Oilers GM Ken Holland good, even great this season? 90 per cent of fans say yes

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What kind of year is Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland having? In early results fo a Cult of Hockey poll, fans are extremely bullish in regards to the veteran GM.

More than a third think he deserves a grade of “A” for his work.

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Another 55 per cent say he deserves at least a “B” grade.

It’s a landslide approval rating for the Edmonton GM.

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What does it mean? Not much.

If the Oilers get bumped out in the first round of the playoffs this year, Holland, 67, could still be replaced. He’s in the fourth year of his five year deal, but his team has Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse, Zach Hyman, Evander Kane and Mattias Ekholm all in their playing primes. The Oilers are expected to win now.

If the Oilers don’t make it into the Final Four again, things will be iffy for Holland, it’s fair to say.

Anyone disagree?

But Holland is riding high right now.

I’m in that camp that gave him an “A” on this Twitter poll. Why?

If someone had told me after the Oilers were thumped out of the 2021 playoffs by the Winnipeg Jets that his team would not only rebound to the Final Four in 2022, but would get under contract Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Evander Kane, Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm on long term deals, I would not have believed them.

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How could you acquire and get under the cap all that talent?

But Holland found a way, mainly by taking a huge gamble on Kane that other NHL teams lacked the courage to take, and by trading lower cap hits for term with RNH and Hyman.

As for the Ekholm trade, well, that was as welcome as it was unexpected. All season, other than the obvious trouble in net, the main need identified on the team was a Top Four d-man capable of moving the puck and playing shut-down defence, someone to replace all that Adam Larsson brought to the team.

Holland found that player in Ekholm, who has three more years on his contract, and he moved on Ekholm without having to give up his top young players, Evan Bouchard, Philip Broberg, Dylan Holloway or Xavier Bourgault.

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Fans are also keen on Holland just now for a number of other reasons:

  • He’s brought in some size, toughness and defensive strength to help on the penalty killer. Nick Bjugstad and minor league d-man Vincent Desharnais fill that bill.
  • He signed promising goalie Stuart Skinner to a reasonable three-year deal, meaning that even if things continue to go sour with Jack Campbell, the Oilers aren’t without options in net. Edmonton’ goaltending is the one thing that has kept the team from being an elite team in the NHL this regular season, but Skinner provides hope for the playoffs and for years to come.
  • He brought in a rugged bottom line forward in Klim Kostin at a reasonable price.
  • He found reliable veterans like Derek Ryan and Mattias Janmark to help out on the third and fourth lines.
  • He brought in at reasonable price blueliners like Cody Ceci and Brett Kulak to round out the defensive group, two useful players paid around the NHL average but able to hold their own.
  • His coaching staff has carefully brought along young players like as Skinner, Bouchard and Broberg, who are rounding into solid NHLers.
  • The trade of Ethan Bear for Warren Foegele is finally turning out well, with Foegele playing like a solid Top 6 forwards in the 2023 calendar year.

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On the down side, Holland arguably over-paid for Darnell Nurse and struggling Kailer Yamamoto, struck out in bringing in Ryan Murray this year on defence, and may have made the worst Oilers signing in Jack Campbell since the team inked Milan Lucic long-term.

That said, there’s still time for Campbell to turn around his game. He had one solid stretch of play this year. Maybe he can conjure up another one.

As for Nurse, he’s playing some of the best hockey of his career just now. He’ll never satisfy the requirement of his high pay of being a power play ace, but he and Ceci face the toughest of NHL competition night in, night out, and they hold their own.

Nurse also has some offensive flash to his game. He’s just not bringing what he has as an immense bargain to the Oilers any more, something he did for years.

Nurse may well be overpaid but I’m not going to complain about any d-man performing as well as he does at even strength against tough competition.

Having such stalwart defenders may well seem like an overpay, at least until you don’t have such stalwart defenders and your team is locked out of the playoffs for a decade.

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