Was having some fun with my last blog, but smoke is billowing and it is looking more and more likely that before the weekend is over, the Edmonton Oilers might have their next General Manager.

Earlier today, Kelly McCrimmon was taken off the list as McPhee and company smarted offered McCrimmon the General Manager position in Vegas, with McPhee staying on in hockey ops. I had some concerns about McCrimmon coming on in Edmonton, mostly due to his inexperience at the NHL level combined with how many issues the Oilers have both on and off the ice. That being said McCrimmon is a brilliant hockey man and certainly would not want to run things the way that Edmonton has tried to for the past two decades.

The main list for candidates was McCrimmon, Hunter, Gretzky, Holland and Sean Burke. While Burke reportedly impressed during his meetings with Nicholson, he will not be the next GM, though the team may circle back to him for other positions. Likewise Holland has taken his name out of consideration. This means it likely falls to one of Hunter or Gretzky for the position.

Or at least that would be the case, but Nicholson has continued circling back to Holland and is apparently trying to get him to change his mind.

This obsession with trying to get Ken Holland to come aboard as GM is a clear showcase that no one in the Oilers organization has learned a thing over the years and will continue to make the mistakes of the past.

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Let's look at the Ken Holland checklist for the Oilers:

- Has a relationship with Bob Nicholson - Check
- Has been able to coast on the fact that his team was really good a couple decades ago - Check
- Is a "old hockey guy" meaning there will likely be little to no changes throughout the organization - Check Check Check.

This is the same Ken Holland who has managed a team to not winning a playoff series since 2013 and lucked out in drafting brilliant players in the 7th round a couple decades ago and in an era where the cap wasn't a concern. Giving Holland the job because they think he can repeat the same today is so Oilers.

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Friedman on Tim and Sid says he thinks from the beginning the Oilers wanted to promote Keith Gretzky but they’re fearful of the reaction.

— Christian Pagnani (@chrispagnani) May 2, 2019

Mind boggling.

The Oilers have been searching for a General Manager for almost four months now, and looking back this all still feels like a big performance; a ruse, so they can pretend they did their due diligence when they announce Keith Gretzky as their guy.

Keith Gretzky who sat in the room as Peter Chiarelli torched this team to the ground.

Nicholson looks to be more focused on keeping Katz's boys happy than running a competent organization and it's going to kill this team.

I'll update you all as more information comes in.

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