Does Ken Holland need to a major shake-up in his pro scouting department?
Photo by Ian Kucerak / Postmedia, file  Article content The Edmonton Oilers moved on from their last chief pro scout, Duane Sutter, after a run of weak signings and trades, but its hard to argue that things have improved much with Archie Henderson as Ken Hollands right-hand man. Theres been some major misses with Henderson as the Director of Pro Scouting in Edmonton. The team is coming upon another crucial summer, one with money to spend on pro players from other teams. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. The Duane Sutter Era in Edmonton Sutter had the job from July 2 2016 until May 2019. With him in this key role, Edmonton traded Jordan Eberle for Ryan Strome, who failed to work out in Edmonton and was moved for Ryan Spooner, who didnt come close to making it here. The Oilers signed Kyle Brodziak and Jason Garrison on Sutters watch, meaning that just when the Oilers were desperate to get faster and more skilled, hockey ops brought in a slow, checking centre and a slow, defensive d-man, both of them just past their best before dates. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The team also brought in Tobias Rieder and Jussi Jokinen on the wing, with neither working out. Drake Caggiula was traded for Brandon Manning. Ouch! The team also traded for another big slow d-man, Alex Petrovic. It all added up to Edmonton missing the playoffs two years in a row. The Archie Henderson Era in Detroit Henderson was a scout for the Washington Capitals from 1995 to 2003, then was out of hockey until 2015-16, when Holland hired him as a pro scout in Detroit. Henderson was there for four seasons. In that time, the Red Wings were in a rebuild mode. Holland spent much of his time moving out veteran players for draft picks. Its hard to get a sense of Hendersons value as he wasnt Hollands main assistant and Detroit didnt acquire many NHL pros. Detroit did make a few poor signing in that time, namely free agent Frans Nielsen in July 2016 to a six-year deal at $5.25 million per, and free agent Trevor Daley in July 2017 on a three-year deal at $3.2 million per. Nielsen gave the Red Wings one season at near peak play, then two OK-ish years, following by two years where hed likely have been out of the NHL without that secure contract. Daley gave Detroit one OK season followed by two poor ones. But, again, we cant squarely pin these signings on Henderson. He was just a pro scout, not the main pro scout like he is in Edmonton. The Archie Henderson Era in Edmonton Henderson signed on in Edmonton on July 11, 2019, so much of Edmontons business in the summer of 2019 had already been done. Players like Mike Smith, Joakim Nygard, Markus Granlund, Gaetan Haas and Tomas Jurco had already been signed as free agents. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content But on July 16, the Oilers signed Josh Archibald. Henderson was new to the job but if he had a hand in that, points to Henderson. Archibald has become a key checking winger on the team. The Oilers also signed Riley Sheahan that September. He was one of many cheap bets made by Holland that year, all of them sound moves because if they didnt work out, the opportunity cost was small. They werent paid enough to count against the cap if they were sent to the AHL, as Jurco and Granlund eventually were (and for all the moaning and groaning in Edmonton about the new Devin Shore contract, that deal is in exactly the same category, with a small opportunity cost). Since that the solid Archibald signing, however, theres been little good to recommend Edmontons pro scouts. In fact, theres an argument that something is wrong in Edmontons process for acquiring pro players, that the team fails to properly assess the ability of incoming players. Andreas Athanasiou was Edmontons biggest miss, in that it cost the franchise two second-round draft picks at the 2020 trading deadline, but he did not do enough to push the team to qualify his existing contract. Edmonton let him walk as a free agent. That move is on both Holland and Henderson, who would have known Athanasiou well from their Detroit days. The second biggest mistake was offering a two-year deal to Kyle Turris, who had been bought out in Nashville. Turris was granted a two-year deal at $1.65 million per, which greatly upped the opportunity cost. He took up one contract on Edmontons 50-man list and also cap space that could have been used for some other third-line centre. This would have been fine if Turris had enough left to be a solid third-line centre for the Oilers this year, but he failed to come close to that level, and now hes got another year on his deal. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. That is possible. Players with real talent can sometimes fail to take the next step (as we saw with Caleb Jones this year) and veterans with solid credentials can drop off fast as well. As for the other pro player moves in the Henderson Era, Tyler Ennis was an OK pick-up for the Oilers but Dmitry Kulikov wasnt the right fit. Neither cost the team much, unlike the Athanasiou and Turris moves. Slater Koekkoek and Dominik Kahun were also solid signings, even if neither player is brought back for the 2021-22 season. They were promising pro players with low opportunity costs. The Tyson Barrie signing was, of course, a big win for the Oilers but its hard to know if the Oilers chose Barrie or if Barrie chose the Oilers. He needed the perfect landing spot on a one-year deal and he found it in Edmonton. There is also Edmontons rumoured interest in d-man Oliver Ekman-Larsson last September to consider. If so, that would raise another question mark, as OELs game took another step back this year. But if Henderson was against moving on OEL, that would be a plus mark for him. This isnt a huge body of work to go on with Henderson, but its also not an encouraging body of work. And its not like NHL management teams have endless opportunities and years to get things right. They have a limited number of decisions each summer and a limited number of summers to turn around a team. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 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