TALKING POINTS: Holland assesses 2020-21, looks ahead to off-season

EDMONTON, AB - Edmonton Oilers President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Ken Holland held his end-of-season exit interview on Wednesday, providing his perspective on several topics with the media.
Watch the entire availability or read Holland's key points from the conference below.

Holland on whether he wants to bring back goaltender Mike Smith:

"Yes. Mike's going to Kelowna and I've got a place in Vernon. I told Mike we'd get together when I get out there 10 days to two weeks from now. But yes, I do want to re-sign Mike Smith."

Holland on the possibility of using a buyout this summer:

"Very possible. Not 100 percent sure but very possible."

Holland on the Oilers salary cap opening up this off-season:

"We have lots of cap space but I have lots of players to sign. So, it's not like we've got a whole bunch of cap space and we've got that to sign three players. A large part of our team, especially upfront, their contracts are up. They've got to either be re-signed or we use that cap space and go to market. I'm going through the process now. It'll probably be a week here of exit interviews with our players.
"Sometime in early to mid-June, we'll have pro scout meetings. I talked for a bit yesterday with Dave Tippett. I'll give him a week to 10 days to get the emotion out of what just happened here over the last week. Get Dave's thoughts and he'll talk to his coaching staff. Starting probably mid-June, I'll start to work the phones and talk to agents of players on our team. Maybe before that on a couple of players. Obviously, talk to other managers in the League and work our way through the middle of July when we've got to make decisions to build the team.
"I think also, part of the evolution of a team, and that was my message yesterday to the group and individually, you need people that are on your roster to take a little bit of a step. Whether it's younger players or older players. Part of our growth has to be internal. The good programs and good teams in this League do a lot of what they do from within. The drafting, the developing and then you go out and find the finishing pieces through free agency or trades."

Holland on prioritizing even-strength and depth scoring this off-season:

"I would probably say so. We brought up Ryan McLeod and you look at Puljujärvi, Yamamoto and the young players. That's part of the secondary (scoring). They're people that we're going to grow with and are important in the direction we're going. They've never been through this before. The playoff series that we just had and the Play-In Series we had with Chicago, this was different. This was more like playoff hockey. It was tight-checking. We got to play our way back into the same situation next year.
"Going under the open market, the free-agent market with whatever salary cap dollars we've got available, certainly that's what we will explore: to try to get a little more secondary scoring. Some of the solution is external and some of the solution is internal. Just putting ourselves in this situation over and over and over and over again and getting more comfortable with it, and eventually having success.
"It was a lot of disappointment in '93, '94, '95 and '96 that eventually led to us winning the Cup in '97 and '98 (in Detroit). I'm hoping it's going to be shorter. You got to play your way into the playoffs, got to be a playoff team every year, put yourself into that situation every year and you build and grow on it. In the off-season, you tweak your team and make some changes. And you stick with it."

Holland on having a young blueline and whether it's difficult to win the Stanley Cup without veteran defenders:

"When you watch the team celebrate with the Stanley Cup on the ice every year, there are lots of what I call 'Greybeards.' Experienced players. Are there some young players? Yeah. But that's why we put players in the American Hockey League. When you've got Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, Mike Smith and Adam Larsson, our expectations and aspirations are to compete for the Stanley Cup. We've got some wonderful players and they're just coming into the prime of their careers. Certainly, I can't support them with a bunch of 20- and 21-year-olds.
"We want to have some 21, 22-year-olds on our team because they're going to grow into players that are part of the solution. But you also need those veteran players that have been there before. They've got experience. You need veterans to go on playoff runs. But you need a component of youth that brings enthusiasm and that brings speed. It's a salary cap world and they're either on their entry-level contract or a cheaper second contract. You need a mix."

Holland on his situation on the Oilers back end with Oscar Klefbom's status still in the air:

"When Klef was here, he was here for about a month. I talked to J.P. Barry, his agent, and I talked to Klef. I'm going to touch base with the Klefbom camp around July 1st or early July. Obviously, we have to submit our protected list for the Expansion Draft. I've got time. It's not like I have to decide that this week. It's going to be a process that will all come to a conclusion. We've got until the end of July.
"Over the next week, yesterday I talked to about eight or 10 of our players then meet with six or seven tomorrow. The leadership group early next week. I want to get the emotion out of it a little bit. But I also know we're getting into June and players want to leave. Next week, I'll sit down with Connor, Leon, Darnell and Ryan. The younger players Tipp and I met with yesterday and told them some of the things we think they need to do in the off-season. The older players, the veteran players, I want their input as to what they think of the team and what they think I should do. I want their opinion and their perspective. Then Tipp is going to talk to his coaching staff and I'll talk to Tipp here over the next couple of weeks.
"Right around June 10-15 I'm going to get my pro scouts together. Archie Henderson, Keith Gretzky, we're going to go over all the other teams and then I'm going to start to work the phones. Start to talk to the agents for our players, the Larssons, Barries, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Maybe start with some of the internal guys a little sooner. Then talk to NHL general managers. Find out what other teams are thinking out there and what they're looking to do with their team. What players might be available.
"Off-season trades, for the most part, happen Draft week. This is a little bit different because it's an expansion year. Are there trades in advance or are there just going to be trades made with Seattle and the teams, like when Vegas came in? Or are teams going to make their own trades without involving Seattle? Those are all the unknowns and I'm only going to find out as I start to work the phones.
"Eventually, I work my way to put my expansion list in, Seattle picks a player and then we work our way towards Free Agency and see what money we have left. What players have we signed internally? What money we've got left? What holes we'd like to fill? Then, make some decisions on the fly when Free Agency opens."

Holland on the online abuse directed towards defenceman and Indigenous player Ethan Bear:

"First of all, it's totally unacceptable and disgusting. Uncalled for, unacceptable and disgusting. There's no place in our world for racism. Many people are taking the lead at lots of different levels in trying to get this out of our society. Ethan's an unbelievable young man. He's a tremendous role model for all young athletes, especially the Indigenous community. He gives time to the community and is popular in the locker room.
"Two summers ago, he spent his entire summer here in Edmonton in the gym. Every morning with our strength coach focused, determined and committed to getting himself in the best shape that he could as an athlete to come into training camp and compete for a spot with our hockey team and he made our hockey team. He's an incredible role model.
"I feel sick for him and disappointed for him that he would get this kind of abuse. It's unacceptable. Obviously, we all have to continue to work at every level to continue to make strides. There's a long way to go to create a world where everybody feels safe and they don't get this kind of racism and abuse. I feel sick for Ethan. I met with him yesterday for 45 minutes, Tipp and I. He's an incredible young man. I, personally, and our organization support him and will do whatever we can to help. I want to see what we can do as an organization to try to make sure this doesn't happen in the future."