Oilers GM has extra motivation to win Stanley Cup Final

The Edmonton Oilers' intense focus on winning the Stanley Cup Final as soon as possible is caused by the desire to take full advantage of having two players like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

The Oilers look primed for at least a long playoff run after beating the Los Angeles Kings in five games in the first round and await either the Vancouver Canucks or the Nashville Predators in the second round.

McDavid and Draisaitl have been teammates for nine seasons and you have to wonder how much longer the economics of the situation will allow that to continue. Particularly if the Oilers cannot win the Stanley Cup Final with them together.

But it is a safe bet that Edmonton general manager Ken Holland has even more motivation than that.

On the surface, it would seem that Holland, 68, doesn't have anything to prove to anybody. 

Holland is already in the Hockey Hall of Fame for winning three Stanley Cups as the GM of the Detroit Red Wings and another Stanley Cup as part of a three-person group that functioned as the team's GM. 

He guided the Red Wings to 19 consecutive trips to the playoffs from the time he took over as Detroit's general manager and served on the management staff of Team Canada when it won Olympic gold medals in 2010 and 2014 and the World Cup of Hockey gold medal in 2016.

But after Detroit won the 2008 Stanley Cup Final and lost it in 2009 to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Holland's professional reputation began taking hits.

He was criticized by both fans and the media for the trades of draft choices all teams that have recently won championships make to remain viable contenders and for poor Red Wings draft results. 

He caught the most flak for passing over current Tampa Bay Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov, who was taken by the Lightning in the second round in 2011 with the 58th pick, and Nashville Predators do-it-all center Ryan O'Reilly, who was selected by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round of the 2009 draft with the 33rd pick.

And while Holland did not exactly get run out of Detroit, he certainly read the room correctly and made the right decision to step down from the GM position in April 2019 to allow current Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman to take over the job.

After retiring as a player, Yzerman had served what amounted to a management apprenticeship under Holland with the Red Wings before becoming the Tampa Bay GM.

So, it is understandable that Holland has at least a little extra motivation in wanting to hoist another Stanley Cup.