Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland in ‘win-now’ mode ahead of NHL trade deadline: Q&A

The Oilers are playing their best hockey of the season at the moment. On the surface, it’s the perfect opportunity for GM Ken Holland to enhance the roster with the NHL trade deadline set for March 3 — a little more than three weeks away.

There are best-laid plans, however, and then there are the complications of trying to execute them.

The Oilers already need to jettison at least one player just to activate right winger Kailer Yamamoto from LTIR, which could happen as early as Sunday.

They have very few players on the roster with significant cap hits that either can be moved — everyone making at least $5 million has no-trade protection — or have any tangible trade value. And it’s not like cellar-dwelling teams are typically inclined to take on money at this time of year without being sweetened with an extra asset or two.

So, Holland has his work cut out for him as he attempts to potentially find the right piece or two to give the Oilers a bump down the stretch and into the playoffs.

He spoke to The Athletic on Wednesday to provide a glimpse of those deadline plans.

Let’s start with some news. Are you expecting Kailer Yamamoto to return Sunday?

I spoke to the doctor and the trainer last night. I don’t think it’s a guarantee he’s ready for Sunday, but he’s practising. I’ll have to see. If he’s going to play Sunday, I’ll have to make some moves.

I’ll find out in the morning how he’s feeling. When he comes back, I want to know that he’s 100 percent and he’s ready to roll.

When he’s ready to play, you must clear cap space. Are you anticipating making a hockey trade or dumping salary?

We’re going to have to move two players — two forwards — probably on waivers. I’ll reach out (to other teams) and see if there’s some interest in what I’m looking to do. We’ll see.

The Oilers are 8-0-1 in their last nine games and playing much better since Christmas. How do you feel about your team roughly three weeks out from the trade deadline?

Early in the season, we were living on lots of goals and good power play. It’s nice to get the points, but it’s really not a sustainable model. Then we started to get hit with injuries. Four of our top nine forwards (Evander Kane, Kailer Yamamoto, Ryan McLeod, and Warren Foegele) were out for significant periods. It was a struggle.

Since the Christmas break, we’re 11-3-2. What I like is in 11 of the 16 games we’ve given up two goals or less in regulation. That’s the biggest reason for our record. The goals against are down. Jack Campbell’s won eight in a row. (Philip) Broberg and (Vincent) Desharnais have had a real positive impact on our team.

Having Kane and McLeod back gets us closer to a full team. The penalty killing has been much better. There’s been lots of areas of our team game that have been better.

In these 16 games, we’ve played some of the best teams in the league. Obviously, we’ve played some teams that aren’t as good, but it’s still hard to win a game. Even the non-playoff teams are battling.

We have 11 games to go before the trade deadline. I’m monitoring the team. It was quiet last week on the break. I did talk to three or four managers last week. It’ll probably start picking up now.

There’s a TV show called “TradeCentre” on March 3 because that’s where most of the trades are announced. I think whatever’s going to happen, it’s going to happen March 1, 2, or 3. We’ve got some games here to keep watching our team.

It sounds like you’ll be waiting until the beginning of March. How active would you like to be in those three days?

We’re in LTI. Now, we were in LTI last year, but I really ran the team off of 25 players. What do I mean by 25 players? We would have 23 players (on the roster), and then we would have space set aside — about $1.7 million — for two call-ups.

On opening day this year, we had a roster of 21 players. The reality is we’re going to get back to that point here in the next week when Yamamoto’s back. We’re dollar in, dollar out. We have not accrued any (cap) space.

In order to be as competitive as we could — in order to re-sign Evander Kane, go out in the goalie market and sign a goalie, and re-sign Brett Kulak — we got this thing pared down to 21 players. We’re at the cap. We’re in LTI.

How active can you be? I’ve got to find out. I don’t know. We are not adding to our team. We cannot add to our team. We can only upgrade. What does that mean? It means I’m paying assets to try to move a player out to try to bring in a player that I think might be better.

I did everything I could in the offseason to make this team as competitive as I possibly could. That’s why we’re running it (tight) on the cap with 21 players. At the trade deadline, it really affects what we can do, what we can’t do. We cannot add. We can only try to see if we can upgrade.

Everyone understands the cap situation is tight, but do you feel any pressure to acquire an impactful player given the state of the team?

I don’t.

You don’t?

No. I like the way we’re playing. I like the team. The team went to the final four last year. I watched what happened until Christmas. I think we were beat up a little bit. When you go to the final four, it takes you a little bit (to get going). Now, we’ve been good defensively. We have the No. 1 power play. We’ve got the top two scorers in the league. We’ve got (Zach) Hyman, Kane, and (Ryan) Nugent-Hopkins.

In ’19-20, when Connor (McDavid) and Leon (Draisaitl) were not on the ice, our goal differential was minus-29. This year, after 51 games, we’re plus-9. That’s a 38-goal difference. Over three years, we’ve been working to try to build a team.

There’s Klim Kostin and Dylan Holloway and last night Warren Foegele got a couple goals. Yamamoto had 20 goals and 41 points last year. He just hasn’t had a chance to get going this year. If we can get him up and running, he can have an impact on our team.

The final four experience was good for us. We’re in a real race right now. This is good for us. Every game is big. We need to play our way in. We’re not going to coast our way in.

Would I like to make a deal? Yeah. I think every manager would like to make a deal. But when I look at where we were last year in July, I feel good about what our people have done. I feel good about our one-two punch in goal. We feel we can win with either guy. Broberg’s plus-10 in 25 games. Vinny Desharnais has played nine games and he has four assists, he’s a plus, and kills penalties.

Everybody loves the glitz, but sometimes it’s not the glitz. It’s just about having lots of good players, playing a team system and feeling good about yourself. Would I like to do a deal? I’d love to do a deal. But do I feel pressure? No. I want to do what’s right for the team. Am I trying to win now? Absolutely.

We’ve spent futures (draft picks). We’re trying to win. I’ve got the team at the cap with 21 players. We’re doing everything we can. We’ve made the playoffs three years in a row. Some of those players get battle-tested and they get more prepared for it. We’ve got ourselves up position here this year where we control our own fate.

I like the way we’re playing. I like our team game. I know that we’ve got some game-breakers on our roster.

You mentioned the five-on-five goal differential without McDavid and Draisaitl on the ice. Are you comfortable with the forward depth?

Well, here’s the problem. When we get healthy, we’re only carrying 12 forwards. If I’ve got any NHL forward that somebody else wants, they’re taking them off of waivers. We’re not carrying 13 or 14 forwards (when Yamamoto returns). Our depth is going to be in Bakersfield. I’m running this team as tight as I can to try to win. We’re in it to be the very best that we can be. I’m spending $82.5 million on 21 players.

You can either spend less and be not as good and save some money, or you can spend it and tighten it right up and try to keep all the players that you wanted to keep to be the best that you can be.

Am I comfortable with my depth? Probably not. But if I do have a 13th or 14th forward that somebody else likes, we can’t keep him.

Is defence the position you’re prioritizing the most?

I don’t know. Certainly, I’m aware everybody’s talking about it. I’ll keep watching.

The problem is I’m not adding. The guy I’m bringing in has got to be better (than what’s on the roster). I’m going to pay a price, right? If you’re paying a price, it can’t just be a little, slight improvement. If you’re going to pay a price, it’s got to be a significant improvement over the players that we’ve got.

We’re going to be dollar in, dollar out. We’re not adding anything. Anything we do is going to be an upgrade. So, I’m just working the phones and doing my work, watching the team, analyzing the team. I’ve spent lots of assets to try to get this team to be as good as we think we can make it.

(Oscar) Klefbom was a massive loss. There’s no hockey store to go and replace Klefbom. When I got here in ’19-20, he was this team’s No. 1 defenceman. He ran the power play and he was on the penalty kill. When you lose your best defenceman, how do you replace those guys? I dealt with it in Detroit when we lost (Vladimir) Konstantinov. I went out and signed Uwe Krupp. That didn’t really work out and then I traded three firsts for Chris Chelios. But it was at a time when there was no cap.

When you lose your No. 1 defenceman, people forget about it and move on to the next thing. But I don’t forget about it. No. 1 defenceman are supposed to play for you for a decade. It takes a long time to find those kinds of players.

What’s going on now is (Evan) Bouchard is a young guy and Broberg is a young guy and Desharnais is 25. Unfortunately, he couldn’t play in the preseason because of his injury. We had to wait. He might have made the team out of camp if he would have been healthy. They’ve been good stories. They continue to be positive players on our team. The seven-man rotation appears to be something that our team is successful with.

I would like to make our team better, but we’re not adding by getting more depth. Anything we do has to be players out and players in. That’s the reality of where we’re at. It’s got to be a real upgrade. Last year, we went from (William) Lagesson to (Brett) Kulak. That’s an upgrade. It cost us a second-round draft pick.

Is your preference to acquire a player or players with term, so you’ll have some cost certainty, or bring in rentals like you did last year with Kulak and Derick Brassard?

I don’t really know. You get on the phone, and you see who’s available. You go through the process. You look at all the options.

Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg are just 21 and have been steadily improving all season. They’re also probably your best trade assets on the roster. Are they untouchable?

In a cap world — if you want to be competitive and you want to be sustainable and good every year — you have to have young players with upside and that play. They don’t make a lot of money against the salary cap.

We have nine players on our roster this year that make $1.25 million or less. We’re going to be in the same situation again next year. Players that don’t make a lot of money are incredibly valuable not only to our team, but to any team, if you want to be competitive and have depth to your roster.

I’m not saying I’m trading somebody. I’m not saying I’m not trading somebody. I’m just telling you that young players with upside that are cheap, they’re part of the solution. They have to be part of the solution.

You extended pending RFA Stuart Skinner in December. Have you had contract talks with your other pending RFAs?

I haven’t talked to anybody on the team right now. I don’t anticipate really talking to anybody on the team.

There’s uncertainty with the cap. I’m expecting it to be $83.5 million. But the cap could jump. There’s an unknown about the cap for ’23-24. All my planning is for it to be $83.5 million. We’re going to be very tight next year. I did sign Stu Skinner. Broberg and Holloway are still entry-level guys. We have Bouchard and McLeod. McLeod has arb rights.

I don’t see doing anything with anybody until the offseason.

Does that go for Klim Kostin then, too — your other pending RFA?

Probably. We’ll see.

This team’s in win-now mode, but it sounds like you’re considering the long-term future of the organization, too. How are you balancing those two things?

I’m in win-now mode. In my mind, most of the decisions (show that).

You look at the trade deadline in 2020 (acquiring Andreas Athanasiou, Mike Green and Tyler Ennis) and the assets that we traded, and you look at the assets that we traded last year. You look at the long-term contracts to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman, and four years to Evander Kane. I spent two draft picks to move (Zack) Kassian to Arizona to free up cap space. Everything I’m doing is win-now mode. We’re trying to win.

The year before I got here, the team was 28th overall. I think we’ve been in the top 12 the three years since. I made a coaching change midseason last year. I’m in win-now mode. I’m doing everything I can as manager to make this team the best that I can in a cap world.