Monday Mailbag – Is Ken Holland the right man?

Welcome, welcome, welcome, friends, to another edition of the Monday mailbag. Once again, it’s that special time of the week where I’ve taken the questions you’ve sent me over the last seven days and fired them off to our writers to get all the answers and wisdom that you’ve always been looking for. This week, we look at Ken Holland coming to town, what would make a successful offseason, the bottom six forwards, and more. And I know I say this every week, but this segment is entirely dependent on you guys to make it work, so send me your questions. You can email me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk.com.

Lots of experience. Solid track record for drafting and developing and is a great communicator. Good first step, but as I’ve said for months, there needs to be other changes to turn this team around.

Surprised at how certain Rod Pedersen sounded about it when he put it out there. Didn’t see it happening. Once confirmed, couldn’t imagine the Oilers getting a guy with this much experience and success. Don’t see how they could have done better. He’ll win the skeptics over soon enough.

I wasn’t overly surprised. This situation is probably best suited by a veteran general manager. I think that we’ll see a Lou Lamoriello thing here in which Holland will groom the next guy for the job. Anyways, I wasn’t a big fan at first because the Red Wings haven’t exactly been admirable as of late. Then as I read more things that Wings fans and writers said about Holland, I became more optimistic. A lot of his recent flaws had to do with being keeping the franchise’s playoff streak alive, and, since it’s ended, he’s done a nice job of rebuilding.

I’m trying to be optimistic about the hire, but there are a few red flags. The fact he didn’t have to interview and was picked the same way that Chiarelli was is concerning. GM’s rarely find success in their second stints as well, so that’s noteworthy. Regardless, he’s one of the greats so I’m not going to judge this hiring until we see what he can do over the course of a few offseasons.

I was pretty happy. I’ve come around and am much more excited about his hiring since then. At the time I was cautiously optimistic.

My first thought was one of concern. Detroit is one of the top spending teams in the league and they’ve missed the playoffs for the past three years, so bringing in the architect from that situation made me nervous, to say the least. I’ve since changed my tune a little bit but those were my first thoughts.

Actions speak louder than words. I need to see change, before any of the words, and there were many positive ones, truly mean much.

Results will tell the story. Knowing Ken, no surprises in what he said. Holland is a winner. Fans expect him to be one here.

Not really. I’ve heard a lot of things said and very little executed.

The presser didnt really do anything for me. I thought Darryl Katz spoke rather well and Ken Holland gave some long, honest answers. I enjoyed that part. I thought Nicholson looked smug and I wasnt a fan of some of the quotes he dropped. All in all, it’s a press conference so I’m not reading too much into it.

Yes I did. Granted I may just be drinking the kool-aid because I felt the same way after Chiarelli was hired. But hearing Ken Holland speak with such assertiveness and confidence made me very excited about what’s to come. He has a lifetime of experience, and now he’s ours.

Yes, actually. I thought Holland handled himself extremely well, owned his past mistakes, and presented some clear ideas that were refreshing to hear. Now, I’ve still got my guard up, that’s life as an Oilers fan, but I am excited to see how the summer goes and how things might look by the time training camp rolls around.

He needs to upgrade the skill of the depth scorers, but also find ones who are willing to accept the role he outlines for them. He needs to add another goalie, ideally a top-four right shot D-man and he needs to make some changes in management and scouting. I think the latter two will occur over the next 15 months. Some right away and more as he understands who he has.

I’m interested to see who the new coach is and if he keeps anybody from the current coaching staff. Holland also needs to address the rest of hockey ops — who stays and who goes as AGMs and scouts. What happens with Keith Gretzky? Needs a goaltender.

Moving out some problematic contracts would be good. Finding a way to upgrade the offence is huge too. I think success, given what we’ve dealt with from the Chiarelli era, would simply be not adding any more bad contracts and not losing any value in trades.

The coaching search is top priority. Next, I want to see if he can shed out one or two big contracts (Lucic, Russell, Sekera) and then bring in a young, skilled forward to pair with Nuge. That might be asking alot, but he’s getting paid a lot of money, so I’m setting the bar high.

I would like to see him clear up some cap space. I would love to see a big move from him, however I don’t think that will happen. I’m expecting a few small moves to open up some cap space and increase our forward depth, and if that happens I will be satisfied.

If he can clear some significant cap space without having to sell the farm to do it then I would declare that an overwhelming success. It won’t be easy, the Oilers have plenty of bad contracts that need to be moved, but if he can upgrade the middle six and clear some runway on the backend then I think he’ll win people over very quickly.

Kassian. Excellent skater, brings energy and showed if you need him to move up the lineup for stretches he can hold his own very well.

Khaira and Puljujarvi have room to grow, and I could see them return, but could also see a trade. I think it would be risky to move Puljujarvi, because you are selling him low and he still has a lot of potential.

Cave, Gagner and Brodziak come to camp and will battle for a spot, but no guarantee they are in the opening night lineup. Depends who else he is able to sign. I could see Brodziak as the veteran who comes in and out of the lineup when injuries occur.

Kassian, Chiasson and Khaira are the only locks for me. I like that two of the three (Kassian and Chiasson) have the ability to move up and down the line-up. Provides flexibility.

I think Jujhar Khaira has a role on the team given his versatility. Zack Kassian thrived nicely on the top line and is a good bottom-six player. Colby Cave, though devoid of offence, is fine as an extra skater. I think you need more guys on the third and fourth line who can produce offence.

That’s a tough question. I’d like to keep Kassian, Chiasson, and Gagner but none of them will be very friendly towards the salary cap. Kassian and Chiasso could find themselves in the top six as well. I like Colby Cave since he makes league minimum and skates pretty well. Jujhar Khaira should be rather inexpensive as well. Those are my five that I’d like to see back. Jesse Puljujarvi could be on the third line as well.

Zack Kassian, Sam Gagner, and Alex Chiasson are my three favourites. Jujhar Khaira too I suppose… depending what you consider a bottom six forward.

I’d keep Gagner, Kassian, Chiasson (depending on the contract), and Cave but that’s about it.

I had Sharks at the start so I will stick with them. I have Bruins in 5, and Sharks in 6.

It’ll be Boston and San Jose in the final. Hoping Joe Thornton gets his first Cup.

Joe Thornton finally wins his Stanley Cup beating his former team.

I took Carolina to win in seven games and the Blues to win in six games. Neither one is looking hot right now, but I’ve been awful with my predictions this spring so I’m not surprised.

I’ve got San Jose over the Blues in seven, and Boston over Hurricanes in five.

I’ll go with St. Louis in the West and Boston in the East. From there, I think St. Louis would take the Finals in six-games.

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