Ken Holland assessment: His Edmonton Oilers improved in 2022-23, but not enough (2023)

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Edmonton Oilers 2022-23 Recap:
GM Ken Holland, 1st animal

It's been a week and a while since the walls came down against the Edmonton Oilers after their Stanley Cup dreams were shattered with two rounds and ten wins left. And it was such an abrupt end, two losses in one Mother's Day weekend for a team that hadn't lost back-to-back since the shutdown. And just like that, pfffft, done.

Heartbreak for the Oilers players, their fans and the people who run the team. "Devasting" was a repeated word from GM Ken Holland, who reportedly spoke frankly with his club before they parted ways in the summer.

But as the period of mourning for another lost season has come to an end, we kick off our annual summer season recap series with a look at the men in suits at work, starting with Ken Holland himself.

here inThe cult of hockeyWe evaluate each player's performance after each Oilers game, but for high-level officials such as the Netherlands, it is better to conduct performance reviews at longer intervals, for example over entire seasons. And just as I wouldn't judge a player by the second half, the same is true of those who judged the whole season as the best.

Only now do we know how the story ended. The team got off to a great start to the postseason but couldn't hold on and was eventually eliminated by the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.

The 67-year-old GM has four years on his five-year contract, which he signed in the spring of 2019, and still hopes to finish his job in 2023-24. It's safe to say that he's made incremental improvements from season to season so far, though perhaps not to the extent that many oil fans expected:

Continual improvement in attack, lots of anxiety in defence, with the Oilers stubbornly sticking to the middle. However, goal difference also increases at the elite level; In fact, Edmonton was second in the NHL with +69 in actual goals behind Boston with an amazing +127 in 2022-23.

Two playoff rounds may seem like a step back from three, but let's say hello to the National Hockey League's unintuitive Playoff Seeding System™, a long-forgotten hat. The NHL saw fit for both Western Conference divisional champions to play wildcards from the opposing division in the first round to strictly follow the 1v8, 2v7 structure; Good so far. But when Seattle shocked Colorado by seeding them, it didn't matter that the series was eliminated in the second round as 1v2 and 3v4. The #2 Oilers didn't even have a home court advantage in the second round, despite a better resultobaInstead, Dallas and Seattle played the No. 1 seed away. That doesn't make sense to me and doesn't feel fair; Then again, I'm just a fan blogger. So what do I know?

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(Deep breath.) Anyway, back to the Netherlands. Since this review takes place once a year, we will take a closer look at the role of the chief architect. In this post, we discuss the changes he made to the team last season and their eventual impact on next season. in the second part on further adjustments during the season; and in part 3 a look at this summer and the challenges/opportunities facing GM in the days, weeks and months ahead. In fact, this last part will be a recurring theme.

coaching staff

The first task last summer was to keep the new coaching staff secret. The Dutch recall of Jay Woodcroft (and Dave Manson) in February was spectacular as their club improved almost every aspect of the game under his management. Woodcroft signed a three-year extension on June 21, proudly elevating his title from guard to head coach.

place for a hat

The previous season, the Oilers weren't eliminated until June 8, and the off-season was hindered by the fact that both draft and free agency were weeks away from (late) last year. But Ken Holland's first act was respect and patience, giving Duncan Keith, 38, and Mike Smith, 40, a few weeks to decide their future with dignity. Both still had a year to go. When Keith finally retired, Smith hinted that he would spend a year on long-term injury reserve. Just like that, Holland had to fill two gaps and provide $7.75 million in cap space to patch them and/or fix other issues.

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Some have already been planned, such as the promised big increaseDarnell's nurse, who turned out to be the first of many returnees to receive a significant pay raise.

How am I supposed to pay for all this? Of course, make more space for the cap. Holland achieved this in the draft when he sold significant draft assets to avoid the last two years of Zach Kassian's contract, earning $3.2 million on the mark while opening a position that, frankly, needed improvement. It is worth mentioning that the 4-year contract in winter 2020 is also the work of the Netherlands, as well as the fact that GM has accepted public responsibility for its mistake by clearly acting under this contract.

acquiring players

Regardless of Reid Schaefer's first-round pick exchange or not, the Dutchman's first signing of an NHL player came in the first seconds of free agency whenJack Campbellhe was officially named Edmonton's current and future No. 1 Goalkeeper for $5 million a year for 5 years.

Campbell will join the hostess,Stuart Skinnerwhom the Netherlands sent at least to the league last summer for a two-year extension. Skinner had reached the end of his four-year layoff (keepers only) and could not return to the AHL, where he had already excelled. After strong performances in every phase, including 13 games in the NHL last season, placing Skinner on the bench was a natural solution. Instead, it wasn't long before he took over as the starter himself! It turned out to be at least a profitable transaction.

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Not so with Campbell, at least not in his freshman year. Struggling from the start, he managed to win many high-profile matches and once managed a nine-hit streak as a starter. But in February his game collapsed again and he seemed to have lost the trust of his coaches. His last start against a playoff team was on March 4, with 0 post-season starts despite some decent relief performances.

While the player has four years to get revenge, the first year of his contract can be considered a huge failure as Holland himself wears goat horns.

Four days later, the Oilers signed for the promotionMatija Janmarkon a one-year contract worth $1.25 million. A proven NHL player for a seemingly reasonable price, though $500,000 above the league minimum proved problematic for both Janmark and Holland. He was eventually kicked out of the first team in favor of a less expensive teamDevin Shore. Janmark had to wait until mid-November before the injury left his place. Since then, he regularly appears in the top six and takes penalties. Posted a decent 10-15-25, +9 in 66 games, including a 3-1-4 shorthand and absolutely nothing in power play. However, he was unable to score against either McDavid or Draisaitle (3 goals for, 8 conceded together). Injuries and an untimely penalty ruined his playoff performance. It is scheduled to become UFA on June 30.

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Restore/restore player

One of Holland's key free agency activities is allowing his unrestricted free agents to enter the market for roughly a day to validate the fairness of the offer and then accept it again. Both in 2022Evandera Kane'aIUcho Brettahe did just that by signing both extensions to his four-year contract.

For Kane, it was $5.1 million, down from the $7 million he earned earlier in San Jose, but still a big investment in terms of both tenure and capping for the 31-year-old striker. Didn't you know Kane struggled with injuries during the season, missing time with a nasty injury and broken ribs, only playing half of his 82 games and scoring 16 goals. That's a 32-goal chance, but it's different from 32 actual goals. Kane also struggled in the playoffs with a third injury, a broken finger.

I'd say Kulak is a safe bet at $2.75 million in the first year, which is a reasonable price for D-Man #4/5. He played both roles this season, surviving in one and thriving in the other; The team improved to finish 5th after the trade deadline.

Then came RFAJesse PuljujarviIKailera Yamamoto, both were prolific wings for less than $1.2 million the previous year. Both had the right to initiate arbitration, and both did so. The Netherlands was able to reach an "out-of-court settlement" with both for around US$3 million each (JP for 1 year, KY for 2), which seemed like a fair market value at the time. Both had a very difficult season. Yamamoto dropped from 20 goals to 10; Puljujarvi from 15 to 5 and finally in Carolina. Was it a mistake to stick with former first-round picks who have been steadily improving since draft day? Not really. Could the Netherlands have made better use of its prime time on the free market? In the cold light of hindsight: yes, absolutely.

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The last priority, of course, was the re-signing of the RFARyan McLeod. McLeod, a former second-round pick who was one step ahead of the learning curve, came to the end of his entry-level contract with an NHL job but no scoring rights or any leverage. Holland waited until the last hour before the players took to the ice for training camp, then signed the player to a one-year contract for a very precise $798,000 and possibly agreeing a handshake for a higher priority on next summer's negotiating calendar. It was also a value contract that had just expired.

Holland used the entire off-season, right down to the last hour, to determine his potential roster and ended up with barely enough left (around $165) to leave his 21-man roster naked two weeks later as the season began to freeze. . We'll pick up the story there in Part 2 on Friday.

We end this section with rather mixed results for the Dutch summer 2022: strong hiring of coaches, well done to make way for the Oberliga, mixed results for domestic expansions at UFA and RFA, and a thumbs down for big foreign signing "Goalkeeper #1". there was already a willing replacement to take over, but unfortunately the goalkeeper proved to be a weak spot in the playoffs, so it's safe to assume that the early summer's mistake turned out to be crucial for next season.

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