Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
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.
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Unless I've missed something I don't think anyone here is saying he was a bad GM or a fraud. That one Detroit guy's take was a little extreme but it's not the first time I have read that as there was an athletic article saying similar in that he was part of an organization that was ahead of the curve in regards to scouting and drafting European talent and they rode that to success in an era where big markets could buy rosters. Pioneering European scouting alone is worth praise as are the Stanley Cup victories but but since the playing field got leveled many teams have surpassed the Wings doing business in the new NHL simply better. Not sure how you can argue that and he has to work in the same constraints in Edmonton that he couldn't get to work in Detroit.