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Holland signs 4 year extension with wings **MOD Warning Post 130**

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/wings/2014/08/14/ken-holland-detroit-red-wings-four-year-extension/14052063/

Since taking over as Red Wings GM in July 1997, Holland, 58, has put together a team that has won more regular-season games (746) and postseason games (115) than any other NHL team.
"I'm proud of our 23 years of making the playoffs, and I'm excited about challenges going forward," he said. "We've been a team, the last two years, that's been a bubble team. I believe, if you get in and you get hot, it's wide open.
"Our goal going into 2014-15 is, hopefully, we can compete with the top teams in the East, with Boston and Tampa Bay, and Montreal, which went to the final four. We've got a tough division. We're trying to compete for a playoff spot, be a contender.
"At the same time, we're also trying to develop young players to build a core much like we did in late '80s, early '90s that carried us for a decade, and then again in the late '90s. I'm optimistic and excited about our younger players, that they will continue to develop into Detroit Red Wings players."
In a statement released by the team, owners Mike and Marian Ilitch cited Holland's success, saying that "Ken is regarded as one of the premier executives in the National Hockey League and has been instrumental in the success of the Red Wings over the last two decades. Marian and I are extremely pleased that he will continue to lead our hockey club over the next four years.
"We feel strongly that stability is key to the success of any organization, and having this new agreement in place with Ken is important to the organization and its future."

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Pretty expected, actually. I'm more curious about the Babcock extension to be honest.

This upcoming off-season is a big one for KH, there are quite a few decent dmen on the market (assuming they get to UFA) and with mostly missing out on FAs the past couple of seasons he needs to shed the dead weight and get a solid player or two.

I'm not the hugest fan of Hollands last couple of seasons, but I don't think it is as bad as some folks are suggesting.

People are acting like he signed Cleary and Quincey INSTEAD of going after a better free agent, but the fact is, he missed out on the free agents and then signed Cleary and Quincey well after all the good FAs signed elsewhere. Sure, I'd rather have some youngsters in there instead, but I see fans kind of twisting it around a bit.

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Stopped reading at the first quote. Put together what? Inherited is the proper word.

Yes because the team he inherited won all those games....It obviously never changed....we never acquired or drafted anyone good....oh right let me guess....someone else gets all the credit for that... :ok:

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Nothing screams job accountability like giving an extension to a guy that's gotten consistently worse at his job each year in the last 5 years.

That pizza selling vegetable Ilitch needs to sell the team to someone who still gives a s***.


I'm ok with this.

So you don't believe in job accountability?

Just because someone was good 10 years ago, shouldn't give them a pass to be lazy at their current job.

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That's a pretty easy challenge for you to win considering you never really know who is on the market as a GM until they take a job somewhere. :lol:

This is true to some extent. However, lets look at some of the people whom some fans wanted as GM of the Wings instead of Holland.

Yzerman - So far, he has done well at Tampa Bay. Their roster this year looks better than last year. Except since he took over, they made the playoffs their first year, missed the second year and third year, and then made it last year only to get swept in the first round. Better than Holland? That remains to be seen.

Ray Shero would be the only guy I would even consider being GM of the Wings.

Nothing screams job accountability like giving an extension to a guy that's gotten consistently worse at his job each year in the last 5 years.

That pizza selling vegetable Ilitch needs to sell the team to someone who still gives a s***.

So you don't believe in job accountability?

Just because someone was good 10 years ago, shouldn't give them a pass to be lazy at their current job.

If his job is to ensure that we have a competitive team that competes for a championship every season, he has achieved his goal.

If you are measuring accountability by championship or nothing, then there are 29 other GMs who are also failing.

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This is true to some extent. However, lets look at some of the people whom some fans wanted as GM of the Wings instead of Holland.

Yzerman - So far, he has done well at Tampa Bay. Their roster this year looks better than last year. Except since he took over, they made the playoffs their first year, missed the second year and third year, and then made it last year only to get swept in the first round. Better than Holland? That remains to be seen.

Ray Shero would be the only guy I would even consider being GM of the Wings.

If his job is to ensure that we have a competitive team that competes for a championship every season, he has achieved his goal.

If you are measuring accountability by championship or nothing, then there are 29 other GMs who are also failing.

We don't have a competitive team that competes for a championship every season. We should, considering we have two of the best players in the game, but their latter years don't look like they'll be spent on Cup contenders.

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This is true to some extent. However, lets look at some of the people whom some fans wanted as GM of the Wings instead of Holland.

Yzerman - So far, he has done well at Tampa Bay. Their roster this year looks better than last year. Except since he took over, they made the playoffs their first year, missed the second year and third year, and then made it last year only to get swept in the first round. Better than Holland? That remains to be seen.

Ray Shero would be the only guy I would even consider being GM of the Wings.

Jim Nil? Guy fixed Dallas center problem in 12 months and has people excited about the team again while still working on a tight budget.

Ray Shero would be a nice choice also at least being him in as an assistant the guy has tons of experience and isn't afraid to trade players.

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Yes because the team he inherited won all those games....It obviously never changed....we never acquired or drafted anyone good....oh right let me guess....someone else gets all the credit for that... :ok:

Holland has been with us since 94 I believe, but still doesn't get any credit. Nill doesn't even work for us anymore and he sometimes still gets credit. Baffles me.

Actually the most shocking thing to me is how shocking this is to some people (Holland being reupped)

Edited by number9

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At least I'll be able to post this picture for a few more years.

Ken_Holland_head_shot.jpg

BTW, does Holland have any incentive to even try anymore? Nothing he does will get him fired.

If you don't do anything... you can't make any mistakes *wisdom from Ken*

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I'm happy with Holland getting 4 more years. Holland is putting the Wings through a rebuild right now while at the same time trying to keep the team competitive, a very hard thing to too, especially with all the internal/external pressure to either completely rebuild, or 100% go for it.

While I am personally happy with the rebuild and am thrilled to see all the young talent the Wings have developed and acquired (nyquist, tatar, jurco, sheahan, sproul, marchenko, ouellette, callahan, etc.) Only time will tell if it worked, four years seems like a fair window.

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there is good thing about Kenny. With him we always made the play-offs. Imagine being a fan of let's say Calgary or Ottawa or... well even Chicago and LA sucked for most years I'm watching hockey (since 94). We never really sucked in my life and were always a couple of players away from the SC. I prefer this rather than waiting for the good years of Bennet, Monahan or RNH and Draisatl or... and the list goes on.

PS One more example a bit more illustrative than Calgary and Edmonton. Would you like to be a fan of San Jose now? At least we are retooling with Anastasou, Nastasiuk, Nylen, Mantha, Oulette, Sproul, Marchenko Backman, Jensen, Pulkkinen, Mrazek in the minors. They have like two prospects, aging Thornton, Marleau and they have never been even close to winning the SC.

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I'm happy with Holland getting 4 more years. Holland is putting the Wings through a rebuild right now while at the same time trying to keep the team competitive, a very hard thing to too, especially with all the internal/external pressure to either completely rebuild, or 100% go for it.

While I am personally happy with the rebuild and am thrilled to see all the young talent the Wings have developed and acquired (nyquist, tatar, jurco, sheahan, sproul, marchenko, ouellette, callahan, etc.) Only time will tell if it worked, four years seems like a fair window.

Is he trying? And are we competitive?

Competitive for Cup? No way. Competitive for making the playoffs every year? You bet ya.

How do you define "trying" and how do you define "competitive"?

Edited by GMRwings1983

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Things I will give Ken Holland full credit for:

-Restocking the prospect shelves. Let's face it, the drafting was pretty hit and miss during the early to mid 2000's. Kenny doesn't get full credit here, but he was part of turning around the prospect pool.

-Being smart with prospect progression. I know a lot of people hate the whole overripe thing, but Nyquist and Tatar are examples of players who have greatly benefited from gaining experience in the minors.

-Signing younger players to solid deals. I think his "bridge deals" are a real positive. Guys like Zetterberg, Filppula and Kronwall all got them, now it's guys like Tatar and most likely Nyquist next year. He seems to be good with the younger player's deals.

-Rebuilding on the fly. Most teams need to tank, sell off their assets and completely alter their team. Detroit's managed to keep their superstars, and nearly all of their promising young players while staying competitive. Whatever your definition of competitive is, Detroit hasn't been a basement dweller - that's a plus in my eyes.

Things I don't think are Ken Holland's fault:

-Missing out on big name free agents. The salary cap has changed the playing field in the NHL, but I also think that the attitudes of players have changed. It's almost as if they want teams to chase them. The whole Suter thing was mind-boggling to me. You're a GM and you get on a plane to go talk to a player? Guys wanting to play in their hometowns, with their best friends, etc. is out of Ken's hands, I think. Does he need to change his approach, perhaps? It's a situation now where players want three things: comfort, comradery and cap hit. The one thing Kenny can control is giving out money, so luring players here is going to be a matter of over payment, I think.

Things I want to slap Ken Holland for:

-Misguided loyalty to veteran players. The list of players could go on and on, but we know the deal here.

-Bringing back familiar talent. I think you can also accuse Kenny of playing it "too safe" here. Bringing back talent to take the places of prospects he feels aren't ready yet. It's kind of a double-edged sword, but at times I think Kenny holds guys back too much. It was great for Gus and Tatar to stay down, but then the team also had that mess at the beginning of the year with Bert, Sammy and Cleary taking up spots.

-Poor judgement with trades and contracts. The Quincey and Legwand trades still bother me. Giving out 3 million dollar, NTC contracts to 35+ year-old vets, and a 4.25 million dollar contract to a pylon.

All things considered, I don't think there's another guy for the job right now, but that doesn't mean I think Kenny is totally effective in his post. He's done a lot of great things for this team, and recently some not-so-great things. If he could just alter his approach to trading, I think he would be totally set.

This team is entering a situation where the star players will be done in a few seasons, and there's quite a bit of talent waiting in the wings to take their place. The question is, which guys are going to become legitimate superstars, and what is Kenny going to do with the excess talent? I think Nyquist, Mantha, Jurco and Tatar all have potential to be star forwards on this team, DeKeyser, Ouellet and Sproul strike me as the future of the blueline, but who knows what will happen when they're not insulated anymore. Kenny's going to have some big decisions to make with the talent on this team, and they're going to determine if this entire "rebuild on the fly" process was really effective or not.

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Is he? And are we competitive?

Competitive for Cup? No way. Competitive for making the playoffs every year? You bet ya.

How do you define trying and how do you define competitive?

I really do believe every team who makes the playoffs is competitive for the cup. Are our chances as good as say Chicago, Boston, or LA? No. But there's 26 other teams in a similar position as us, or in a worse one. It's going to be a few years before we are a true powerhouse again, but the fact that we are still making it to the show in the mean time is pretty darn good, and hard for any GM to do.

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My big problem is that even if the Wings are a couple key pieces away from a serious Cup run, Holland isn't landing them and is content to sign some aging vet (and likely former Wing) to fill that hole. The Nyquist situation was absolutely ridiculously and hurt the team.

I'm with you on this, 100%. I'm just saying: if we're talking about Lidstrom being a guy you can't replace and that fact meaning the entire team had to be re-evaluated and whatnot...I think Holland's done what he should've done, which is focus on the farm instead of becoming Paul Holmgren. Not that it's "draft and develop or become Paul Holmgren." But you know what I'm saying. I think Holland's walked a pretty fine line between trying to make immediate improvements and trying to re-stock mostly empty cupboards.

I normally don't put much stock in futures, but I'm very, very high on what we have in the pipeline, largely because I think our player development is second-to-none.

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Wings fans are over-passionate and unrealistic so not surprised to see the negative reaction here. There are 30 teams all vying for the same goal and yet if the Wings don't win a cup every 3 or 4 years then the GM is a failure? The large majority of the teams in this league would give their left nut to have Holland at the helm.

Good signing, I don't agree with everything he's done, especially in recent years...but this team is positioned with a strong farm and should have a bright future.

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