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“Yeah, but they were all good ones,” joked the Edmonton Oilers general manager. His Red Wings got bounced by the Oilers, the No. A nice mix and their Stanley Cups aren’t that far from them,” said Holland, who didn’t toss out the elephant in the room, goalie Corey Crawford.Count him in as looking forward to the hub atmosphere because it’ll be like the Olympics.If the Cup goalie can’t play, the Hawks are even more underdogs than they are now.Holland has been watching closely the testing around the league during Phase 3 with just two positive for COVID-19, but he knows staying safe and healthy is a bigger concern than how the power play is going.“As a team, we’re starting to get excited, the juices are flowing. An $85.5 million-dollar cap versus an $81.5 million-dollar cap – four million dollars – is a fairly significant amount of cap space for everybody.”The good news? The situation is likely to force the Oilers to go shopping in the bargain bin areas, much like last summer.That could be good news for players like Tyler Benson, Cooper Marody and William Lagesson. We had a scrimmage game Wednesday night with a pre-game skate in the morning to simulate our two night games (8:30 pm.) And then sitting down at the end and talking to my people, my pro scouts, the coaching staff, Tipp (Dave Tippett) and seeing what we thought.”“It’s going to be tight and we’re going to try to find players that can play,” Holland continued. Ken Holland, general manager of the Edmonton Oilers, speaks to reporters about his hiring as the team's new general manager at Rogers Place in Edmonton, on Tuesday, May 7, … The veteran GM will need to be smart to navigate the choppy waters that will be the 2020 offseason. Throw all the stats out. Then COVID-19 hit, and league revenues took a major hit. Ken Holland said on @OilersNow today he's been in touch with Markus Lehto (Jesse Puljujarvi's agent) two or three times over the last few weeks. The veteran GM will need to be smart to navigate the choppy waters that will be the 2020 offseason.It’s significant to the point that Oilers fans hoping for a return from Taylor Hall or a goalscorer like Mike Hoffman probably shouldn’t hold their breath.
And we’re having the Colby Cave (Memorial Fund) game Saturday at 1 (p.m.), which is the same time as our first (qualification round) game with the Blackhawks,” said Holland.“This is as level a playing field as there’s ever been considering nobody’s played any hockey for four months,” said Holland, acknowledging best-of-five series like the Oilers with Chicago, the fifth seed vs. the 12th, are a different playoff animal than best of seven because you can’t feel your way in.This couldn’t be any better for Holland, as long as his hockey team lasts in the event.“Yeah, from floor 51 down to where our team is, the lower 23 floors I think. “The players are getting tested every second day and, so far, so good. After spending a year in (…)[caption id=”attachment_1144697″ align=”alignnone” width=”1000″] Photo Credit: Penguins Official Site[/caption] Part 2 of this series (…)As recently as late this past winter, NHL teams had visions of an $85.5 million cap dancing in their heads. “You need cheaper players on your roster, you always do. 2019-20 Edmonton Oilers in review GM Ken Holland — Part Four When Ken Holland arrived in Edmonton eleven months ago to take charge of the Oilers, he … Ken Holland is a general manager, also a former scout and once-upon-a-time a goalie, but mostly he’s a hockey fan.