Ken Holland is the Greatest GM Ever

By Pete McGrath

Back in college, the only people who seemed to care about hockey were the guys on the JCU Bluestreak's club hockey team. They were pretty good buddies of mine and they were the only guys in my whole dorm that I could talk hockey with. Whenever an argument would come up about the Red Wings, they usually lumped my beloved Red Wings into the same catagory as the eeeevil New York Yankees. The simalarities did exist, with the limitless payroll (78 million bucks for a hockey team!) and the ability to always land one more all-star at the trade deadline.

However, the comparason at the time was not completely accurate. While the Yankees by far and away had the highest payroll in baseball, the Wings payroll was pretty close to the Rangers, who never went anywhere. I also pointed out that as much as the wings spend on free agent players, the core of those Wings teams were homegrown guys. Yzerman, Fedorov, and Lidstrom were all drafted and developed by the Wings. After the lockout, it seemed the Wing's party was going to be over. Kenny Holland was good at putting a team together, but it seemed like anybody could with Illitch's wide open checkbook. Now that the salary cap would be in place, the Wings would have to draft and develop their team from within, and would have a tougher time keeping guys around. Man did I underestimate Ken Holland.

Datsyuk, Lidstrom, and Hank Zetterberg are all locked up for the forseable future. There is a possibility of enough room for Franzen and Hossa to stick around. While certain players might have to retire or get traded, I have the full confidence that Ken Holland has the players in his farm system to replace them. The next generation of Val Filpula, Jiri Hudler, Datsyuk and Zetterberg type players are probably already working on their game in Grand Rapids.

What this man has accomplished is astounding. With a payroll that was practically cut in half, he has rebuilt the Wings into the dominant team in the league. Plus this was accomplished without a Florida Marlins style fire sale. There is no other GM in sports with this strong a resume.