A year ago, the Oilers brought in Jeff Jackson to run the club’s hockey operations. We’re talking about Connor McDavid’s former agent here.
At that time, GM Ken Holland’s contract had one year remaining. And you know as I do that a manager who is in the last year of his contract is always quite delicate.
And the Oilers, instead of extending his contract, put a boss over his head. Already there, things were going badly.
I always thought that Holland, who no longer has the aura he had during his years at the head of the Red Wings, must not appreciate the “initiative” of his bosses and was living on borrowed time in Edmonton.
We haven’t talked about it recently since the Oilers’ attention was focused on the Stanley Cup, but now we have to think about it. After all, his contract will expire in a few days, on June 30.
Recently, we understood that the Oilers did not seem to want to keep him as GM, he who has not necessarily discussed contract intensely with the club and who should not be present at the next draft, which will take place tomorrow.
And now according to Elliotte Friedman (Sportsnet) and his sources, the Oilers will let the veteran’s contract expire in the coming days. He will therefore be a free agent in a few days.
Is this surprising? No.
Will this make him coveted elsewhere? If so, it won’t be as GM in the short term since the other 31 active NHL teams have a man in place. But watch the Blackhawks in some capacity, according to Scottie Upshall.
This therefore means that the Oilers will enter a pivotal period of the off-season (draft and free agents) without having a GM in place. They probably won’t find one by next Monday.
Jeff Jackson is going to roll show, which is logical.
A lot of
– Gary Bettman can take whoever he wants to bring hockey back to Arizona now. It might not be right away, though. The arena file is still a problem, you know.
– If it took Connor McDavid nine years to reach the final, what will it be like for CH? [JdeM]
– Sacha Boisvert: the American route was always his plan. [98.5 FM]
– Dominique Ducharme on Shea Weber: a leader in a class of his own. [BPM Sports]
– It is good.
– He is going to Marseille.
