Ken Holland sounds off on his Detroit Red Wings GM replacement in Steve Yzerman

Former Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland was honored yesterday by being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2020 for his numerous accomplishments during his time in the Motor City, having his name on the Stanley Cup a whopping four times, and three as GM.

But prior to beloved former captain Steve Yzerman's return to Detroit in April of 2019 to take the reigns, Holland had fallen out of favor with Red Wings fans for numerous regrettable trades and exorbitant free agent signings for underperforming players that the team continued to deal with as Yerman settled into the job. 

He's since moved on and taken the general manager's job with the Edmonton Oilers, for whom he also serves as President of Hockey Operations. And he's got them in contention with the likes of phenoms Connor McDavid and Leon Draisatl leading the way. 

However, he's certainly not forgetting his time in the Motor City, during which he made countless memories and plenty of good friends. 

"I was with the Red Wings for 36 years and I lived in Detroit for 25 years," said Holland ahead of his Oilers facing the Red Wings tonight in at Little Caesars Arena. . "Obviously Little Caesars Arena is a little bit different than the Joe (Louis Arena). I never stayed at the Westin Book Cadillac before (before this week)."

"But, certainly, I have a lot of great memories from my time in Detroit."

Holland is also happy to see the success that the Red Wings are seemingly on the verge of enjoying once again, this time with Yzerman at the helm. 

"Steve Yzerman, Pat Verbeek, Jiri Fischer, Chris Osgood, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, they all wanted to stay in the game and had the passion to stay in the game," said Holland.

"They knew the game. They're hard workers. Jim Nill is a hard worker. Ryan Martin and Steve Yzerman are hard workers. I am happy I was able to help. Jimmy Devellano helped me, he hired me and believed in me."

Yzerman's top two draft picks in Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond have paid immediate dividends for Detroit. Both are currently leading the National Hockey League rookie scoring race and have made a major difference in the look and feel of the team. And Holland has noticed. 

"I've watched Detroit a little bit," Holland said. "They look great. Seider goes to the Swedish Elite League last year and was the best defenseman, that's hard to do when you're 19 or 20 years old. And Raymond, six goals (scored), I saw Raymond play at the international level when he was at the under-18 (world tournament) and he was a high impact player." 

"It looks like Raymond has tremendous hockey sense. He just has the 'it' to be a player and Seider the same. I haven't seen a lot of them, but looking at their minutes and roles on the power play, you start doing that when you're 19 or 20 years old, that's pretty special because that's hard to do."