The Edmonton Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2024 for the first time in nearly two decades. The franchise came within one game of hoisting the Cup before falling to the Florida Panthers in Game 7.

However, the man who built that roster wasn’t around to see the following season. The veteran executive’s tenure ended after that heartbreaking loss. He has since moved on to a new organization where he now serves as general manager.

But during a recent television appearance, he opened up about watching his former team come so close to championship glory while knowing his time in Edmonton was finished.

Ken Holland Reflects On Painful End To Oilers Tenure During After Hours Appearance

Ken Holland joined Scott Oake on After Hours to discuss his career and current role with the Los Angeles Kings. The conversation inevitably turned to his final season in Edmonton and the Game 7 loss that concluded his tenure.

Oake asked Holland directly about the experience of watching his team reach the final game while knowing he wouldn’t return as GM. The veteran executive didn’t hide his emotions when reflecting on that painful chapter.

“Anytime you lose Game 7, losing it twice now, losing to Pittsburgh in ’07, and then with Edmonton, it’s tough,” Holland admitted, referencing his previous heartbreak as Detroit’s GM.

The veteran executive described the unique agony of falling short in the final game of the season. “You go all the way to the last game of the year, middle of June, and you win one, and you’re Stanley Cup champ, and if you lose, that’s the end of it,” he explained.

Holland acknowledged he understood his time in Edmonton was finished regardless of the outcome. “Certainly I knew that would be the end of my time there,” he said. The former Oilers GM expressed his desire to deliver a championship to the franchise.

“I would have loved to have finished with a Stanley Cup championship there. Wherever you are, you want to win the Stanley Cup,” Holland stated. His assessment of how the tenure concluded was blunt. “Massively disappointing,” Holland declared.

The conversation shifted to Holland’s current role with the Kings. Oake noted that Holland presided over three of Edmonton’s four first-round eliminations of Los Angeles during his Oilers tenure. The host asked how Holland plans to fix the Kings’ playoff deficiencies.

“I’m hoping we made moves to get a little bit deeper. We roll four lines. We roll three pairs of defense,” Holland explained. The GM pointed to last year’s playoff struggles as motivation for roster changes.

“I think last year in the playoffs, Jim Hiller cut back to using a lot of times three lines and four or five D,” Holland recalled. He expressed optimism about offseason additions. “I’m hoping we’re deeper with the addition of Armia and Perry up front,” Holland said.

“You hope that one day it’s going to make a difference, that you’ve been there, been there, been there, and you know what you need to do differently for a different result.”