Confirmed with Link Kings name Holland their 10th GM in History

Wow, there sure is a lot of love for Blake. The guy who started us into a rebuild, ended it too soon, and now we're stuck in the mushy middle with no impact prospects on the horizon. We're Islanders West minus the #1 overall pick.

Hopefully Holland can be as good as the GM who left us capped out with dollar tree goalies, missing a right hand scoring forward for 2 years, and never weaponized cap space when it was decided to tank.

We're replacing one middle of the pack GM with another. It's the generally uninspired move that is a hallmark of the past decade in Kings history.
 
Lots of people dismissing Holland before he even gets a chance. We don't know what the conversations are like btw him and Luc (and the ownership). His vision may be winning them over. However, lets look at what Holland has done in Edmonton:
The good:
Connor McDavid & Leon Draisaitl Era: Holland inherited two generational talents and managed to build a more competitive team around them than previous regimes.
Playoff Appearances: Under Holland, the Oilers made the playoffs four times in five seasons, including a Western Conference Final appearance in 2022.
Key Acquisitions: Zach Hyman , Evander Kane, Mattias Ekholm
Player Development: Oversaw the growth of young players like Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod.

The bad:
Cap Management: Signed Jack Campbell to a 5-year, $25 million deal, which became a burden.
At times, the team had very limited flexibility due to cap constraints.
Trade Deadline Hesitancy: Fans and media often criticized Holland for being too cautious at trade deadlines, especially when the team was in a strong position.
No Stanley Cup: Despite having McDavid and Draisaitl in their prime, the team did not win a Cup under his tenure, which remains a big knock.

I feel like we'll have a tenure of structure, stability, and consistent contention. But not seriously competing for a Cup.
 
Compare the Oilers under Chiarelli to the Oilers under Holland. Also, for the purpose of maximum pain on the Oiler fan base, last year’s loss was exquisite. But practically speaking, any team that loses 2-1 in game 7 of the Cup Finals is a Cup team.

Speaking of which, it’s silly to discredit success by making excuses for it. Holland won two Cups as GM pre-cap. How many of his peers did that? NYR maxed out their salary. What happened there? Holland then won another Cup post cap. And the Wings were in the playoffs 25 straight years. Means something.
 
I would have preferred Mathieu Darche over Ken Holland, personally, but Holland checks off a couple of other boxes that Darche won't be able to initially. Holland is experienced and spent many years with a winning organization in Detroit with the Red Wings. He's well connected, so it should be easier to pull off trades. I'm interested in seeing how he'll assemble his front office and whether he'll hire a new coach. If so, I'm certainly interested in seeing who'd he hand-pick for the role.

I definitely agree with others that if things don't work out with Holland, Luc Robitaille should be ousted. I used to think Luc was disrespected playing in the shadow of Wayne Gretzsky and having to make pit stops in Pittsburgh, Detroit and New York before getting his due back in Los Angeles, but the dude has gotten a lot of slack and leeway in his role as Team President.
 
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Well everyone
Jurassic Park Hold Onto Your Butts GIF
 
Clif said:
I want Moore, Spence and this year’s first going to Buff for Byrum. I think that’s legit.

Just have to the resign Gavi to play RD.
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My only prediction for this summer: Byrum and Boesser are on the opening night roster. Makes too much sense.

I think Gavi is gone.
 
I'll take Holland. He did make some mistakes. Campbell was a mistake, but it didn't seem that bad when he did it. Did he give the Nurse contract too?

I'll say this - Lombardi is the GM I will always look at as the gold standard and if you stacked up his "good" and "bad," his "bad" looks a lot worse than Kenny's. It's all about the right moves at the right time. There will be mistakes, that's inevitable.
 
Illegal_Stick said:
I'll take Holland. He did make some mistakes. Campbell was a mistake, but it didn't seem that bad when he did it. Did he give the Nurse contract too?

I'll say this - Lombardi is the GM I will always look at as the gold standard and if you stacked up his "good" and "bad," his "bad" looks a lot worse than Kenny's. It's all about the right moves at the right time. There will be mistakes, that's inevitable.
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Yes, Lombardi will always be looked as the gold standard for the 2 Cups. And it is deserved. But he did have some stinkers too. Jones and a 1st to Boston for Lucic comes to mind. Also, the infamous 2017 deadline deal getting Andrei Sekera (who?) for a 1st.

We'll see what the Ken Holland era brings. I saw someone mentioned on the thread about bringing in Tippett as coach. I wouldn't have a problem with that.
 
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