Ken Holland makes an absolute fool of himself in explaining the Duncan Keith trade

In case you missed it yesterday, the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers pulled off a whopper of a trade with longtime Blackhawks blueliner Duncan Keith heading to the Oilers for Caleb Jones and a 3rd round pick. 

Keith had requested a trade from Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman and specifically wanted to be moved to Western Canada so that he could be closer to his eight year old son in Penticton, BC. In essence Bowman and the Blackhawks were at the mercy of Keith given his no-trade clause and the fact that he carries a hefty $5.5 million cap hit for the next season. Enter: Ken Holland.

Holland, a veteran GM with decades of experience, got absolutely FLEECED in this deal. There's really no real soft way of saying it. Holland and the Oilers got jobbed.

Keith is nearly 38 years old, he hasn't won a playoff game since 2015 and his offensive production has absolutely fallen off a cliff the past two seasons. Now, that's not to say that he can't be a contributor for the Oilers, but given his cap hit and the fact that the Oilers shipped out a player and a pick to acquire him... well that's just a tough pill for Oilers fans to swallow.

When asked by media members yesterday what Holland's rationale was for acquiring Keith, he quite frankly offered up a "nothing-burger" of a response. Why'd you go out and commit $11 million to a nearly 40 year old broken down future Hall of Famer, Ken? Well... because he used to be really, REALLY good. 

I mean... just look at this pathetic response:

Did that same record book say anything about Keith not winning a playoff round in nearly 7 years? Did it say anything about $11 million owed to him over the next 24 months? I'm guessing not... and yet Holland still went out and overpaid for a 38 year old defenceman.

Rumour has it that Chris Chelios and Scott Stevens are both trying to get through to Holland's voicemail as we speak... 

In all seriousness, I sincerely hope that this deal ends up working for both Keith and the Oilers. The fact of the matter is that Keith is a future Hall of Famer and one of the best defencemen of his generation. He doesn't deserve to play out the string of his career with so much scrutiny. As for the Oilers, personally I'm hoping that they can figure things out so that captain Connor McDavid can finally experience some success at the top level. He's been a loyal soldier for six seasons now and he deserves better than what Oilers management has surrounded him with to this point in his career.