There are a lot of questions surrounding the Red Wings‘ management after an embarrassing first-round ousting at the hands of Steve Yzerman’s Tampa Bay Lightning. The fanbase is seemingly calling for Ken Holland’s job after continuous lackluster seasons stocked full of questionable trades, poor asset management, and worst of all – Impotency in the playoffs. No doubt about it, Ken Holland has had a slew of deplorable transactions in recent years. It doesn’t end there.
Gregg Krupa, writer over at The Detroit News dropped a bombshell on Friday evening, which revealed what could quite possibly be one of the biggest blunders over the past decade for the Red Wings organization:
When Steve Yzerman left the front office to manage the Lightning, Mike Ilitch said he had approached Holland about moving up in the front office to make room for Yzerman as general manager.
Ilitch said Holland declined.
Now, Holland’s tasks are formidable and mounting, and his joke several seasons ago that Lidstrom’s retirement might hasten his own is less humorous.
He faces fierce urgency in a hot kitchen, likely to get only hotter.
For some, this isn’t news. It’s been known among Red Wings fans that Holland declined a promotion that would move him out of the GM role. But now that the cat’s out of the bag, we can talk about why Holland barred the organization’s prodigal son from taking over.
Digesting this as a fan
If this in fact true, and I have no reason to believe that it isn’t.. Why? I don’t understand what Ken Holland’s motive is here. Move up in the front office, get paid more, move out of the spotlight. Not to mention the fact that he is heavily suppressing the image the team has in the eyes of the fanbase. Seriously, think about it. How would fans feel about having one of the organization’s most legendary players take over the role of GM? I think both you and I can answer this point-blank.
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Among all of Holland’s enigmatic decisions as a GM, whether it’s asset management, contract agreements, draft choices, etc., this has to be one of the biggest head-scratchers of them all. It shows that the man who is so committed to keeping things air-tight, prim-and-proper, and hush-hush has very little interest in gaining the fanbase’s trust.
I love this team, I love that Ken Holland has brought this city four championships in my lifetime, but this is absolutely troubling. Kenny, if you’re going to gain this fanbase’s trust back, it starts now. This is the biggest offseason of your career. Make us believe again.
