this, adding that the rumor is “bizarre.”
Ken Holland shouldn't be allowed within 100ft of the Blackhawks cap space, prospects and picks
counterpoint: it would be hilarious
Watch him trade away picks and prospects for Nurse
Subscribe
Also subscribe. Edmonton signs a couple very good dmen with that cap space, and wins next year. Paul Maurice gets his wish that the jets win a cup in 2035. Maple leafs win a cup in 2064
I’m cool with it tbh
We caught Chicago with a stray - sorry!
This would *maybe* make sense in like 4 years when Bedard is entering his early prime and all of their prospects and picks are starting to emerge as NHL contributors. He’s shown that even with boneheaded moves he can can build around an elite core into true contenders. But now?! Last thing the Hawks should do is totally force things. Their prospects are too young and the rest of their roster is too shit to make it worth pushing for the playoffs. Their goal should be for their young teens to take another step while still sucking enough for a high puck (like the Habs did)
FWIW, Barstool Chief says this is untrue via his source. He’s not the most reliable but this seems more black and white as opposed to something like trade, signing, or draft rumors
The CHGO chicago guys are reporting that they have a high-ranking Blackhawks source saying this is false.
CHGO goes live with Craig Button in a couple minutes, they’re opinionated but they do have reliable sources within the org. I’m sure we’ll get a straight answer soon.
End me
Dude’s team was literally one game from winning the cup why are people so negative on this?
Kind of feels like he bumbled into that position rather than out-managed the rest of the league to get there. In other words, imagine if Zito had been handed a roster with McDavid and Draisaitl on it 5 years ago.
Yeah, if Edmonton won the cup, it would probably be the weakest on paper team to do so in a while. Now I don’t mean weak like they have no business being there, because they beat everyone else, what I mean is they have 4 top 6 forwards, 2 top 4 d men in Ekholm and Bouchard and a bunch of 5-6 d men in the rest. Their goaltending is subpar at best and people are acting like that’s an elite team that Holland built. The team made it to the finals in spite of Holland’s team construction, not because of it.
The weakest on paper ≠ reddit opinions I mean they occupied the top 4 scoring wise with 3 players above 30. 2 of them breaking legendary records in Coffey and Gretzky. 13 different goal scorers is the most by any team too
People are acting like the Oilers were a wagon this season because the Oilers were a wagon this season. You want to rag on Holland, be my guest, I'm not that emotionally invested, but the guy took over management of a team that was already anchored down by some bad contracts and had a lot of bad players on it and turned it into a team that almost won the cup. I'd take him on my team. And yea sure, I'd take Bill Zito too lol ... like that's the benchmark and Holland fell one game short of it? Bill Zito also lost the cup last season.
Bill Zito still wasted two first round picks on Ben Chiarot and Claude Giroux. Every Gm has bad moves.
Because he has arguably the two best players in the league and has made enough major blunders that had he done a better job maybe Edmonton doesn't come up 2 goals short.
Too many people playing EA games think they know how to GM. He's made far more good decisions than bad and the team made progress every year during his time, ultimately coming one win from a cup. He steadied a franchise that was so chaotic for so long. It's mind boggling to see someone as respected around the league as Holland is, have as long a track record of success as Holland has, be constantly shat on by internet trolls. He's not infallible but he's destined for the hall of fame, that kind of person is valuable to have in any organization.
A better question is why aren’t oiler fans furious with him? They lost the cup by one goal with 5 mill on a buried goalie (not even a backup) and a 9 mill green jacket contending dman. Even just allocating the Campbell money somewhere even remotely useful probably seals the oilers a cup.
Bc hiveminds are gonna hivemind. Reddit will bend over backwards to defend Kyle “can’t get past the first round” Dubas and shit on Kenny “4 cups and oh by the way Datsyuk and Zetterberg” Holland. It’s nonsense but they want the young analytics zealot to be their King
This is made up. Fake news!
Rebuild is over I guess
Blackhawks legend Corey Perry will return to Chicago to lead them to the Stanley Cup Final.
And then lose as is tradition.
The Holland slander in the thread is outrageous. Holland is a good gm. Made the oilers a cup contender for years to come. A couple bad signings blinds people to some of the masterclass trades and signings that man has made. Literally a hall of fame gm.
One bad signing is worse than four great ones apparently.
Same with the Wings. He came in after the '97 Cup, but was responsible for the trades and draft picks that kept them competitive after that - Chelios, Hasek, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, making sure players like Lidstrom didn't flee the coop.. And people dump on him for the end of his tenure here, except Holland was clearly under orders to keep the team in the playoffs from Mike Illitch, the dying owner who didn't want to see his teams be lousy while he was still alive. (It's not a coincidence the Wings and Tigers, two different teams in different sports with different GMs, both tried to stay competitive years past when they should have and both ripped the rebuild band-aid off almost immediately after Illitch passed away.)
Nice, he can ruin another generational player’s chances for a cup
You’re thinking Chiarelli
I’ll pass. The only reason he had any sort of success with the Oilers is because they lucked into four first overall picks in six years, one of which was Connor McDavid.
Fuuuuuuuck yes
Get ready to stock up on ex-Leafs
Hi Mitch - I traded you to Chicago…
Justin Holl? You are a Blackhawk!
Holland for Bedard. The trade is one for one.
Nurse and Campbell for Mrazek and Donato
Why do people think even if this rumor is true that he'd be somehow replacing Davidson as GM? Makes absolutely zero sense.
Yeah I was scrolling these comments for fun and surprisingly little people seem to be pointing out that Chicago already has a GM and he not only hasn't been fired but doesn't seem like he will be any time soon.
He's barely even begun.
Doesn’t automatically mean he’s becoming gm. Could be another role like a consultant, or any vacant role the hawks have available. Could also be fake and this is nothing more than a rumour too. We shall wait and see lol.
Well yeah but most of the comments are acting as if he would be hired as GM.
It’s Reddit man, do you really expect people to read and interpret things before they make an opinion? I don’t haha. The top of the post even says “position to be determined” so assuming the rumour is true, they don’t know what his job will be yet.
*And when I’m back in Chicaaaaago I feel it*
I've been coasting off mcdavid for long enough, time to start coasting off Bedard
Blackhawks what are you doing bby.
Congrats, Oilers fans This is your Stanley Cup
Holland’s contracts: Hyman: 😀 Kane: 🤔 Ceci: 🤕 Nurse: 😵 Skinner: *Emoji with an expression of utter despair*
How long before Holland again goes after generational free agent Corey Perry? He'd be a great fit on a Chicago team with so many young guns.
“Good for the room.”
HELL YEAH
Did he get fired form the Oilers and i just missed it? also Chicago why? you can do better than Ken
His contract expires this week
Contract expiring this week and barring an extension between now and the draft which is a few days away, he’s not even going to be there apparently.
***Please*** let him be their new GM lmfao
First task of business sign their worst dman to an 8 years 90 million dollar contract
This smells like one of those rumors that people float to their staff to see who’s repeating insider info, lol.
I prayed for this and it happened
CM Punk skates out in a referees shirt to screw the Oilers during next year’s finals.
Both of Phil's ankles would break if he tried to skate
The Anti-Lil Naitch.
LMAO
So this is Chicago's punishment then huh
Don't worry Hawks bros. Maybe they're planning to play him at wing or something.
this gotta be BS
Please God nooooo!!!! NOOOO!!!!
Darren Helms phone bout to blow up with contract offers to play 12 minutes a season
Just in: Bedard demand trade
Please let him be their new GM.
No thx
I would assume its a President of Hockey Ops role, since i don’t see Kyle Davidson going anywhere (yet) The Blackhawks also currently dont have a President of Hockey Ops, so it makes sense.
Is Ken holland not currently employed?
His deal is done June 30/24 and the Oilers aren’t re-signing him
Am I high as fuck, is Kyle Davidson gone? Why does everyone assume it’s for GM
How do we also add Babcock to this soup caldron?
I love this for them, and for me
Idk how the Blackhawks haven’t thrown money at Cheveldayoff until he comes back to Chicago
I’m surprised Chevy still has a job after the Beach stuff.
He was personally exonerated by the league [source](https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/cheveldayoff-nhl-1.6229885)
He may not have been the GM or decision maker, but he was still in that room and knew what everyone else knew. I’m not telling anyone how to feel about him, I’m just saying I was surprised nobody cared in Winnipeg.
Congratulations to the Edmonton Oilers on Ken Holland's departure. Sorry that you'll still be dealing with some of his poor decisions (ie. Nurse) for years to come.
Multiple Hawks beats said this is fake news.
About time Chicago is punished for their cover ups
8x8 for Anthanasiou
Holland to Blackhawks, Oilers forfeit a 3rd, Nurse suspended a game
As it should be.
Chicago would you like Nurse 👀
Holland about to give Seth Jones another contract extension so he can stay in Chicago for the next 18 years.
Dan Cleary could bring a nice veteran presence to that locker room. Is he still around?
Hire him as a janitor.
Sweet, he can overpay some 30 year olds on contracts for too damn long. That way when Bedard's contract is up in 2030, he can come here instead. Thanks Holland.
McDavid to Chicago confirmed
The best playeron earth?! Wow, I can’t wait to see how many assists he gets with the Hawks, cuz, you know, youonly get an assist if the guy scores off your pass. That was Kane’s issue, he’d get the puck, look around, and think “Jeez, none of these guys can finish.” And off to Detroit he went.
Excuse me?
Well I’m a blues fan and that’s great news!!! He will drop the ball with making the other Conner a champion as well!!!
Incoming Mikheyev 8x8
Can he score any goals? Cuz that’s what we need…
No. Please don't. He *must* remain in Edmonton. Don't take this away from me.