I’ll start this off by saying that this morning’s post regarding Mark Spector saying the Oilers had interviewed Kelly McCrimmon, well I guess that has been privately denied. I was in touch with another source and was told that they’d dug into that quote and was informed by their own source that improper wordage was used. That wasn’t what Spector intended to say.
Believe what you will, but I’m not really buying that. Spec prefaced that quote very clearly as one he could share with us. If he misworded or what he said wasn’t the intended, a) he would’ve gone public and corrected it or b) he would’ve said what he meant to. It was a prepared statement.
I’m also of the belief that we’re hearing what both McCrimmon’s party and the Oilers’ want us to hear.
So where do we go from here?
*EDIT* I wrote an entire piece here on the premise that Keith Gretzky was the front-runner for the job, but Nick Kypreos has just said this during the Sharks/Avs intermission:
Nick Kypreos just said that Keith Gretzky feels he's not in the running for the #Oilers GM position and that the focus isn't on Mark Hunter so it's Ken Holland's job to lose…
— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) May 3, 2019
So you can continue to read on if you like as there’s some information in this post that still pertains but it looks like things have changed on the GM front in Edmonton… Or at least that’s what we’re being told.
I don’t think Bob Nicholson will make a small splash in his GM hunt. His history at Hockey Canada was to land big fish. I believe that’s what he’s angling for in Edmonton.
— Kurt Leavins (@KurtLeavins) May 3, 2019
Is Ken Holland the big fish? What happens if he passes? Are we back to Gretzky and Hunter? This is going to be fun!!!
Well, the common belief is that Mark Hunter has jumped to the front of the queue but when I asked around about that I was told that that might be the public perception NOT the internal one.
What I’m understanding there is that the order of preference has changed now that McCrimmon is out and now it looks like this:
- Ken Holland
- Keith Gretzky
- Mark Hunter
I’d read about a possible 3-headed management team consisting of Sean Burke and Keith Gretzky serving as assistant general managers with Mark Hunter as GM but that was quickly refuted. Instead, it was passed along that if the Oilers can’t convince Ken Holland to join the team (aka “make him an offer he can’t refuse”) that they’d prefer to install Gretzky as GM.
Lots of speculation regarding Ken Holland. My understanding is that Holland is currently taking stock of what lies ahead for him. Edmonton remains a possibility. Seattle is of real intrigue. And he could stay on in Detroit for a while where he’s happy. But decisions to come ….
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) May 2, 2019
For those thinking of a Holland/Gretzky tandem, I’m not sure I see that happening. I don’t feel that Holland would leave a very cushy position in DET as their POHO to go to Edmonton to be the Oilers’ POHO. But if you’ve been listening to Kurt Leavins and Elliotte Friedman, they’ve been pumping Holland’s tires for quite some time now…
There are some things to be worried about with Holland as GM though and my friend SPR who’s a Red Wings supporter out of London, Ont. has spoken to this in the past,
https://twitter.com/TheOilKnight/status/1118505355636396032
https://twitter.com/TheOilKnight/status/1122957248194420736
Holland working for the #Oilers AND the #RedWings? 🤔🤔🤔 https://t.co/VxiMKrE20b
— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) May 3, 2019
Why is this team so fearful of big change? I guess there isn’t a fear of big change, that is just what it seems like.
Of course that’s what it seems like!
You have a gentleman who is considered as talented as Kelly McCrimmon in Mark Hunter and he’s going to want full control. So the idea is to go with someone else? Even after you’ve interviewed him twice already? That’s not going to play well with Hunter or other GMs in the future when it’s time to go down that road again…
No disrespect to Gretzky and his 19 years in the NHL over Hunter’s three, but this seems a bit fishy. I’ve never heard Kretzky’s name bandied about as a possible GM candidate for other clubs… Ever. But I have heard Mark Hunter’s, Mike Futa’s, Bill Zito’s, etc.
Why is that?
Then you’ve got Jim Matheson wondering if Gretzky would leave the Oilers much in the way that Hunter left Toronto when Kyle Dubas was chosen over him as GM of the Leafs.
I suppose that’s a possibility, has anybody been calling and asking for permission to talk to him? His contract expires at the end of June… But maybe, just maybe, that might be what’s best for the Oilers.
What if the best thing for the organization is if all of the guys that have been with the club through the decade(+2) of darkness got jobs with other teams? Why does the playing roster have to be rebuilt but not the executive one?
Bob Stauffer said to keep an eye out for what current IIHF president Rene Fasel is doing? If he goes to run the KHL, there’s a strong chance Bob Nicholson would get the push to be the new president of the IIHF.
Then we have Ray Ferraro saying that this GM search for the Oilers is going poorly. I call bullshit on that too. Remember last summer when Carolina was trying to hire a GM and candidates were turning them down? THAT is a bad GM search and I don’t recall those execs who turned them down doing it because they were getting promoted. Holland and McCrimmon both accepted promotions.
The funny part about that Ferraro spot on a Toronto radio show is that he went ahead and pumped Ron Hextall’s tires after and for those of you who didn’t know, Hextall and Ferraro were teammates in junior with Brandon (WHL), Kelly McCrimmon’s team now…
Has the New GM Been Working For the Oilers All This Time?
Have the Oilers had the new GM since January? It’d make sense given Nicholson had Kretzky on the podium with him at the year-end avail, right? But then what the hell was the point in interviewing all of these candidates? Were they looking for support pieces for Keith? Some rumors have Sean Burke, whose son plays for the University of Alberta and spends a lot of time in the west, joining the club in some capacity that isn’t the general manager’s.
It’s been report already that the @CanadiensMTL gave permission to the @EdmontonOilers to talk to Sean Burke and Scott Mellanby. No other teams asked for permission to talk to any other members of the organization so far.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) May 2, 2019
This is what Pierre LeBrun had to say about former Edmonton Oiler Scott Mellanby,
“The Habs assistant GM is known as a hard worker who rolls up his sleeves and puts in the hours. He’s also had a front-row seat to the pressure-cooker his boss Marc Bergevin has lived through over the years, experiencing that roller-coaster, which would serve him well if he’s ever running a franchise that’s under that kind of a spotlight.”
And this is what LeBrun had to say about Sean Burke,
“This is a guy that deserves a break at some point. Canada’s Olympic GM from last year was a longtime assistant GM in Arizona. He’s put in his time.”
https://twitter.com/chrispagnani/status/1124068981520912397
As I said before, we hear what the organization wants us to hear and wouldn’t it be right in the Oilers’ wheelhouse to try and pull the wool over everyone’s eyes by saying they’d go through “the process” to find a new GM, then actually do it thus furthering the illusion, but then only to come back and say they knew Keith Gretzky was the one the whole time?
Now that is a really pessimistic way of looking at things and if you know me, I’m not really that kind of person. So I’d like to set things straight on this front.
I’m not against the Oilers hiring Gretzky. My feeling is that they need to bring in new blood, fresh opinions, and ideas. Since Keith has rolled into town, I feel like the quality of the Oilers’ pipeline has improved. Sure, he was part of the Chia regime and there will be ire if he’s hired, but as far as I can gather, he wasn’t part of that privileged group that Chiarelli surrounded himself with before he was fired.
The impression that I get is that I think there’s a strong internal push for Gretzky to be hired as those who’ve been working alongside him have enjoyed the time. I hear that he listens whereas Chiarelli didn’t.
The Oilers can walk this line if they’re careful and bring in a couple of guys like Sean Burke (Pro scout w/MTL) and say, Al Murray (TB’s Dir. of Am. Scouting). It really is about surrounding the GM with the right people as the support staff must be of the highest quality in order for this to work.
But just as important as the additions are, the subtractions are as well. I don’t think for a second that if Keith Gretzky is hired that there won’t be changes and this begs the question, what is the minimal amount of turnover that would appease the fanbase?
Let us know in the comments below!
