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Wings GM Holland to receive Detroit’s executive of the year award

Ken Holland

While he’s yet to win -- or even be nominated for -- the NHL’s GM of the Year award, Ken Holland will receive an equally impressive honor on Nov. 8, when the Detroit Executives Association names him its executive of the year.

“It’s an honor,” Holland told the Detroit Free Press about award, which will be presented on Nov. 8. “I’m fortunate that I get to work in a city that is passionate about our team and our sport, that I work for great owners, and with some of the best people on and off the ice.”

Founded in 1926, the DEA (no, not that DEA) is comprised of “business owners and decision makers” in and around the Detroit metropolitan area.

The group’s annual executive award has gone to a number of distinguished individuals including Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos (as the CEO of Compuware), Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, ePrize founder and CEO Josh Linkner, General Motors executive Robert Lutz, and DTE Energy CEO Anthony Earley.

Holland, 56, got into the general management game in 1997, winning his first Stanley Cup that year as the assistant GM (under Jim Devellano and Scotty Bowman), then added three more (1998, 2002, 2008) while holding the full general manager’s title.