…ªIt’s over. Surprisingly Ken Holland, who also had strong interest from Seattle, and was believed as recently as last month to be setting up for retirement, will be the next GM of the Edmonton Oilers. It’s a great win for management and the fans. …¬
In Edmonton they needed someone of this level to rise above the politics and the many cooks in their kitchen. Someone who won’t care what the media is saying or what Twitter is saying... and they have that.
The interview process for this job was intense on the bridesmaids. Many meeting with the Oilers for several hours, getting pumped for info and their ideas as to how to improve the team.
Many who interviewed left frustrated by the process and more than a few felt they were being used to simply get more opinions on the team.
But 25 million and 5 years for a GM is hard for anyone to turn down. Especially Holland who loves to be a GM and just replaced himself as GM in Detroit by bringing Yzerman back to the franchise. I, and a few others, felt that Holland was looking towards Seattle because the excitement and challenge of team building is right in line with Holland’s personality. The existence of Seattle probably led to the higher price tag in this case.
I had written a lot about the probability of Mark Hunter getting this job, but when Holland entered the picture it basically was up to Ken....and many felt that could go either way...
Bottom line is the Oilers got an incredibly strong GM in Holland and there should be no more excuses moving forward. I am a huge believer in this team, as is evident from me picking them to win the division this season. As rough as this season was, its worth noting the Oilers were in the playoff hunt until late.... so I believe it is possible for them to turn this around relatively quickly.
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) August 2, 2017