TALKING POINTS: Holland speaks following the Trade Deadline

Oilers General Manager & President of Hockey Operations Ken Holland held a media availability from the Hall of Fame Room at Rogers Place following the NHL Trade Deadline at 1:00 p.m. MT on Friday.
The executive discussed the trades and acquisitions made by the Oilers to strengthen their lineup, the complexion of the roster for the remaining regular-season games and Stanley Cup Playoffs, the status of forward Evander Kane, and more.
On Tuesday, Holland also held a press conference to speak to the trade of forward Jesse Puljujarvi to the Carolina Hurricanes for prospect Patrik Puistola.
Read the full transcript and watch Friday's full Trade Deadline media availability below.

On if he was able to accomplish everything he'd hoped to accomplish before the Trade Deadline:
"I think pretty close. Obviously getting a defenceman was a priority. We were excited to get Matthias (Ekholm). He gives us some size, dimension and experience and I think he's going to be really good, not only for what he's going to bring to our team, but I think he's going to be a good role model and a mentor for our young defencemen in Bouchard, Desharnais and Broberg.
"Then obviously yesterday, we went out and did a deal. We wanted to get a little deeper up front. Our scouts have sat on Arizona a lot over the last month because obviously, they had some players that they were looking to move and our people really liked Nick Bjugstad. So he shoots right, he can take some faceoffs, he penalty kills. Ao obviously, Bjugstad can penalty kill and Ekholm can penalty kill. They both give us some size. I think we're deeper."
On if he has concerns with the Oilers having to rely on young defencemen like Bouchard and Desharnais for the playoffs and the remaining regular season:
"You never know. Bouch played last year in the playoffs. Our second pair on defence really for all three rounds I think was Duncan (Keith) and Bouch, so it's not like this is Bouch's first playoff run. He played last year against LA, he played against Calgary, and he played against Colorado. He's got a good veteran partner there. Obviously, the other night he was with Ekholm. I'm not sure if he's going to do that the entire rest of the run, but certainly, I think as of right now, that's what it looks like. Desharnais is 25 years old. It's not like he's 21 or 22, and Broberg's a 21-year-old, so at some point in time you're going to have to play some playoff series or playoff games.
"We can't hold them out. You can't hold them out until 25, 26, 27 -- they've got to play. They've done a good job for us. I think since Christmas time when Broberg came up, Desharnais came up. I think they've really positively impacted our team. We added Ekholm. I feel good about our back end. Obviously you get into the playoffs, and part of going on a playoff run is probably getting some good luck with injuries. If you start to get decimated, I don't care who you are, it's going to affect your ability to win. We're in a cap world. I thought that we did whatever we could do. Obviously, we cut Bjugstad's (salary) in half and he's on our roster for $450,000. I think I think we got about $1,000 left."

On what he's seen from young D like Broberg and Desharnais to have the confidence that they can take on greater responsibility:
"They play regularly. If you look at our defence, (Desharnais) is 6-foot-7. Broberg is 6-foot-3, Ekholm is 6-foot-4 and Nurse has got length. We've got a group of seven defence, but I think 6-foot-2 is the smallest guy on our defence, so I like the size. I like that Broberg's 6-foot-3 and that he's got mobility. He can gap up. Desharnais obviously can kill penalties, block shots and he can make the 10-foot pass to get you transitioned and get you going. I like that. Desharnais is 25 years old and he's not 21 years old, and certainly, Broby's a younger guy but he was a high pick in the Draft. He's spent two years playing in the Swedish Elite League. He spent a year in the American Hockey League. He's kind of been up and down, so at some point in time, to Mark (Spector's) question, you've got to give people an opportunity. I think to this point in time they've earned it, and then there's the cap. Obviously, if you try to replace them, you get their money to replace them, so it's not like you can replace a guy that makes $800,000."
"I run it in a cap world, so it's a puzzle for me. I don't look at one individual piece, so not only do they contribute, but obviously, they contribute at a low cap number which kind of lets you do things elsewhere."
On when Ekholm became a realistic trade target for Edmonton:
"Well, I think when they started to fall out of it. I last talked to (Nashville GM) David Poille when we were in Columbus or Pittsburgh sometime last week, and he said that with where they were in the standings that Ekholm could be available. So over the course of probably a week, we pieced it together."

On the decision to move on from Tyson Barrie, an important piece of the blue line and the locker room:
"Cap-related. I think I said we're dollar in, dollar out. As you look here today, Jesse (Puljujarvi) makes $3 million and Tyson makes $4.5 million. That's $7.5 million. We brought in Ekholm at $6 million because we got a four-percent reduction, but we were running a 20-man roster and I wanted to get to a 21- or 22-man roster. Well, every roster spot is $750,000 to $850,000. Desharnais makes $750,000, so ultimately, we're bringing in a defenceman. If we hung on to Tyson, I would have started having to move out expensive forwards."
"Obviously, Bouchard's here. I watched him a lot when he was in junior his draft year. When I was in Detroit we were watching him for the draft, so I've watched Evan since he's been 18 years of age. I just think, again, I go back to a cap world and everyone's got to play. You earn it. He's been here and he's been around the team. In the pandemic year, Bouchard was around the team. I think he only played 10-to-11 games out of the 56, but he was around the team. And then last year, he got paired up with Duncan Keith was on our second pair.
"And again, it's all cap related. Everything we do is cap related, so it was tough to let Tyson go. He did a fabulous job for us. We've got the number-one power play in the National Hockey League. Obviously, he was a big part of it at the top moving the puck. He's very popular in the rocker room. But in order to get, you have to move."
On his confidence that the group can push further than last year's Western Conference Final:
"Obviously going to the Final Four last year, we've been through it. My experience is that the management, the coaching staff, the players have to be in there multiple times to get an understanding of what you need to do, both in my position and for Woody and for the players, to be prepared to try to go on a playoff run. So I'm hoping that the experience last year is going to be very beneficial to our guys. We're a year older. Some of the people that are a year older, they're young people and we just talked about Bouch, who's 23. So they're not 19.
"The core of the team is probably, for the most part, the prime of their career… You make the playoffs, you know whom you're playing and you've played against these teams all year, so you've go to the playoffs and you've got to do it all over again."
On exploring a deal to acquire Erik Karlsson from San Jose:
"Well, I can't really talk about anybody specifically, so I guess all I can say to you is -- I don't know if I talked to every manager in the league in the last two weeks, but I probably talked to anybody that was a seller and anybody that moved players here in the last two weeks. I talked to managers on those teams about their players."

On the Eastern Conference loading up and if it affected his ability to make any deals:
"I'm not even sure how to answer that. I think that I just try to take care of my own team and I went into this last two-week period with a defenceman as the priority. That was a priority for me to get a defenceman that I thought could be a top-four defenceman and would have an impact on our team in some kind of way.
"I think I'd said all along that the reality was that we're not adding. We had to either upgrade, or it wasn't an upgrade, it was a change. Tyson Barrie's an offensive defenseman. He runs the power play. Mattias Ekholm is a different player than him. He's not running the power play. He's not an offensive defenceman. I would say he's a defensive defenceman. He blocks shots, he penalty kills, he can play on the second power play. He's a bigger man. So I tried to make the team different.
"Certainly in Nick Bjugstad, we're bringing in a guy that's 6-foot-6. He shoots right. Why is right important? We don't have a lot of righties, so having another righty here, obviously we traded away a right winger to Carolina in Puljujarvi. So he shoots right, he can kill penalties, he can take draws. You're trying to hit some dimensions that I felt needed to be addressed. Within a cap world, working on a 20-man roster, I tried to take this roster from 20. I wanted to get to 21 for sure. We were going to get to 22 because I don't want to play games where we play 19. I want to make sure we got 20, so I tried to address as many needs as I could before the Deadline."
On how much he factored in future seasons when considering recent moves:
"I would say that's part of it. When you make decisions, you have to be aware of what's going on in the summertime, so that's all part of it."
On why deals around the League happened over the course of the week instead of traditionally right at the Trade Deadline:
"That's a great question. I don't have answer for you. If you had asked me a month ago, I thought everything was going to take place March 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Things started happening last week and just sort of got the ball rolling, but I don't know if this is the way it's going to be next year or if it's next year it's going to go back. Usually, there are 30 trades -- 25 happen on the Trade Deadline Day. So today it was quieter, but I don't really know why."

On the status of Evander Kane:
"Well, Evander is making the trip tonight. The plan is he's going to start skating tomorrow with the team in the morning, and then, he's going to start pushing this week and we're going to see where he's at. He's definitely not playing on Monday, and then we'll see by Thursday in Boston, Saturday in Toronto, or next Tuesday at home to Ottawa. One of those three games I would hope and expect he's going to be in the lineup."
On if he was more willing than every to make trades this Deadline to strengthen the Oilers:
"I guess you just have to look at what we did. Three years ago it was two seconds, a third and a fourth (round pick), or third and a fourth and the fifth. Last year was what? A second and a fourth? So this year, it's basically two firsts, a third, and Kesselring, so it appears that way, yeah."