Ken Holland to be Kings’ next GM: Marc Bergevin has missed his chance (again)

Earlier today, my colleague Charles-Alexis Brisebois wrote an article suggesting that the chances of Marc Bergevin taking over from Rob Blake were unlikely.

With Frank Seravalli’s tweet above, it’s clear that the conditional no longer applies for Holland and the Kings.

“All credit to Rod Pedersen, who was only 10 hours ahead of everyone else, but Ken Holland will indeed become the next general manager of the Los Angeles Kings.” – Frank Seravalli

It’s still big news, but quite devastating in Bergevin’s case, who thought he had a real chance since Rob Blake was no longer in office.

He’s been with the Kings since January 9, 2022, as an advisor to the GM, and to see him miss out (again) on his chance to become GM must be destabilizing.

After working with an organization for three years as an advisor, you can hope for a chance to become the next GM.

But Bergevin will have to look elsewhere for the time being, because it won’t be with the Kings that he achieves his goal.

In fact, according to Pierre LeBrun, Bergevin is expected to meet with the New York Islanders this week for a GM position, as are Jarmo Kekalainen and Mathieu Darche.

It’s been two years in a row that the Kings have been eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round.

Perhaps the famous saying “If you can’t beat them, join them” was behind the hiring of Holland as GM, but by getting the former Oilers GM.

Ken Holland was GM of the Edmonton Oilers until the end of the 2023-24 season. He certainly made some good moves, but he also made some big mistakes, including letting Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway go via a hostile offer sheet.

Let’s hope he doesn’t make the same mistakes he did in Edmonton, because he could be shown the door quickly. At the end of the 2025-26 season, young Brandt Clarke will become a restricted free agent. He’ll have to do everything he can to extend his contract.

Overtime

– It’s hard to stop a cannonball like this one.

– Ovechkin’s goal (his first of the series against the Hurricanes) moved him past Mario Lemieux for the most career playoff goals.

– Oilers and Golden Knights battle early.

– Halttunen’s shot was powerful, sure, but look at Easton Cowan’s maneuver on the sequence.

– The Celtics had started the game well.