Kukla's Korner Hockey
Holland Always Thinking Ahead
by Paul on 01/28/09 at 06:39 PM ET
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,
Keeping everyone happy could get problematic for Holland down the road, but it is a challenge that every GM around the league faces. The primary goal will be to avoid expensive mistakes – the kinds of contracts that can’t be traded, almost the moment the ink dries on the document.
The quality that sets Holland apart from the rank-and-file NHL general manager is that he’s thinking a little faster and a little farther out than others in his peer group. At the moment, you cannot find one contract on his list that looks bad in hindsight – even the deals he awarded to his supplementary players, such as Kris Draper or Kirk Maltby.
“Players only get so many years to make their money,” said Holland. “You want to make sure they feel good about their contracts and they feel good when they walk into the locker room. What we’ve been able to do since I became the general manager in 1997 and started with Steve (Yzerman). There were other people in the league making more than Steve. Steve wanted to take less so he could be surrounded by teammates.
Holland was also on the Fan590 about an hour ago, talking the Zetterberg contract and how he will deal with future signings. Listen here...
added 8:06pm, from Scott Burnside of ESPN,
...by getting Zetterberg to sign on for the long haul without breaking the bank, Holland has once again positioned himself to keep the Red Wings in the hunt—today, tomorrow and beyond.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: henrik+zetterberg,
ken+holland
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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.
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