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GM Ken Holland has been with the Edmonton Oilers for five years. Heading into this season’s playoffs, none of the prospects drafted in Holland’s tenure with the Oilers had earned permanent spots on the Oilers roster. Dylan Holloway appears to have earned such a spot with his play in the 2024 playoffs, and Philip Broberg is considered to be NHL ready by the organization. Holland’s first two Oilers first round picks are the closest things to NHL roster players at this point though.
Drafting and player development have been issues during the Holland era. Holland said that Steve Staios was brought in to work in player development because they didn’t have anyone there the season before Staios was hired (2021-22). Staios left the Oilers for a far more prominent role with the Ottawa Senators last summer.
Related: Jackson’s Potential Impact on the Oilers- Part One: Player Development
Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson has made many changes to the hockey operations department since joinning the Oilers last summer. The first of those changes was firing former Director of Amateur Scouting and Player Personnel Tyler Wright and replacing him with Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey. Pracey’s title has nothing to do with player personnel or player development. Dividing Wright’s former role into two different roles was clearly Jackson’s plan.
Related: Oilers Mutually Part Ways with Wright, Hire Pracey
Jackson hired Kalle Larsson as the Oilers’ new Senior Director of Player Personnel on Thursday. The statement released by the Oilers said that “[i]n his role with Edmonton, Larsson will collaborate and consult with senior management and coaches for both the Oilers and AHL’s Bakersfield Condors in order to formulate and implement comprehensive individual development plans for each player in the organization. He will also be responsible for overseeing and managing all areas of development for Oilers draft selections as well as signed prospects within the organization.”
Larsson’s new role within the Oilers organization is one that has been sorely lacking for quite some time. The Oilers have had precious little success with drafting and developing prospects with the exception of the core superstars that were high picks such as Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, and Evan Bouchard. 2016 seventh round pick Vincent Desharnais is a brilliant success story, but is not a recent draft pick. Holloway and Broberg are close. Aside from those eight players, every other Oiler on the roster was acquired via trade or free agency.
It seems ridiculous that Oilers prospects didn’t already have comprehensive development plans, but this hiring is a necessary one. Oilers prospects will be in a better position to succeed with clear goals set and with proper guidance from the organization beyond what they get from the coaching staff on a day to day basis thanks to this hiring. Being able to develop prospects that get drafted outside of the first round or that join the organization via free agency will be crucial for the Oilers in the long run due to being a contending team that trades away high draft picks for immediate help and because of the cap situation in the coming years.
Larsson joins the Oilers after spending eleven seasons with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL. He was the Director of Player Personnel there in 2015 before being promoted to General manager in 2017. The Gothenburg, Sweden native was most recently the President of Hockey Operations with the Fighting Saints.
