Waiting to see who the Edmonton Oilers hire as their next general manager seems similar to how a new Pope is appointed at the Vatican. Any day now we’ll see white smoke billowing from Rogers Place in Edmonton signaling that a new GM has been chosen. All kidding aside, Oilers fans are waiting patiently to see who Oilers CEO of Hockey Operations, Jeff Jackson will announce as the successor to Ken Holland. Many names have been brought forward, but it’s anyone’s guess who will take over this important position within the Oilers organization.
Holland Helped Engineer A Winning Culture
Love him or hate him you have to tip your hat to Holland for the important job he accomplished in his five years as the Oilers GM. Possibly the biggest thing he contributed to was changing the culture of the organization from one of panic and instability from previous regimes to calmness and confidence.
The next GM of the Oilers needs to build on Holland’s positive contributions. It’s easy in hindsight to point out the big mistakes that he made in his time with the Oilers. The signing of Jack Campbell, who at the time seemed like the best option available to replace Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen. There was also the Darnell Nurse contract, which was signed close to the same time as Seth Jones with the Chicago Blackhawks. And obviously those contracts were over-inflated.
Related: Oilers: 4 GM Candidates to Take Over From Jeff Jackson
Holland also had some missteps at the draft table including choosing Xavier Bourgault with the 22nd overall pick in the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft and passing on Wyatt Johnston who the Dallas Stars chose with the next pick at No. 23. But hindsight is great when you’re on the outside looking in. If some of Holland’s critics were so smart, I wonder if they’re being considered for the open GM vacancy with the Oilers right now.
Jeff Jackson Doing a Masterful Job as the Oilers’ Temporary GM
Many fans wish Jackson would permanently take over the GM duties with the Oilers. He’s done an incredible job this summer with trades and signings, and has made the summer of 2024 one of the best in franchise history. But it was interesting to look closely at Jackson’s press conference announcing that Holland was leaving the Oilers organization.
In the press release sent out before the announcement, Jackson said, “Over the past five seasons as general manager, Ken has not only built the Edmonton Oilers into one of the NHL’s best teams, he has also established a deeply rooted foundation of success and a culture of winning that will continue well into the future. Thanks in large part to Ken’s outstanding work, Edmonton has become a destination city for players around the National Hockey League. We wish Ken, Cindi and his entire family the very best and thank him for his leadership and contributions to the Oilers organization and the City of Edmonton.” This statement couldn’t have been more accurate. Holland was a player’s GM. He cared about bringing in the right people to fit the chemistry of the team.
Holland was also known to be fair to players coming in on professional tryout contracts (PTOs) in the offseason. If an older player was going to try out for the Oilers and had children who had to settle into new schools, Holland often made sure the player on the PTO had an excellent chance of making the team so as not to disrupt his family life. The compassion Holland showed by how he handled situations like that seemed to extend further with the Oilers organization, including consultation with players such as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl when an important move was being considered by the team.
I didn’t hear this sort of thing happening when the ship was being steered by former Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli. Not to take anything away from Chiarelli, especially his strength at the draft table, but some of the trades he had made during the end of his tenure seemed to be made out of panic rather than confidence and that lack of confidence seemed to drip down to the dressing room and onto the ice. Having Holland turn the Oilers into optimists instead of pessimists might’ve been his greatest accomplishment in his five years with the team. After all, he did get the Oilers to Game 7 and within two goals of winning the Stanley Cup.
New Oilers GM Needs to Build on Culture as They Build the Roster
The next GM of the Oilers needs to take a page out of Holland’s playbook for building team chemistry, while looking at the intelligence of Jackson who has had one of the best offseasons in Oilers history. The Oilers on paper look good going into the 2024-25 NHL season. But that’s on paper only. They need to pick up where they left off in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign to avoid chasing other teams throughout the season. It’ll be up to the new GM to keep a close eye on keeping the ship on course in their pursuit of a Stanley Cup championship in 2025. Hopefully, for Oilers fans, they take the best of what Holland accomplished combined with Jackson’s stealth-like sharpness and build on that.
