Oilers’ Jeff Jackson begins search for new GM after Holland departure

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Hired last summer to run hockey operations for the Edmonton Oilers, Jeff Jackson says he had a great working relationship with his GM Ken Holland and it was an amicable parting of the ways after the Hall of Famer’s five years here.

Holland, 68, wasn’t kicked to the curb, kicking and screaming.

“Ken and I met yesterday (Wednesday) to formalize a discussion that had been ongoing during the season,” said Jackson in a Thursday Zoom call.

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“It’s not a surprise to Ken and me that we mutually decided this was the best thing. He was ready to move on. Ken and I had a great conversation for an hour yesterday…there was lots of laughs and reminiscing on what went on in the season. And now we move on.”

Holland wasn’t offered a contract extension before or after the Oilers lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in Florida, but, if there was no succession plan in place with anybody in particular, Jackson says Holland and he were on the same wave length during the season.

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Maybe Holland goes to work for somebody else as a senior advisor to a young GM, only a phone call away, maybe he resurfaces in Detroit in some capacity. But for now, he’s leaving Oilers, one step from a Stanley Cup.

“We sort of agreed on this from when I got hired. Ken had one year left, we would work together closely, we had a great relationship, we were very collaborative,” Jackson said. “It was discussed that this was what he wanted. He said ‘you probably want to have your own guy.’

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“That was the way we operated this year, it was full-on. Kenny was so engaged. There was no time where he wasn’t doing what he’s done for 30 years in this league. The proof was in the pudding to the very end. Great job,” said Jackson, who said both sides wanted to keep the GM plan going forward in the background, with no team distractions. Jackson certainly wasn’t making any calls.

Hyman signing, Ekholm trade helped ‘immensely’

Jackson applauded Holland’s work, especially the signing of Toronto free-agent Zach Hyman for eight years at $5.5 million and trading for Mattias Ekholm in 2023 to fill the hole of Oscar Klefbom (shoulder issues necessitating retirement) and partnering with Evan Bouchard.

“Those two things immensely helped our success. The Hyman signing was a brilliant one. Not only has Zach continued to improve as a goal-scorer (70 goals this season, including playoffs) but he brings so much leadership to this team,” said Jackson.

“And the Ekholm trade a year ago with Nashville changed the trajectory of a lot of things. Ekky brings so much to the leadership, he competes, mentoring…it allowed us this year and last to elevate Bouch and he responded. You see what’s on the ice with both players but off the ice, adding to Leon and Connor, Nurse and Nuge, it’s a big leadership group.

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‘I don’t know how long it’ll take’

Jackson may have a list in his head of possible replacements but he hasn’t talked to anybody. He likely wants to get younger. The usual names, assistant GMs in other places, will pop up: Mathieu Darche (Tampa), Ryan Hardy (Toronto), Jason Botterill (Seattle), Shawn Horcoff (Detroit) and we know that Sean Burke (Vegas) and Mark Hunter (London juniors) were runners-up to Holland back in 2019, along with current Oilers assistant manager Keith Gretzky, who looks after Bakersfield.

“I don’t know how long it’ll take (new GM hire). It’ll depend on when teams free up people (after asking for permission),” said Jackson.

Holland joined the team in 2019 after Gretzky had been interim GM (he traded Cam Talbot to Philadelphia and dealt Ryan Spooner for Sam Gagner) in the wake of Peter Chiarelli being fired as Oilers GM.

When Holland came in the team had been in the playoffs once in 13 years and they made them every year he was here, with nine playoff rounds the last three seasons. They lost to Colorado in the third-round in 2022 and they went on to win the Cup. They lost to Vegas in round2 in 2022 and Golden Knights rolled to their first Cup. They got to the seventh game of the final this June, losing 2-1 in Game 7 to the Panthers

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The CEO Jackson says he wants no part of the GM job going forward, but will be the de facto GM at the draft and when free-agency opens July 1, a spot he is comfortable with being Connor McDavid’s former agent.

They won’t be making any big splashes; instead, he’s got so many UFAs on his current roster to negotiate with and has to decide whether to buy out goalie Jack Campbell, who has three years left on his $5 million cap hit, to free up some money for now. He also might have to trade an older defenceman with term left on his deal to help with just $10 million in cap space for 2024-2025 at this time.

On other topics

Jackson commented on Leon Draisaitl’s contract situation, and working on an extension:

“I’m sure I’ll see his agent Mike Liut (at the draft). It’s critically important that the general manager is in place before we get to the meat of that discussion. I’m sure they will want to know the vision of the team and who the GM is. Obviously Leon knows me but I assume they will want to wait.”

How comfortable is Jackson in going into the season, Draisaitl’s last, without an extension whereby he could walk for free July 1, 2025 with no assets coming back?

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“Obviously it’s of critical importance for us to get him signed. He’s one of the top five players in the league. I don’t feel the pressure to do this by a certain date, though. I don’t feel we’re putting ourselves in peril if we don’t have something in place the next few days or July 1 or after that.”

On whether decisions on Draisaitl and McDavid, who has two seasons left before he is UFA, are inextricably linked or made separately:

“Their deals don’t line up but they’re very close friends and confidants. They share a lot because I was with Connor for years as his agent and know their relationship. There will be a point where we sit down with both of them and chat. Connor’s not going to be involved in the negotiations with Leon but we don’t want to do this in a vacuum. It’s important we have collaboration with our two top players and what the vision is. I’m not sure when that is. Connor has a wedding coming up.”

On buying out Campbell who spent most of this season in the AHL.

“At this point, we’re not planning that, we’re considering it.”

On being aggressive in free-agent signings or trades:

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“We’d like to bring back the team, maybe tinkering with it a bit. We won’t be super aggressive, we’re not opening the floodgates to make big deals. Doesn’t make sense with the group and success we had. Realistically I don’t know we’ll get everybody (UFA) back. We’re working around cap issues, and looking for ways to free up money.”

On bringing the band together when many of the players are 30 or older:

“Were in win-now mode and that’s not going to change. We’re that close, that’s evident. The guys we’d like to bring back (Adam Henrique and Vinny Desharnais at the top of the list, with Connor Brown, Mattias Janmark, Calvin Pickard, Sam Carrick and maybe Corey Perry in there and Warren Foegele probably too rich for their blood) we’re probably not talking long-term deals.”

On whether McDavid (suspected oblique muscle problem) will require surgery:

“We went through medicals yesterday and I have to sit down with T.D. (Forss, athletic trainer) to review all of that. Nothing’s finalized.”

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