The Cult of Hockey’s “Holland & Woodcroft: keep, hold or fold?” podcast
Let’s do this! The Cult of Hockey podcast. By the Faithful and for the Faithful, tonight with Bruce McCurdy and David Staples. They dig into whether the Oilers should “Keep, hold or fold” with Ken Holland Jay Woodcroft.
Holland has one more year left as GM/President so they should absolutely let him finish out his contract, but unless they win the cup next season they shouldn't resign him as GM. Regardless of outcome, he should be spending this season getting his assistant GM ready to take over the position. It might be that he would stay on as President even if he steps down or they move on at the GM position. As for Woodcroft, he was just signed to an extension but if coaching costs the Oilers another playoff run they should demote Woodcroft for Gulutzen and let him finish out his deal as an assistant. Their usage of goalies and handling of players, especially injured playres, has been abysmal. Their defensive system is average at best. Conversely, the Oilers offence and powerplay under Gulutzen are very good. #1 all time powerplay, #5 in 5×5 scoring.
…so, will VGK have to give up a pretty good player(s) next year to keep Barbashev and Stone next year? The NHL rule not to count an LTIR player's salary in the playoffs is a joke. Add that to the embarrassing "Department of Player Safety". Except for the OIL, this league is hard to watch… Too bad the league doesn't care.
Holland is an obvious keep imo. I'd keep Woodcroft too, for now, until and unless someone I thought is better became available. Yamo is a player I'd be shopping. I won't even comment on the Goaltending.)
Looks like the teams the Oilers lose to in the playoffs now at least make it to the Stanley Cup Finals… maybe both will Win the Cup too. Oilers ain't losing to just a good team, they're losing to the BEST team of that season. Makes me think Oilers are still on the right track. If they got by Vegas, if they got by those Avs Who knows…
it is really a mixed picture on holland. seems like gambling – takes wild risks that sometimes pay off.. Has sold the farm w lots of mistakes/overpay (ie Kassian…), but lots of good. Happy w the team – but his history is he will overpay Bouchard (after 2 bad yrs, but 2 good mos w Ekholm) & team will only improve if he finally finds a Top6 finisher to replace Yamo or Foege. Woodcroft has been good- but apparently needs to apply discipline going fwd vs just positive/friends as a lot of unnecessary errors & bad positioning. He is responsible to coach them from bad penalties Ie Nurse.. Thx for the analysis.
Keep Holland and replace Woodcroft. Woodcroft is too much of a players coach and not making hard decisions to help the team. This year I’m very disappointed in him not starting Campbell. He could have been our Brobobsky but now we’re only stuck with “what ifs” in our head. He did that last year too with Smith and I don’t see him changing his style. He seems too proud and stubborn. Those are not good traits to have as a HC.
Kinda depressing watching lesser teams (imo) play for the Cup! IMO The Coach lost us the series. His "man on man" coverage (system & structure) in our D zone made our players especially our defensemen run around like headless chickens. More importantly, Oiler players especially our defensemen wasted alot of energy chasing opposition players around the Dzone. Eventually the entire team got tired! To me this was the WRONG structure to play. It caused our goalie to be screened alot, and help the opposition team to score goals. The structure played into their hands! You look at Panthers, Vegas, Dallas & Carolina who are all left on the playoffs, for the most part they play a much more traditional style "box" formation in the Dzone, They simply keep players outside the "box" and they dont waste energy chasing opposition players around like our players did under Woodcroft's structure. This was OUR time! But unfortunately the Coach lost us the series with his DZone structure imo!
Trade everything you've got, do whatever it takes, get the best goalie in the world. The best goalie = the stanley cup. Who are the best goalies? Russian, French, Aboriginal Get the scouts on it. The clock is ticking . . . I've been saying this for 7 years now. Why did Vegas win? Goalie Why are the Panthers winning? Bobrovski Goalie What else do you need to know. Holland should be in Winnipeg right now getting Hellabuck for a start
Hasn’t Keith Gretzky been doing GM things longer than Steve Staois, and if so, why does it seem like a foregone conclusion that Steve would get the job ahead of Keith?
Holland, hold, no reason to move on him till next year.
Nurse, trade him fast, nobody is talking about how bad Doughty, Makar or Fox played in their 1st round exits. Because they were studs and Nurse is a dud.
Puljujarvi was also a cost for Ekholm.
Kane, stupid penalties is not intimidation. This is an archaic Burke mentality that worked in the 60’s.
Yamamoto, the new Oiler raking boy, doesn’t have enough muscle or power to fire the puck, it’s a AHL shot. Move on and hope for a pick.
Team D, wasn’t even close to Vegas, the idea that Staples thought the Oilers outplayed Vegas is laughable😂 Puck luck??? Wake up! Shooting luck? Get some dirty goals and get people in front of the net.
You can’t play Draisatl 20 plus minutes a game against 6’3, 220+ defense, he wears out with his style.
McLeod, time to think about moving on, he is Wes Walz.
Keep, Hold, fold? You guys talked about everyone except for everyone we expected.
Foegle? Kostin ? Broberg? Deharnais? Janmark? Ryan ? Bjukstad?
Watching real teams play real hockey now…and the Oilers weren’t even close to this type of intensity and TEAM defense!
25 Comments
What an awesome surprise!!! Thanks guys!!
Holland has one more year left as GM/President so they should absolutely let him finish out his contract, but unless they win the cup next season they shouldn't resign him as GM. Regardless of outcome, he should be spending this season getting his assistant GM ready to take over the position. It might be that he would stay on as President even if he steps down or they move on at the GM position.
As for Woodcroft, he was just signed to an extension but if coaching costs the Oilers another playoff run they should demote Woodcroft for Gulutzen and let him finish out his deal as an assistant. Their usage of goalies and handling of players, especially injured playres, has been abysmal. Their defensive system is average at best. Conversely, the Oilers offence and powerplay under Gulutzen are very good. #1 all time powerplay, #5 in 5×5 scoring.
…so, will VGK have to give up a pretty good player(s) next year to keep Barbashev and Stone next year? The NHL rule not to count an LTIR player's salary in the playoffs is a joke. Add that to the embarrassing "Department of Player Safety". Except for the OIL, this league is hard to watch… Too bad the league doesn't care.
Holland is an obvious keep imo. I'd keep Woodcroft too, for now, until and unless someone I thought is better became available. Yamo is a player I'd be shopping. I won't even comment on the Goaltending.)
hold … Hold… HOLD onto KLIM KOSTIN!!
Give him as long an extension as you can.
Looks like the teams the Oilers lose to in the playoffs now at least make it to the Stanley Cup Finals… maybe both will Win the Cup too.
Oilers ain't losing to just a good team, they're losing to the BEST team of that season. Makes me think Oilers are still on the right track. If they got by Vegas, if they got by those Avs Who knows…
it is really a mixed picture on holland. seems like gambling – takes wild risks that sometimes pay off.. Has sold the farm w lots of mistakes/overpay (ie Kassian…), but lots of good. Happy w the team – but his history is he will overpay Bouchard (after 2 bad yrs, but 2 good mos w Ekholm) & team will only improve if he finally finds a Top6 finisher to replace Yamo or Foege.
Woodcroft has been good- but apparently needs to apply discipline going fwd vs just positive/friends as a lot of unnecessary errors & bad positioning. He is responsible to coach them from bad penalties Ie Nurse.. Thx for the analysis.
A big Heck No!!! to Dubas, no general manager has given more money to a bunch of snowflakes.
Keep & keep !!✌😅
Bruce agree with JP and Yamo but Kane had a tough year injury wise and could not get going.
Campbell might have been our Bobrovsky – but Woodcroft is still young and will learn.
Oilers goaltending was the shits!!!
Keep Holland and replace Woodcroft. Woodcroft is too much of a players coach and not making hard decisions to help the team. This year I’m very disappointed in him not starting Campbell. He could have been our Brobobsky but now we’re only stuck with “what ifs” in our head. He did that last year too with Smith and I don’t see him changing his style. He seems too proud and stubborn. Those are not good traits to have as a HC.
I think Woody has good introspective and will take a good look at the playoffs and especially the series against Vegas.
Give Holland to the leafs, we will keep him, keep Campbell
Jay, make Ekholm an Assistant captain!
If there isnt another 20 years of cult of hockey with you guys I would be really devasted!
Bad luck is an excuse for losers.
Woodcroft….
He was supposed to have learned from last season… He didn't.
Kinda depressing watching lesser teams (imo) play for the Cup! IMO The Coach lost us the series. His "man on man" coverage (system & structure) in our D zone made our players especially our defensemen run around like headless chickens. More importantly, Oiler players especially our defensemen wasted alot of energy chasing opposition players around the Dzone. Eventually the entire team got tired! To me this was the WRONG structure to play. It caused our goalie to be screened alot, and help the opposition team to score goals. The structure played into their hands! You look at Panthers, Vegas, Dallas & Carolina who are all left on the playoffs, for the most part they play a much more traditional style "box" formation in the Dzone, They simply keep players outside the "box" and they dont waste energy chasing opposition players around like our players did under Woodcroft's structure. This was OUR time! But unfortunately the Coach lost us the series with his DZone structure imo!
Trade everything you've got, do whatever it takes, get the best goalie in the world.
The best goalie = the stanley cup.
Who are the best goalies? Russian, French, Aboriginal
Get the scouts on it. The clock is ticking . . .
I've been saying this for 7 years now.
Why did Vegas win? Goalie
Why are the Panthers winning? Bobrovski Goalie
What else do you need to know.
Holland should be in Winnipeg right now getting Hellabuck for a start
The big question is why Campbell did not get a start in Game 5 or6?
Hasn’t Keith Gretzky been doing GM things longer than Steve Staois, and if so, why does it seem like a foregone conclusion that Steve would get the job ahead of Keith?
Great job all season. Wow if I run into you guys I definitely owe you guys a round or two. Thank you so much.
Holland, hold, no reason to move on him till next year.
Nurse, trade him fast, nobody is talking about how bad Doughty, Makar or Fox played in their 1st round exits. Because they were studs and Nurse is a dud.
Puljujarvi was also a cost for Ekholm.
Kane, stupid penalties is not intimidation. This is an archaic Burke mentality that worked in the 60’s.
Yamamoto, the new Oiler raking boy, doesn’t have enough muscle or power to fire the puck, it’s a AHL shot. Move on and hope for a pick.
Team D, wasn’t even close to Vegas, the idea that Staples thought the Oilers outplayed Vegas is laughable😂
Puck luck??? Wake up!
Shooting luck? Get some dirty goals and get people in front of the net.
You can’t play Draisatl 20 plus minutes a game against 6’3, 220+ defense, he wears out with his style.
McLeod, time to think about moving on, he is Wes Walz.
Keep, Hold, fold? You guys talked about everyone except for everyone we expected.
Foegle?
Kostin ?
Broberg?
Deharnais?
Janmark?
Ryan ?
Bjukstad?
Watching real teams play real hockey now…and the Oilers weren’t even close to this type of intensity and TEAM defense!
Ciao