Peter Chiarelli was an awful GM for the Edmonton Oilers. He was given the keys to a Lamborghini and a Ferrari in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and despite that, his teams were only able to make the playoffs once in his entire tenure.
Under Ken Holland, the Oilers have been a playoff team every season, with varying results. The highlights of the playoffs for the Oilers are making it to the Western Conference Finals in 21/22, only to be swept by the Avalanche, and losing in 6 games in Round 2 to the Vegas Golden Knights. In both cases, the team that beat Edmonton would go on to win the Stanley Cup.
The record has been better under Ken Holland but the future of this team looks just as bleak as the one under Peter Chiarelli. The Oilers have started the season 1-4-1 and currently look nothing like a playoff team. If that remains the case there will be questions on whether or not Draisaitl and McDavid will sign contract extensions. If these players leave, fans should not be blaming them. The sole blame should fall at the architects of this potential disaster.
Peter Chiarelli made a mess of the team through poor contract extensions and signing physical slow players to try and "Bruinize" the roster. While that utterly failed, there was some good news in the drafting. Under Chiarelli, the Edmonton Oilers drafted the likes of Evan Bouchard, Ryan McLeod, Ethan Bear, John Marino, Vincent Desharnais, Stuart Skinner, and Kailer Yamamoto. Marino never played for Edmonton but is a successful NHLer and while players like Bear and Yamamoto were subsequently traded, there was still value there for a time for the team.
Under Ken Holland's drafting, the Oilers have the following players who have played at least 82 NHL games.
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None.
There are 10 teams in the NHL that haven't drafted a player from 2019-2022 that has played at least 82 games: Oilers, Bruins, Flames, Islanders, Penguins, Sharks, Blues, Lightning, Leafs, and Jets.
Of those teams, the Oilers and the Jets are the only two that have had all of their first round picks. The Jets have Cole Perfetti who has played 75 games and has 40 points while the Oilers have Broberg with 74 games and 11 points.
What are the other impact players Holland has added to this roster? Zach Hyman was an excellent UFA signing, Ekholm was an excellent trade, and the RNH contract is good value. Aside from that, what are his great successes?
Kulak is making 2.75 million for two more seasons after this one. He is a solid third pairing option and can moonlight in the top four when he needs to but is definitely a slight overpay. Foegele is overpaid as a third line winger. The Campbell contract has been awful. The Nurse contract is brutal. Kane has two more years at 5.125. Connor Brown, who was supposed to come in as a top six forward is on a third line and has been downright invisible. Brown is only a 775,000 cap hit this season but the Oilers are on the hook for 3.2 million next season due to his bonus... which will be given if he plays 10 games for the Oilers.
It's been fun over the past couple seasons to focus on the Oilers issues less. Edmonton was a brutal team over the past decade and it was far more enjoyable to write about potential successes and optimism than the potential problems
Unfortunately, here we are. Ken Holland will not be the GM after this season and if the team continues as it stands he won't be the GM after January.
The players on the ice need to figure things out, Woodcroft needs to be better and better make his players understand what he wants under this new system. These are all true and integral pieces to this roster playing better but the walls can only be as good as the supports.
Ken Holland is yet another mediocre GM that has done more damage than good to the roster, hiding behind the superb play of it's best players.
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Oilers play the Rangers tonight.