Former Oilers GM Ken Holland hired by NHL as hockey operations consultant

Former Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland has landed a new gig with the NHL.

Holland has been hired by the league as a hockey operations consultant, NHL senior executive vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell announced Tuesday in a press release.

“We are delighted to welcome Ken to NHL Hockey Operations, where he will provide invaluable insight from his decades in the game as a player, scout and executive,” Campbell said in the release. “He offers unmatched expertise in a wide range of areas.”

Holland and the Oilers mutually agreed to part ways this summer at the expiry of his contract after the team lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. He was replaced by Stan Bowman in July.

Holland spent 27 years as an executive — 22 with the Detroit Red Wings from 1997 to 2019 and five with the Edmonton Oilers from 2019 to 2024. He won four Stanley Cups in that time, one as assistant GM and three as GM, all with the Red Wings.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2020 in the builders category.

In October, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the league office had an interest in hiring the long-time executive.

“There’s been some talk of his future and what he might be up to do,” Friedman said during a Saturday Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada.

“I believe one of the options on the table is a role in hockey operations in the NHL. They’ve spoken to him about it, think it would be a great move, but he has time to decide his future.”

In his 27 years as a GM, the Vernon, B.C., native’s teams had 1,145 regular-season wins in 2,061 games, the fifth most in league history in both categories.

He has also served on management staffs for Hockey Canada, helping the men’s teams to gold-medal wins at the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Games, as well as at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.