Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Edmonton Oilers will likely allow general manager Ken Holland’s contract to expire on June 30.
Holland would become a free agent at that point, and the expectation is that multiple teams will pursue him to gauge his interest in hockey operations positions. Holland and the Oilers came within one win of the Stanley Cup, which would have been Holland’s fifth had they been successful.
The Oilers will be without a general manager at the most critical time of the year if they do let Holland walk and as Friedman points out in his article, they could choose to go without a GM in the interim.
Holland has his detractors and had a very uneven run in Edmonton, signing several questionable contracts with Jack Campbell, Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci.
However, Edmonton never missed the playoffs during Holland’s five-year run and made two Western Conference Final appearances and one Stanley Cup Final. Holland also made some very savvy moves, notably the signing of 50-goal scorer Zach Hyman, trading for defenseman Mattias Ekholm and the trade-deadline move for Adam Henrique.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported earlier this week that Holland would have a role in Edmonton if he wanted it, but it remains to be seen if he will look for new challenges or simply retire. If this is the end for Holland in Edmonton, he will finish his time there with a 220-121-32 record.
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