Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Actually it's not. I've read a few articles that state similar in that he was more a front man for an organization that where the culture and scouting was already in place. They had a jump on the rest of the league in European scouting, had some HOF foundation players in place, and it was just a matter of being able to outspend most other teams. Has anyone noticed it's been a long time since the Wings unearthed all those late round gems from Europe and that's because the rest of the league caught up and the playing field is now even. Since the playing field became level where they can't outspend other teams and their scouts aren't alone in the far reaches of Europe they really haven't had a lot of success and it's not even like they are turning the corner or anything as they are just mired in mediocrity.
All of that said I feel in incompetent boob could manage to bring that all down so there's no doubt he's competent in that he let the scouts do their thing and made some good decisions when it came to coaches, etc. I think the rap is that he's more of a cog in the machine rather than the architect or mastermind behind their legacy. The only reason he hadn't been fired by the Wings is because they had been patiently waiting for Yzerman to take over. Yzerman did learn the Wings way under Holland's tutelage but he actually implemented it all on his own from the ground up in the Lightning organization and got the results in a salary cap era that Holland has never been able to do. Will it surprise anyone if the Wings are a contender in a few years while the Oilers still can't get out of their own way?
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Holland took over as GM in 97...previous to that he was assistant GM for 3 years....and prior to that he was their Director of Scouting for 7 years after being a scout himself for a few years.
So where do you think all this stuff he ISNT getting credit for came from?
Holland was right there for all of it along with Jimmy Devalano, and in particular the scouting aspect of it was way more on Holland than anyone else. Devalano and he were a team and Holland was groomed to take over.
He is a slam dunk HOF guy who, as sports tends to, has seen his team go through a cycle from up to down...it happens to all great teams.
So because he has had a bad few years recently, what he did for 25+ years is tossed away and he is deemed as a poor GM?
Again, its an absurd and ill thought out take. Regardless of what happens in Edmonton (and lets call a spade a spade here, NO one will be able to turn that around anytime soon) he has been one of the better GM's this league has ever had.