Ken Holland gets it. He got it then and he gets it now, two and a half years removed from his departure as GM of the Red Wings. The fanbase had soured on an architect of four Stanley Cups, six Presidents' Trophies and a playoff streak the NHL might never see again after the dynasty fell into disrepair.
"I think that’s the world we live in. And that’s sports. It’s 'What have you done for me lately?' and I hadn’t done enough lately," Holland said Tuesday on the Stoney & Jansen Show with his Oilers in town to take on the Red Wings. "We made the playoffs 25 years in a row. The last playoff round we won was in 2013, so the last six years we didn’t win a playoff round."
They came close in 2015, falling in seven games to the Lightning after holding a 3-2 series lead. They haven't come close since. Holland departed in May of 2019 shortly after the Red Wings hired Steve Yzerman to replace him as GM. The team he'll see Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena as GM of the Oilers, who are off to a 9-1 start, will bear little resemblance to the one he left behind.
There's plenty of gratitude for Holland's tenure in Detroit. And there are gripes with how it ended, namely with the Wings chasing playoff berths in vain and prolonging an inevitable rebuild. Holland doesn't begrudge the fans' frustration, because he knows it's borne of passion. He said passion "drives our business."
"I understand pro sports," Holland said. "I’ve been in it a long time. It was 36 years with the Red Wings, 22 years as the general manager, and the last year and a half I made a decision to chart the course to set the Red Wings on a rebuild, trading (Gustav) Nyquist, trading (Tomas) Tatar, trading a bunch of other players for draft picks. And then when Steve stepped down (in Tampa), I just felt that it was time for somebody else. And Steve wanted to come home.
"My time was here. I had a great time. I’m very proud of what we accomplished."
Holland said he made "good decisions" and "bad decisions" during his tenure as GM, "probably lots" of both. By the end, he said "it was time for change." He didn't leave Yzerman with much, beyond a captain-to-be in Dylan Larkin, a blossoming winger in Tyler Bertuzzi, a top-four defenseman in Filip Hronek and a decent stash of picks and prospects. Yzerman has bolstered the rebuild by adding two potential stars in Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond with his two highest picks.
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Seider was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for October. Raymond is the league's leading rookie in goal and points. The Wings enter Tuesday night's game with a record of 6-5-2. It bears mention Bertuzzi leads the team in goals and Larkin has eight points in nine games.
"Steve’s done a phenomenal job," Holland said. "As I watch from afar, Steve’s done a tremendous job the last two years in rebuilding. They’ve got some great young kids, and I’m excited and fortunate with my opportunity out there in Edmonton."
Indeed, as Holland mentioned at the very top of the interview, "Having Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the prime of their careers, they drive our team."
Other highlights from Holland's interview on 97.1 The Ticket:
On his best moves as Red Wings GM: "I think the Chelios trade worked out, the Hasek trade worked out, signing Rafalski as a free agent worked out. And I think I hired the right people, the Jim Nills and Hakan Anderssons that drafted the Zetterbergs and the Datsyuks and the Filppulas and the Howards and the Franzens and the Holmstroms. If you’re going to be a good team, you gotta draft. For a long time there, the late ‘90s and early 2000’s, we really knocked it out of the park at the draft table. That set us up so that when Yzerman and Shanahan and Fedorov were gone, we had another bunch of players that took us for another decade."
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On his expectations for Tyler Bertuzzi as a second-round pick: "Our scouts really liked him. ... It was a funny draft because we took him in the second round and I think he was rated fifth- or sixth-round by Central Scouting at the time. At the end of the day, when you’re in the position as the manager, you’re paid to make decisions. And the beautiful part about pro sports and certainly the NHL, you’re dealing with passion. And that’s a good thing. We need passion. That’s what drives our business. The passion of the fanbase, I was here for a long time. It’s a passionate fanbase. So when you make decisions and they don’t like them, they’re certainly going to voice their opinion. Again, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I think it’s a good thing."
On the possibility of Red Wings retiring Fedorov's No. 91: "He was a great player. I guess at the end of the day, I would say to you, certainly it’s a worthy discussion. I’ve moved on now, I’m with another team, so I don’t want to create anything. But he was a great player. He won a Hart Trophy. And now that’s up to Chris Ilitch and Mrs. Ilitch and Jim Devellano and Steve Yzerman and the next group of people to make that decision."