EDMONTON – When we think of the Edmonton Oilers, it is the face of Connor McDavid and the image of the two-headed monster that the captain completes with Leon Draisaitl that jumps out at us.
Good!
Weaving between nostalgia and truth, the older ones will reply that they think first and foremost of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Kevin Lowe who, with their teammates of the time, contributed to the five Stanley Cups that the Oilers offered to their fans between 1984 and 1990. And that’s fine.
But in today’s reality, no one can argue with the fact that the Oilers gravitate towards McDavid and Draisaitl.
That said, as good as Connor and Leon are, and as bad as they are, and as terrifying as the monster they are when they both come together on the ice, McDavid and Draisaitl can’t do it all alone.
To allow this sensational duo to aim for great honors and not just the individual honors associated with regular season performances, it was necessary to surround them, support them, and strengthen them.
That’s exactly what Ken Holland did.
Arriving in Edmonton at the dawn of the 2019-2020 season, Ken Holland inherited young McDavid and Draisaitl. He also inherited Darnell Nurse, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and other young prospects who were all believed to have great careers in Edmonton.
But after a 25-year reign in Detroit – 21 years as general manager and nearly four years as assistant to the duo of Jim Devellano and Scotty Bowman – reign during which the Red Wings hoisted the Stanley Cup and 1996, 1997, 2002 and 2008, Ken Holland knew that hopes sometimes turn into despair.
And with just one playoff appearance in the 13 seasons before his arrival, despair outweighed hope in Edmonton.
After analyzing the structures of his new team, Holland initiated a series of changes that made the Oilers one of the good teams in the NHL. Changes which propelled the team to the grand final and which fueled the hopes of fans to relive the frenzy of winning the Stanley Cup.
The Oilers will badly need a victory on Thursday in Game 3 of a final that the Florida Panthers lead 2-0 to revive this hope.
But hope is still there!
“There was a lot of talent within the team and the organization when I arrived. It was obvious. And even though we made the playoffs in my first two seasons, it was obvious to me that we had too many players relying on talent and not enough who were willing to do what needed to be done to maximize this talent,” Ken Holland explained earlier this week.
Behind McDavid and Draisaitl
At the end of the 2020-2021 season, a season shortened to 71 games due to Covid, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were, without much surprise, the club’s top scorers with 105 points (33 goals) and 84 points (31 goals ). The surprise, not very pleasant for Ken Holland, was that defenders Tyson Barrie and Darnell Nurse finished third and fourth with 48 and 36 points.
This is where the general manager bet on Zach Hyman and Warren Foegele.
“I wanted guys who went to the net to score instead of staying on the outskirts to give our team another identity. With Connor and Leon, we were lucky to have exceptional players. I wanted to give them support. »
Hyman and Foegele were available on the free agent market. Holland lured them to Edmonton with seven-year, $38.5 million contracts for Hyman – $5.5 million annual average — and three-year, $8.25 million – $2.75 million annual average – for Foegele.
History of taking advantage of the last weeks of the site of our friends of CapFriendly.comI invite you to go to their site to make comparisons around the NHL.
You will see that at the Canadian for example, Hyman cuts the payroll as much as… Josh Anderson. Foegele amputates it less than Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia!
That said, Holland readily acknowledges that Zach Hyman is giving the Oilers a lot more than the general manager hoped for.
“I was expecting to get a guy with character who was going to work very hard to help his linemates and who would give me… 25 goals a year,” Holland agreed with a smile.
Hyman scored 27 (54 points) in his first season. He increased his production to 36 goals (83 points) in his second year and is coming off a season of 54 goals (77 points) to which he added 14 goals since the start of the playoffs. A peak in the NHL.
Crossed in the Oilers locker room on Wednesday, Hyman explained that his decision – and that of his wife – to come to Edmonton was easy to make.
“My agent (Todd Reynolds) took care of analyzing all the contract offers we received after the free agent market opened. For my part, I analyzed the teams and with my wife, we analyzed the most interesting cities to establish our family. After visiting Edmonton, it was clear that this was where we were going to move. We didn’t visit other cities,” Hyman said.
From Keith to Ekholm…
When we look around the Oilers roster, we realize that Ken Holland and the team around him have been very active in giving even more strength to the two-headed monster that remains the cornerstone of the team.
They made numerous changes before arriving at the team that will try to slow down the Panthers’ victorious momentum.
“We also wanted to add experience to our team to sponsor the young people and better prepare them for the reality of the playoffs,” explained Holland.
It was this quest for experience that pushed the Oilers general manager to acquire Duncan Keith whose agreed role was to contribute to the development of Evan Bouchard.
Damaged by injuries, Keith was never able to fulfill this role. He also announced his retirement a year before the end of his contract in 2022.
What Keith couldn’t take on as a challenge, Mattias Ekholm takes on brilliantly. Ekholm was of course in Ken Holland’s sights. But the deal with the Nashville Predators turned out better than expected.
“I needed to get some money out of the way so I could fit Ekholm’s contract in and stay within the salary cap. So we added Tyson Barrie to the first round pick given to the Preds. I didn’t yet know that Barrie’s departure would give Bouchard the playing time he needed to move to another level. This transaction therefore turned out doubly to our advantage, because in addition to fulfilling the important role entrusted to him, Mattias Ekholm opened the door to the emergence of Evan Bouchard,” which Holland analyzed with obvious satisfaction.
Now paired with Ekholm, Evan Bouchard assures that the arrival of his playmate greatly contributed to his development.
“I was perhaps ready to have more responsibilities after a few years of experience, but the bond that I developed with “Ek” and especially his great qualities as a player and leader help me a lot,” insisted the defender.
Add to that the more minor acquisitions, but which are crucial to help teams aim for major honors – Corey Perry is an example – and you have a very impressive assessment of the work accomplished by Ken Holland since his arrival in Edmonton.
A job that led the Oilers to the Stanley Cup final.
Holland presents himself as a target when we analyze his goalkeeping strategy. A position he knows very well since it was by blocking pucks that he made it to the National League.
Stuart Skinner certainly doesn’t have the greatest reputation around the NHL, but Holland trusts him. He is banking on him as he has been banking on “good goalkeepers” who were far from being big stars – or who were no longer as big as at their peak – to whom he gave the mandate to simply avoid granting bad goals, to give the very strong team in front of them a chance to win.
If the Oilers’ presence in the grand final were to be crowned by the most beautiful trophy in professional sport, this conquest could serve as a springboard towards an easier-to-announce retirement.
Because yes, several speculations around the Oilers suggest that Holland could decide to pass the torch after a career as general manager during which he oversaw 191 draft selections, concluded 68 transactions and offered a total of 356 contracts which cost more of $1.638 billion to the owners of the Red Wings and Oilers according to a statement from our friends on the site CapFriendly.com.
What if the Oilers don’t win the cup?
The main person concerned remains very discreet about his future. But at 68, Ken Holland is still young enough in heart, body and spirit to carry on.
