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Dans les coulisses

Ken Holland will leave the Oilers in a few days, according to Elliotte Friedman

EDMONTON, CANADA - JANUARY 22: Ken Holland speaks at the Corey Perry free agent signing press conference at Rogers Place on January 22, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

A year ago, the Oilers brought in Jeff Jackson to run the club’s hockey operations. We’re talking about Connor McDavid’s former agent.

At the time, GM Ken Holland had one year left on his contract. And you know as well as I do that a manager in the last year of his contract is always a tricky proposition.

And the Oilers, instead of extending his contract, put a boss over his head. It was already off to a bad start.

I’ve always thought that Holland, who no longer has the aura he had during his years at the helm of the Red Wings, must not appreciate his bosses’ “initiative” and was living on borrowed time in Edmonton.

There’s been little talk of this recently, as the Oilers’ attention has been focused on the Stanley Cup, but now it’s something to think about. After all, his contract expires in a few days, on June 30.

Lately, it’s become clear that the Oilers don’t seem to want to keep him on as GM, since he hasn’t necessarily talked much about contracts with the club and isn ‘t expected to be present at the next draft, which takes place tomorrow.

And now, according to Elliotte Friedman (Sportsnet) and his sources, the Oilers are going to let the veteran’s contract run out in the next few days. He’ll be a free agent in just a few days.

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Is it amazing? No.

Will it make him coveted elsewhere? If so, it won’t be as GM in the short term, since the other 31 active NHL teams have a man in place. But keep an eye on the Blackhawks in some role, according to Scottie Upshall.

In other words, the Oilers will be entering a pivotal off-season (draft and free agents) without a GM in place. Most likely, they won’t find one by next Monday.

So Jeff Jackson will be running the show, which makes sense.

Overtime

– Gary Bettman can take whoever he wants to bring hockey back to Arizona right now. It may not happen right away, though. The arena issue is still a problem, you know.

– If it took Connor McDavid nine years to get to the finals, what’s it going to be for the Habs? [JdeM]

– Sacha Boisvert: the American road has always been his plan. [98.5 FM]

– Dominique Ducharme on Shea Weber: a leader in a class of his own. [BPM Sports]

– He’s good.

– He’s going to Marseille.