The names are starting to pop up, one by one. And one by one, it's hard to get excited by any of them. After all, the Blue Jackets have to get this hire correct. Everything depends on it.
But, as these names pop up, I'm seeing a common theme; and it makes me wonder if they're actually being looked at for a General Manager position ... or something else entirely? Let's take a look.
Ken Holland
This is a name that came into the light just yesterday. Right off, a lot of CBJ fans hated it (including yours truly).
Ken Holland to #CBJ rumors don’t seem to quiet down anytime soon. Maybe a long run to the Final would change things but there are many who feel he could be headed to Columbus to fill their GM vacancy. Mentor Rick Nash to eventually take over?
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) May 16, 2024
Look, it's not that Ken Holland hasn't been a successful GM in the NHL. It's just that, his success was mostly 15+ years ago. The NHL has changed a lot since his heyday.
Look no further than his recent success - or lack thereof. He's managing the Edmonton Oilers, who have two of the best offensive weapons in the NHL; yet he cannot get them over the hump.
Any team with Connor McDavid on it should have multiple Stanley Cups. I'm sorry, but that's just a fact. He's a literal cheat code, and it should not be all that hard to build a Cup-worthy roster around him.
My feeling on Holland is that he isn't built for the salary cap era. The Oilers are pressed right up to the cap, but still have glaring weaknesses on their roster that prevent them from contending. A lot of that is his doing.
I also want to critique his legacy in Detroit. Look, he deserves a lot of credit for icing as many championship teams as he did there.
But let's be honest, would the Red Wings have been able to gather so many Hall of Fame players under his tutelage in a cap world? Or better yet, would they have been able to gather them all without the players that were already there when Holland arrived?
You know, guys like Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Slava Kozlov, Igor Larionov, and so on...
Guys like that will always attract other talent, such as Brendan Shanahan, Brett Hull, and the others who chose to go to Detroit and win Cups at the end of their careers.
We don't have guys like that in Columbus.
But, as I thought further about the potential of hiring Holland last night, I got to wondering: what if the Jackets aren't trying to get him for their GM role?
What if John Davidson is looking to move on, but wants to leave this franchise in experienced hands?
If the Oilers don't fire Holland after this season, he's their general manager for another five seasons beyond this one. Would he willfully leave for a GM role with a franchise that doesn't have as much to build around as the Oilers?
It might take a promotion in role for him to do so. Just something I was kicking around in my head.
If that's the case, I could probably live with having an experienced mind like that running our hockey ops department - as long as the GM they bring in is more in tune with today's NHL.
There are other names in the works here, as well. I like some of them even less.