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Red Wings extend GM Ken Holland, for better or worse

2012 NHL Entry Draft - Rounds 2-7

PITTSBURGH, PA - JUNE 23: Detroit Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland (L) and Detroit Red Wings Senior Vice President Jim Devellano speak during day two of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft at Consol Energy Center on June 23, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Some teams dive in the deep end when it comes to rebuilding (and/or “tanking”). Generally speaking, the Red Wings have instead opted to dip their toes in that pool.

With that in mind, it’s probably not too surprising to see the team hand GM Ken Holland a two-year contract extension.

As the Red Wings note, this opens the door for Holland to enter his 22nd season as GM. The team does a solid job of listing his biggest accomplishments as the league’s second-longest tenured general manager:

Under his watch, the Red Wings have won four Presidents’ Trophies, captured 10 division championships, won five regular-season conference titles and reached at least 100 regular-season points a league-high 13 times in the last 17 seasons. The Red Wings have also won 893 regular-season games and 119 playoff games since Holland assumed general manager duties in July 1997, topping the NHL in both categories during that span.

Of course, that press release doesn’t ruminate much on the present, and it only fixates on one positive part of the future: that they made 10 picks in the 2017 NHL Draft, hold 11 in the upcoming 2018 edition, and already claim 10 for 2019.
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For one thing, the massive haul of draft picks are a mixed bag. Holding such a quantity of picks does open the door for Holland to justify the belief that the Red Wings might once again unearth gems as they had in the past, a thought that becomes more promising if you still believe that they’re better than most at developing prospects.

On the other hand, such a smorgasboard of selections could also have been useful for a new GM to define a new vision. And, hey, maybe some of those picks could be packaged in a deal to ship some crummy deals out of Detroit.

Because, make no mistake about it, this team is a real mess on paper. Despite missing the playoffs for the second straight season in 2018-19, they were essentially a cap team. Via Cap Friendly, the Red Wings already have $56.875 million in cap space devoted to 14 players, and that’s with key young players (including Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, and Andreas Athanasiou) needing new deals as pending RFAs.

Now, there are some contracts that even the most creative, aggressive executive would probably just need to deal with.

Still, you wonder if Holland might be “too close” to some deals and decisions, thus keeping the Red Wings from making crucial calls to accelerate the process toward being competitive again. This franchise clearly needs to yank the “Band-Aid” off swiftly, and you have to wonder if the chief architect is truly willing to undergo a necessary makeover.

This is yet another example of a franchise handing a polarizing GM an extension, such as the Vancouver Canucks re-upping oft-criticized exec Jim Benning. Time will tell if Holland can turn the Red Wings around, but from a sheer PR standpoint, it’s not a move savvy Red Wings fans are very happy about.

In other key organizational news, the team is expected to make an announcement regarding head coach Jeff Blashill in the coming week. The Detroit Free-Press’ Helene St. James and others indicate that he’ll probably be back, and it’s worth noting that Blashill has one year remaining on his contract.

Holland’s name has been connected to the Seattle expansion franchise, and while it’s feasible that he could still move on, this extension should at least turn the volume down on such speculation for a while.


James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.