Ken Holland

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CanadaCanada  Ken Holland Ice hockey player
Hockey Hall of Fame , 2020
Ken Holland
Date of birth November 10, 1955
place of birth Vernon , British Columbia
size 173 cm
Weight 73 kg
position goalkeeper
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft 1975 , 12th round, 188th position
Toronto Maple Leafs
Career stations
1973-1974 Vernon Vikings
1974-1976 Medicine Hat Tigers
1976-1979 Binghamton Dusters
1979-1980 Springfield Indians
1980-1983 Binghamton Whalers
1983-1985 Adirondack Red Wings

Kenneth Mark Holland (born November 10, 1955 in Vernon , British Columbia ) is a former Canadian ice hockey goalkeeper and current - functional . From 1997 to 2019 he was General Manager of the Detroit Red Wings , during which time he led the team to three Stanley Cup victories. He has been working in the same position at Edmonton Oilers since May 2019 . In 2020 he was awarded the Hockey Hall of Fame for his services as an official .

Career as a player

Ken Holland plays from 1974 in the Canadian Junior League WCHL with the Medicine Hat Tigers and was selected in the NHL Amateur Draft 1975 by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the twelfth round at position 188. After another year in the WCHL, he moved to the Binghamton Dusters , the farm team of the Maple Leafs, in the North American Hockey League .

After a year the team moved to the AHL and Holland stayed with the team, even if he hardly had a chance to move into the NHL squad of the Maple Leafs. This hopeless situation led him to move to the Springfield Indians in 1979 within the AHL , where he stayed for a year.

In 1980 he received an NHL contract with the Hartford Whalers , but even there he spent most of the time with the AHL farm team, the Binghamton Whalers . Once he was allowed on the ice for Hartford in the NHL in the 1980/81 season , but conceded seven goals, which is why he was no longer appointed to the NHL squad. After all, he was able to shine in the AHL every now and then and was elected to the Second All-Star Team in 1982 .

In 1983 he signed a contract with the Detroit Red Wings and there, too, he was first sent to the Adirondack Red Wings farm team . But at least three times he was allowed to play in the NHL, but could not convince.

In 1985 he finally ended his career.

General manager career

Shortly after the end of his playing career, Holland got a job as a talent scout with the Detroit Red Wings and was responsible for the west of Canada. After a few years he was promoted to Amateur Scout Director and was therefore the most important man with the Red Wings when it came to the NHL Entry Draft . Young talents such as Vyacheslav Koslow , Chris Osgood , Darren McCarty and Martin Lapointe were promoted under his leadership .

In 1994 Holland was appointed assistant to General Manager Jim Devellano . After three years in this position, he rose to the very top and took over the post of general manager himself. In its first year, the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup and Holland slowly made a name for itself as one of the top managers in the league.

He earned great respect and recognition in March 1999 when he was able to sign Chris Chelios , Ulf Samuelsson , Wendel Clark and Bill Ranford in the remaining 24 hours before the transfer market closed . The Red Wings were eliminated relatively early in the playoffs , but Holland had finally established themselves in the NHL.

Holland brought in his negotiating skills again in the summer of 2001 and landed four sensational signings from NHL veterans within a few months. In May he signed Fredrik Olausson , on July 1 he sent Slava Kozlov to the Buffalo Sabers with a first-round draft pick and received star goalkeeper Dominik Hašek . The next day he was able to announce the signing of Luc Robitaille and in August he brought one of the best strikers of the 1990s into the team in Brett Hull . These decisions should immediately be crowned with success and the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 2002.

After the departure of goalie Dominik Hašek in the summer of 2002, Holland did not hesitate long and once again signed a star goalkeeper in Curtis Joseph . He was also able to get the oldies Igor Larionow and Chris Chelios to sign a new contract.

After the failure of the 2004/05 season , difficult decisions were made for the Red Wings and especially for Ken Holland. Due to the introduction of a salary cap, the team, which consisted of many high-class, but also high-paid players, had to get rid of some players. Derian Hatcher , Ray Whitney and Darren McCarty got their contracts paid out, the expensive goalkeepers Curtis Joseph and Dominik Hašek, who had meanwhile returned to Detroit, did not receive any new contracts. Instead, Manny Legace , who had been a substitute goalkeeper for a long time, and Chris Osgood, who had been brought back to Detroit after four years, opted for a much cheaper option. Despite the departures and thanks to the skillful renovation work in the team by Ken Holland, the Red Wings were able to play a very successful season and took first place in the league after the regular season.

In the summer of 2006, Holland caused a surprise when he brought the 41-year-old Dominik Hašek back into the team as the goalkeeper. Hašek had attracted attention in previous years because of his injuries, which is why Holland received criticism for signing the Czech. But Hašek was spared injuries and was one of the best goalkeepers in the league in 2006/07 . Holland had only given Hašek a salary of $ 600,000 plus bonuses, which ended up getting him a good deal and taking little risk.

In the 2007/08 season , the Detroit Red Wings won the third Stanley Cup with Holland as general manager. A few weeks after the triumph, he was also able to record another success in the player market when he was able to sign Marián Hossa , who signed a one-year contract for $ 7.4 million, although he had more lucrative and long-term offers.

Ken Holland is known for his sense of rebuilding a team, but still maintaining a team core. For a long time he was able to keep veterans like Brendan Shanahan , Nicklas Lidström or Steve Yzerman in the team, who served as mentors for young players like Henrik Zetterberg , Niklas Kronwall and Pawel Dazjuk . On the one hand, the team remained competitive, and on the other hand, the young players were able to develop in the shadow of the stars. Other qualities that have made him one of the best managers in the NHL are his quick action when it comes to commitments and his aggressive negotiation strategies, which are often crowned with success.

In April 2019, Holland handed over the position of General Manager to his former player Steve Yzerman after more than 20 years , while he himself took over the position of Senior Vice President at Red Wings. From there, however, he was hired only a few weeks later by the Edmonton Oilers , where he again took on the role of general manager and succeeded Peter Chiarelli and the interim solution Keith Gretzky .

Private

Ken Holland and his wife, Cindi, have four children - Brad, Julie, Rachel and Greg. He lives in a Detroit suburb and is a passionate golfer .

Achievements and Awards

As a player

As general manager

Web links

Edmonton Oilers logo
Squad of the Edmonton Oilers in the season 2019/20
personal data
SURNAME Holland, Ken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holland, Kenneth Mark
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey goalkeeper and official
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Vernon (British Columbia) , British Columbia , Canada