NHL
One week into the job, and there are not enough hours in the day.
Since being named general manager of the Los Angeles Kings, Ken Holland has been on the phone with fellow GMs, agents and staff — it’s been a whirlwind.
And he’s loved every minute of it. Boy, had he ever missed it.
“It’s great being back in a GM chair,” Holland told The Athletic on Wednesday. “I’m excited.”
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The Hockey Hall of Famer was quick to thank Kings owner Philip Anschutz and team president Luc Robitaille for the opportunity — one that checked all the boxes for him, both professionally and personally.
A team that has a chance to win. A big market. A West Coast city that fits nicely with wife Cindi and their home in Vernon, B.C., and a life that includes four kids and 10 grandchildren.
It was the perfect package.
Now it’s time to roll up his sleeves. He’s hit the ground running.
One of Holland’s first decisions was to reach out to Rob Blake, inviting him out for dinner to pick his brain. Not every outgoing GM would be interested in that kind of invite, but it’s telling of the person that Blake is that he accepted.
“Being the classy, professional gentleman that he is, we got together for dinner for two and a half hours and talked a lot about the team and some other things,” Holland said. “So very, very valuable for me.”
Holland has decided to keep Blake’s front-office group pretty much intact, which includes wanting to keep Nelson Emerson (AGM), Glen Murray (senior director, player personnel) and Marc Bergevin (senior adviser to GM) in the fold, among others, although we’ll see what happens with Bergevin on the New York Islanders GM front, where he’s interviewed twice, per league sources.
“I’m going to keep everybody,” Holland said. “They had 105 points. They’ve gone through a retool. It was a wonderful job by Rob Blake and all the people around him. I mean, they’ve made the playoffs the last four years in a row.”
Holland didn’t blow up the Edmonton Oilers’ front office, either, when he got there. He did bring three people in of his own.
“I am going to bring in a person on board here, someone that knows how I think, and other than that, I look forward to working with Nelson and Glen and Luc and (head coach) Jim Hiller and everyone there,” Holland said.
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Holland wouldn’t say who that person was he was bringing in, but I would be surprised if it wasn’t Tyler Wright, who was with him with the Detroit Red Wings and the Oilers.
As for Bergevin, if he doesn’t end up as the new Islanders GM, both sides are fine working together in L.A.
“Berg has been a general manager in Montreal,” Holland said. “His name is floated around out there. I wouldn’t hold him back. I wouldn’t hold anyone back if they had a chance to become a general manager or a head coach. But if Berg is back, I’ve obviously got a great relationship with him. We were together on the 2016 World Cup Canadian management team. We spent a good month together, and obviously we were both GMs and he’s a former Red Wings player in the 1990s when I was in the front office there.
“If Berg stays, certainly he’ll be somebody that will be very important to me. Because he’s been in the chair, and that experience is always valuable.”
Ironically, Holland himself met and interviewed with the Islanders this spring as part of their GM search process, although he would not comment on that.
There’s also been interest over the past year from a couple of other NHL teams, wanting Holland as a senior adviser.
“I did talk to some other teams, but at the end of the day, the situation had to work for my wife and I,” he said. “We’ve got four kids and we have 10 grandkids. Family is No. 1.”
In the end, the Kings’ GM job called out to him for all kinds of reasons, and Cindi was obviously an important part of it.
“I spent a lot of days on the road in my life,” Holland said. “She was home raising the kids and taking them to those school events, and I was missing birthday parties, I said to Cindi that if I had an opportunity to come back (as an NHL GM) and that if it fit for Cindi and fit for me, I would be interested in it.
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“But at this stage of our lives, it had to be a decision that worked for the both of us.”
And again, the Kings’ job was perfect in every way.
“It worked personally and professionally,” Holland.
After a year out of team management, Holland said his juices were starting to flow this past season. He never saw himself as potentially retired, but rather as unemployed. He stayed in touch with the game by taking on an advisory role with NHL Hockey Ops, which allowed him to attend GM meetings and Board of Governors meetings. He watched NHL games every night all year long.
After his mutually agreed-upon exit from the Oilers last June following a Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Final, Holland feels re-energized and absolutely up to trying to take the Kings to the next level.
“It’s a great opportunity, a great organization,” the four-time Stanley Cup champion executive said.
Holland’s hire wasn’t met with unanimous praise. Some segments of the Kings’ fan base wanted younger blood. A more modern vision. And you get that, for sure, from their perspective.
And like any GM, Holland hasn’t batted 1.000. But if you look at where the Oilers were when he took over and where they were when he left, sometimes you miss the forest for the trees. The Oilers were a mess when he got there, despite having the best player in the world. They were a win short of winning the Cup when Holland left, the hockey culture completely overhauled in the process.
Does that mean Holland will lead the Kings to the promised land?
No one can answer that for sure. But I know he won’t be afraid to swing for the fences.
You can absolutely bet he’s going to be aggressive this summer trying to upgrade the Kings roster.
“It’s a good team,” Holland said. “There’s good veteran leadership on the team. There’s some good young kids that are on the come up. It’s L.A. It’s got a great history. It’s a great brand. It’s an entertainment capital. Hopefully I can make a few decisions and we can convince a player or two to come join us like we were able to do in Detroit and able to do in Edmonton.”
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The Kings have the salary cap space to swing hard enough.
“I plan to be aggressive,” Holland said. “Ownership is prepared to go to the cap. The goal is to put a competitive team on the ice and, at the right time, be aggressive to try to make the team better and more exciting. Whether that happens in the next six to seven weeks or next year at the trade deadline or next offseason … but certainly the plan is to be aggressive at the right time.”
I would be surprised if the Kings didn’t enter the Mitch Marner sweepstakes, for example, if the pending unrestricted free agent is indeed available July 1. Just like I would be pretty surprised if the Kings didn’t do all they could to enter a Connor McDavid frenzy if, for whatever reason, the best player in the world doesn’t extend with the Oilers. (I’m not saying he won’t extend. I’m just saying in case he doesn’t.)
No name will be too big for Holland. He’s going to be big-game hunting to get the Kings over the hump.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Pierre LeBrun has been a senior NHL columnist for The Athletic since 2017. He has been an NHL Insider for TSN since 2011 following six years as a panelist on Hockey Night In Canada. He also appears regularly on RDS in Montreal. Pierre previously covered the NHL for ESPN.com and The Canadian Press. Follow Pierre on Twitter @PierreVLeBrun
