A different take on Ken Holland going to Edmonton. A little over-the-top but have to admit it made me smile just a bit.
There are rants — and then there’s Jim Costa of ESPN 96.1 in Michigan vitriolic and bitter unloading on Ken Holland, former GM of the Detroit Red Wings and new GM of the Edmonton Oilers.
On his Grand Rapids sports radio show with cohost “Big” Drew McCarthy, Costa let loose with an epic rant upon hearing that Holland was coming to Edmonton. It’s the kind of thing you might expect to hear from any number of Oilers fans about how GM Peter Chiarelli ruined the Oilers, but not what you’d expect about a GM that made the playoffs 25 years in a row and won four Stanley Cups. Nonetheless, the criticisms that Costa make are already being made from many fans in Edmonton unhappy that Holland was named GM. So here it is from the source:
“I am bitter”, Costa said. “This man destroyed my hockey team for a decade. Do I have a right to be bitter?
“I never bought the idea that Ken Holland was on board with Yzerman showing up. I think he was pushed out. And good for (owner) Chris Illitch, (new GM) Steve Yzerman and company, whoever made that final call to get Ken Holland out of the GM chair. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
“This was coming. Ken Holland was forced up and eventually forced out and it’s probably a decade too late. But this is a great day for the Detroit Red Wings… Ken Holland drove this franchise into the ground. After 2009 when they appeared in the Stanley Cup Final and lost, we have stared at a decade of incompetence. Three playoff series wins in ten years when they’ve been trying to win. Resisting a rebuild and still putting out that subpar performance, signing mediocre players to five, six and seven year deals, giving them no-trade clauses on top of it. Bought at every single deadline up until about 18 months ago, when he had no choice (but to be a seller).”
“You know who Ken Holland is?” Costa continued. “Ken Holland is a trust fund kid. Ken Holland inherited this big fortune. Ken Holland stepped in as a general manager in 1997, the Red Wings already a Stanley Cup champion. Scotty Bowman built that thing up. Jim Devellano built that thing up. European scouting ahead of its time built that thing up. He was handed the GM chair, just like a rich person hands down their fortune to their son or their daughter, who didn’t work for it, didn’t earn it but is now going to benefit from it. And Ken Holland would go on to win a Stanley Cup in ’98, when money was no object. (Owner) Chris Illitch opened up the pocketbook and they won it in ’02. Salary Cup comes in the mid-2000s, they ride that to a Stanley Cup, but when it was time for Ken Holland to build on his own merits, you saw what happened to him. Trust fund kid. Everything was handed to him. When he had to work for it, the franchise crumbled.”
“Big” Drew McCarthy then chipped in, only moderating Costa’s comments somewhat: “Ken Holland makes his exit unceremoniously from the city of Detroit. Without fanfare. Without a send off. There will be no Ken Holland parade. There will not be a Ken Holland day. But, Jim, I think a lot of people have significantly more fond memories of Ken Holland than you do. You give him zero credit for the Cups?”
Costa: “I can’t give him zero, but I can’t look at him as the visionary that created that dynasty. Again, he inherited a team with Yzerman, Fedorov, Lidstrom. They were able to out and sign Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille. Dominik Hasek demanded a trade to Detroit. Everything fell in Ken Holland’s lap. I mean, it would be hard to screw that up, right? But then when those guys retired and the salary cap was put in, they said, ‘Ken Holland, part of the being the GM is signing free agents, trading for players.’ What happened? I think we saw who Ken Holland really is as a general manager. When Jimmy Devellano is not there. When Jim Nill is not there. When Hakan Andersson the (Swedish) scout is gone, what happens? What happens to Ken Holland. You realize he’s not doing great.”
McCarthy said he’s offered Oilers fans condolences on the amount of no-trade contracts coming Edmonton’s way. But he said that many Detroit fans would be offended by Costa’s anti-Holland rant. “Ken Holland was a great steward,” McCarthy said. “He was the steward of Gondor. He was handed a kingdom but wasn’t maybe a king. I think there’s a place where we can appreciate the goodness of Ken Holland’s tenure without elevating him to God-like status, while still recognizing that the deals he made in the last decade are what put this franchise in the rebuilding mode they are today…. Do you feel like it’s a somber day. Like they just lost this hockey genius? Like, ‘Oh no Edmonton is going to build up a dynasty now.”? No. That’s the true test of this. Is there any sadness in Hockey Town to lose out on Ken Holland’s brain? No.”
Costa then addressed a common defence of Holland, that he was director of Detroit’s scouting when they drafted so many of the superstars who led the team to success, including Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. “He drafted Datsyuk and Zetterberg,” Costa acknowledged. “Didn’t he kind of waste the second half of their careers?”
The rant concluded with Costa saying: “Good luck Edmonton. You’re going to need it.”
https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/this-man-destroyed-my-hockey-team-for-a-decade-ken-holland-ripped-by-espn-sportscasters/wcm/1587c8ca-70b2-4992-8227-5ae295d666a4