TORONTO — Ken Holland has taken part in countless NHL general managers meetings over the course of his Hockey Hall of Fame career.
But Tuesday was a first, sitting on the league side of things as part of his duties as a new NHL hockey operations consultant.
“A little strange,” Holland said with a smile after the meeting. “Obviously, I’ve been sitting in that room for a lot of years, so it was nice to see a lot of the faces, but it was certainly a little bit different.
“I’m happy and excited to still be around the game.”
Colin Campbell, the NHL’s longtime director of hockey operations, reached out to Holland over the summer about potentially joining the league’s hockey ops department after his departure from the Edmonton Oilers. The idea grew on Holland as time went on, although the former Oilers and Red Wings GM was also talking to a handful of teams about potential roles. In the end, the league’s offer made sense. Holland cited his long-standing relationship with Campbell, which dates to their Detroit days together in the 1980s and ’90s.
“We talked this summer a little bit, and Colin asked me if I had interest in consulting and pitching in with hockey operations,” Holland told The Athletic. “It’s an opportunity for me to continue to be around the game. It’s been my whole life. So I’m grateful to Colin and Gary (Bettman) for giving me this opportunity.”
What it means day to day remains to be ironed out exactly.
“We’re just playing it by ear,” Holland said. “It really just started here in the last few days. I’ll try to get to Toronto on a regular basis and maybe go into the situation room.”
It is really a natural fit when you consider Holland’s input over the years on rule changes, including three-on-three overtime, which was his brainchild.
“It’s an easy transition in that sense,” Holland said. “I’ve been at GM meetings on a regular basis and up to speed on the rules and what they’re thinking and not thinking.”
Holland signed a one-year deal with the league. What remains to be seen is whether teams will come calling again after the season (I would imagine so) and what Holland will decide once that happens.
“I feel like I’m young for my age,” said Holland, 69. “I’ve got lots of energy, lots of passion. And whatever the future brings, it’s all good. The game has been so good to me and my family.
“We’ll see what the future holds.”
As for the GMs meeting itself, let’s start with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, who spoke one-on-one with The Athletic, and some of the things he covered with GMs on Tuesday:
Tampering
A rather intriguing item on the agenda was labeled “tampering.”
That came in the form of Daly reminding GMs about the rules ahead of the July 1 opening of free agency.
“We just haven’t emphasized its importance in recent years,” Daly said when asked why he talked about tampering with GMs. “So, it’s more of a refresher on what the rules are and what can be done and what can’t be done and what’s appropriate and what’s not appropriate. That’s all.”
And the timing of this refresher?
“There was some commentary in the media that I was uncomfortable with around July 1 that indicated that there may have been contact and negotiation before July 1,” Daly said.
Agents can ask teams to give permission to pending free agents to talk to other teams and need to get that in writing. That’s one permissible way to talk to pending UFAs from other teams before July 1.
“There’s a way in which it can be done, yes,” Daly said.
What I will never understand is why the NHL and NHLPA did away with the unrestricted-free-agent speaking period that used to exist, legally allowing teams and pending UFAs to talk ahead of July 1.
CBA input from GMs
With the NHL and NHL Players’ Association hoping to begin collecting bargaining sometime in the New Year, the league has sought GM feedback on potential CBA issues, and Daly summarized those topics at the GMs meeting Tuesday,
Some of those CBA topics the league has heard back from GMs on include:
• Revisiting term limits on contracts (less than eight years max?)
• Revising the restricted-free agent compensation chart (offer sheets)
• Salary arbitration and potentially moving to a “high/low” model
• Updating walk-away thresholds on salary arbitration awards
• Expanding buy-out rights
The most interesting item for me is the term limits on contracts, which Daly confirmed was discussed.
“It’s an item they’ve asked us to focus on,” Daly said of the GMs’ input.
“It wasn’t any more specific than managers saying if we could achieve bargaining shorter contract limits, we should put that on our list.”
Term limits on contracts was a contentious issue during the 2012 labor negotiations before the sides agreed on eight years for a player staying put and seven years on the open market.
The preliminary sense ahead of CBA talks is that both the NHL and NHLPA think it will be more about tweaks than slugging it out over major issues. But obviously that could change, depending on how things go once the sides are in the room together.
“What we’re going to be doing, hopefully, with the Players’ Association is talking about terms which we can extend the current CBA, so I don’t think it’s a matter of redrafting from scratch,” Daly said. “It’s a matter of potentially fixing things we need to fix on our side — or want to fix — and them doing the same thing on their side.
“So, I don’t see that (revisiting contract term limits) as being necessarily an issue that’s going to be on the top of our list in negotiation. It’ll be on a list. I can’t tell you how long that list is.”
But again, there’s a preliminary sense of optimism for these next CBA talks, which Daly shared with GMs.
“Yes, look, I explained a little bit, and I have before, about the process and how we got to where we got to and that we have a positive relationship with the Players’ Association and I think we are both generally satisfied with the direction we’re going as a league and as a business,” Daly said. “So those are all good.”
NCAA and CHL
Daly also briefly addressed last week’s seismic announcement from the NCAA with GMs — and that it will probably require the NHL and NHLPA to tweak the CBA as it pertains to that area.
“The primary point was really on the player development side, which we don’t think it will have a negative impact on elite player development,” Daly said of what he told GMs. “It could impact some segments of our existing infrastructure — not ours but hockey’s existing infrastructure — and it will be interesting to see how that plays out.
“And the dynamic on what effect it has on our collective bargaining relationship with the Players’ Association or even with the CHL is kind of yet to be seen. But those are issues probably we’ll have to address with those organizations at the time we have to address them.”
Trade rumblings
• League sources say the Buffalo Sabres are among the busier teams phoning around sizing up the trade market. I asked Sabres GM Kevyn Adams about that Tuesday, and he said, “I believe in this group, but at the same time I am looking into every possible way to improve our roster.”
Said one rival team executive about the Sabres: “They’re looking to do something big if they can.”
• The Islanders have battled injuries and inconsistencies. Isles GM Lou Lamoriello isn’t one for excuses.
“Everybody has injuries,” he told The Athletic. “We have to fight through it. The players have done everything they can, Patrick (Roy) has done everything he can. We’ve had games that we could have won, like everybody else. Right now, we’re just going straight ahead. We know our situation, and we have to make the best of it.”
He’s also working the phones to see what’s out there on the trade market.
“Like everybody else,” Lamoriello said. “It’s a constant. Everybody is doing the same thing.”
• Predators GM Barry Trotz likes more of what he’s seen of late from his team, which struggled so mightily out of the gates.
“Well I think we’re playing better,” Trotz said. “Our structure is a lot better. Our mindset is a lot better. We’ve got a little more balance. We’ve been good in all the defensive metrics. Our special teams are going. We’re just collecting points as much as we can. I think we’re four points out of a wild-card spot.”
It’s been reported elsewhere, but Trotz confirmed he’s been looking at the trade market for center help.
“I think I’m always looking for a center. I think half the league is looking for a center,” Trotz said with a smile. “I don’t think that’s anything that’s earth-shattering. But we’re always looking to try and improve there. I think we’ve got good people. We had injuries in the middle.
“But you know, it’s always good to run into people here,” Trotz added, meaning talking to other GMs face to face.
Cut-resistant equipment
Rod Pasma from NHL hockey ops gave GMs an update on cut-resistant equipment.
“An update as to what our best guess as to what players are wearing and where they’re wearing it,” Pasma said.
Players in the AHL are wearing neck guards, and the hope is that more NHLers will do the same. But it remains a small number that do as it’s a voluntary thing.
“We’re over 50 players,” Pasma said of NHL players wearing neck guards. “We’re creeping up on 300 players for the (cut-resistant) wrist protection, and (cut-resistant) socks we’ve always been three-quarters of the league.
“So a little more than last year.”
(Photo of Ken Holland: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
