Edmonton Oilers Part With Ken Holland, Who Did About Everything To Make Them a Winner

Ken Holland and Kris Knoblauch Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Ken Holland will not return to the Edmonton Oilers as GM next season right after getting within one win of a Stanley Cup.

The team confirmed the news Thursday, leaving the Western Conference-champion Oilers looking for a new vision and blueprint for success.

“The Edmonton Oilers and Ken Holland have mutually agreed that his contract will not be extended beyond the end of its current term,” Oilers CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson said in a statement Thursday. “Over the past five seasons as general manager, Ken has not only built the Edmonton Oilers into one of the NHL’s best teams, but 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.”

Certainly, Holland was not a perfect GM. He made mistakes on contracts, mistakes with coaches, mistakes in building his team. But it feels like Holland deserved another chance to see the Oilers through to another deep playoff run if he wanted it.

Some of his moves include bringing in Mattias Ekholm, Zach Hyman, Connor Brown, Mattias Janmark, Warren Foegele, Adam Henrique and Evander Kane over the years. Each of them had varying degrees of success in this year's post-season but has helped build Edmonton into a winner over the past few seasons.

On top of that, Holland replaced Todd McLellan with Jay Woodcroft on the coaching side, which helped the team at first. He then made the bold move to oust Woodcroft after the team massively outperformed at the beginning of 2023-24 and bring in Kris Knoblauch, which worked out about as perfectly as it could be. Holland also brought on Paul Coffey, who was a valuable addition as an assistant coach for the defensemen.

Ultimately, there was an air of inevitability in this move. While the two parties mutually parted ways, you'd be forgiven for wishing that both Jackson and Holland could've figured out a way to exist together and continue pursuing a Cup. They did a lot of things right as a duo, but Jackson clearly wants to head in a new direction.

It would’ve been fascinating to see what would’ve happened to Holland had the Oilers won Game 7 against the Florida Panthers. To say there would’ve been some Cirque du Soleil-caliber gymnastics on Jackson’s part to keep Holland around after an Oilers Cup win would be a huge understatement. But after five seasons at the helm, Holland knew the writing was on the wall for him, and he and the team were headed down different paths, no matter how the season unfolded.

With the news of Holland’s departure now confirmed, the Oilers will have to move relatively quickly to name his successor.

The organization has numerous tough decisions to make, including extending superstar forward Leon Draisaitl's contract and signing (or not signing) a slew of UFAs, including Henrique, Janmark, Brown, and Foegele. Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg are also RFAs.

Jackson will be front and center in those decisions. He has management experience from his days as assistant GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs and has seen what the Oilers are all about. While he told reporters Thursday he does not intend on being the full-time GM, he has the qualifications to do so if he wanted to.

Either way, he is now under the gun to leave his own imprint on the organization, and it’s safe to say nothing less than a very similar playoff run next season will persuade many, if not most, Oilers fans that the organization made the right move in letting Holland walk away.

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