TALKING POINTS: Holland speaks following Puljujarvi's trade to Carolina

Oilers General Manager & President of Hockey Operations Ken Holland spoke to the media from the Hall of Fame Room at Rogers Place on Tuesday morning following the trade of Jesse Puljujarvi to the Carolina Hurricanes for prospect Patrik Puistola.
The executive fielded questions about the trade, Puistola's outlook as a player, Puljujarvi's time in Edmonton, Friday's NHL Trade Deadline and more. Holland's interview was held prior to his acquisition of Mattias Ekholm from the Nashville Predators later in the afternoon.
Read the full transcript and watch Tuesday's full media availability below.

On what he knows about Patrik Puistola, the winger acquired from Carolina on Tuesday in exchange for Jesse Puljujarvi:
"He's a forward. He's playing in the Finnish league. (Carolina GM) Don Waddell and I go back to 1998 when he was my assistant general manager. I went through the process and he's an unrestricted free agent on June 1, so obviously, we've got a limited time here to make a decision and sign him."
On the difficulty of trading Puljujarvi:
"I called Jesse in about two weeks ago and told him and (his agent) Markus Lehto that I would be interested in Jesse being part of our team going forward, that we could not qualify him based upon a whole lot of things, and I told him I was prepared to negotiate a one or two-year contract extension with him at a reduced salary probably in the ($1-to-$2 million range) and asked if they would be interested in doing that. They talked and they came back, and Markus Lehto told me that they weren't opposed to the money, but they thought it was probably best to get a fresh start.
"From that point in time, I knew that his days would be numbered here in Edmonton. Obviously, what I'm trying to do is clear some cap space to try and do something between now and Friday. Certainly, trying to move $3 million for a guy that's got five goals and I think played six minutes last night was tough. But obviously, Carolina has got a lot of cap space.
"I had chats with Don Waddell even when Jesse was over in Finland in my first year here as general manager, so there's been some interest from Carolina going way back and it worked out probably good for Don Waddell, Carolina and good for us and good for Jesse.
"I met with Jesse this morning. My take was he (had) a little bit of mixed emotions. He was starting to be part of the group and he liked the group, but I think he also understands that this is a new opportunity for him in the National Hockey League."

On if trading Puljujarvi today was his only option:
"I guess so."
On the Oilers selecting Puljujarvi fourth overall in 2016 and if any other GM wouldn't have made that pick:
"No. The NHL Draft is a bit of a guessing game. If you look through the record book every year from past drafts, sometimes the player in the fifth round is better than lots of players in the first round. So absolutely, Jesse was going in the top five in the draft that year no matter who was picking.
"I guess I would say that, obviously I didn't know what transpired before I got here. He went back to Finland. I had some teams call and I talked to a few teams, but nobody offered up anything at that time that we would even consider as a deal. He obviously stayed in Finland for a year. I think it was good for his career. He got his swagger back, his confidence back, he was top five in scoring in the Finnish League, and then obviously, I think shortly after, Dave Tippett moved him up. He was in our top six there for a while with Connor for a couple of years. Then, we get Evander Kane, we get Zach Hyman, and there's more competition and his role is diminished. But saying all that, I think I said I tried to sign him to a deal to keep him here going forward because he's an NHL player. But obviously in a cap world, cap numbers force you to make decisions, so absolutely he was a top-five pick. I don't care who was picking top three or top four.
Certainly, it's a disappointing day on one hand because he's the fourth-overall pick and you're hoping that pick is going to have some significant impact on your team. I like to think that Jesse has done everything that he could do to be the best player that he could be. He went back to Finland and worked hard at his English, and I think he's gotten more physical. I think over the time that I've been here and the coaching staff, I think we've tried to be as patient with him giving him as much opportunity as we possibly could, but unfortunately, we're at this day today and we've got to move forward."

On the appeal of trying to extend Puljujarvi's stay in Edmonton with a new contract:
"Well, I'm looking for cheap players… Everybody's looking for cheap players. That's the appeal."
On how adding around $3 million in cap space can help ahead of Friday's Trade Deadline:
"First off, there are buyers and sellers. If you're a seller and you've got a player you want to move, and I've been on both sides of the fence, you want to accomplish two things when you're a seller. One, you want to move money. You've had a tough year. You want to get some money off your books. And two, you want to get future assets.
"When we activated Yamamoto last week off of LTIR, obviously we sent Holloway down and we sent Desharnais down and were running a team at $82.5 million with 20 players. So ideally, we'd like to get to 21. We have had good success here with playing seven defencemen. In talking to teams over the last week, we're a team that I think I've said before -- we're dollar in and dollar out.
"Moving Jesse today, in my mind, doesn't move $3 million. It moves $2.2 million and a quarter because if we're going to go from 20 players to 21, I need to have $750,000 to get the 21st player on the books. So it's not like you got $3 million. I'm trying to get from 20 players to 21 players. We don't want to go with 20 players for the last 20 games. Obviously, we played two games earlier this week or last week where we had to go under the roster (limit), so it's giving us some cap space. We'll see."
On salary retention needing to be a part of any potential trade before the Deadline:
"I don't know... It depends. In the end, I've got to do a deal, so there are many ways to do a deal and your way would be one of them.
On the potential acquisition of a top-six winger but having to navigate the salary cap:
"In a world with no cap, would we like to have this? Would somebody like to have this? That's not the reality that I live in. I live in the reality of $82.5 million, and when I put a number on the board, fortunately, I'm good at math and I can count to 82.5. Ideally, I'd like it to be 21 players. I'd like it to be 23, not 20, but I can live with 21.
"So do we have things that we'd like to do? Yeah. Priorities, I don't know if they can hit every priority, but I think the reality is every team in the National Hockey League is dealing with the same challenges that we're dealing with. So it's a level playing field.
On how many options he's exploring ahead of the Deadline:
"As many as I can."
On his confidence right now in upgrading the Oilers top-four defence before the Deadline:
"There are a few players out there that we think would fit, so it's got to work. Again, it's not just the player; it's the assets. Then, it's what we talked about -- the cap. Today I'm hoping was step one. Again, we had to move money by moving Jesse. I'm hoping it's step one. I hope there are other steps to come. Not every seller wanted to take on (salary cap) when I'm a buyer, so not every team that I was talking to had interest in picking up players or a contract just to put it that way. That affected some of these talks. Hopefully, today is step one.
"Now, I'm also going to say this week is not a surprise. I think I told everybody when you go into LTIR in the offseason, and when you sit in LTIR on opening day with the people that we put on LTIRi with Klef and Smitty, we then made a decision to spend all the $82.5 million of cap space to try to be the best we could be over the course of the first 60 games of the year. It's not like we opened the season and then halfway through somebody we got goes on LTIR and now we've got that money. We spent all that money, we spent all our cap space to try to be the best that we can be, so this week being in this situation that we're in with LTIR I could've told you this in July. This isn't a surprise that it's dollar in and dollar out."
"I have a complete understanding of where this franchise is with the players on this team, with the age of this team. We're doing everything and I'm trying to do everything I can to maximize the potential of this team, and it started out in the summertime because if you go to $80 million on opening day and you put Klefbom on LTIR because it's $82.5 million and Klef is$ 4.1 million, our cap then becomes $80 million. It's not like you were saving that $2.5 million. The salary cap looks at you differently. You don't accrue space. So why spend $80 million and go into LTIR and have two-and-a-half million dollars of unused money? So we spend the $82.5 million knowing that we're trying to maximize to make the team the best that we can in that locker room. Also, me fully knowing that coming into this trade deadline and this week, it would have an impact on what I can or can't do."
On his interest in moving a first-round pick for a rental player on an expiring contract:
"I'm open to it."
On the status of Dylan Holloway after sustaining an injury in Bakersfield last week:
"I talked to him the day after and he said he went in the corner and got hit, then went back to the bench. He's got a shoulder injury and I'd say to you four-to-six weeks (recovery)."

On the scouting report for Puistola, who's recorded 38 points in 56 games for Jukurit in Finland's Liiga this season:
"We talked to (Oilers Amateur Scout) Matti Virmanen yesterday. He's our Finnish scout that lives in Finland. He watches all those games. I think today was more about getting $3 million of cap space, so I'll have Matti watch him. He lives in Finland. He can watch him play again. (Head of Amateur Scouting) Tyler Wright's here and talked to Matti yesterday for a while, so Don (Waddell) had given me a list there of people and ultimately, we picked him."
On completing a deal with Carolina knowing Puljujarvi's history with Sebastian Aho at the World Juniors in 2016:
"I don't know. I'm worried about the Oilers."
On if upgrading the blue line is his priority at the Deadline:
"I would say so, yes."
On the status of Ryan Murray, who remains out with a back injury:
"Don't really know. He pushes and urges for a little bit, looks good, and then he falls off. So I can't tell you there's any significant progress."
On other teams being willing to retain salary on pending unrestricted free agents:
"Yes."
On other teams being willing to retain salary for multiple seasons:
"Not really. I know Toronto did it, but not most don't."
On using the $2.8 million cap space and the potential for salary retention to acquire a both a forward and defenceman:
"We'll see. It all depends on what it adds up to, right? If they each make $850,000, I can do it anytime, so it depends. It's all number related. It depends what they make."
"I guess upfront, obviously we moved Jesse. You asked about Holloway. I'm hoping, I've got my fingers crossed, that Holloway can come back sometime late in the season and get some games in the American League and play some games (in Edmonton). The coaches know what he can do, and I know he played the one game and played 13-and-a-half minutes. (Assistant GM) Keith Gretzky said, looking at Dylan that game, compared to where he was a year ago, he was far more impactful. It's one game that you can judge, but obviously, I'm hoping that down the stretch, maybe we can get Holloway back. Obviously we've recalled Shoresy, and then we'll see here what goes on between now and Friday."
On if he'd like an acquired forward to be a right shot and/or a right-winger:
"Probably."
On being willing to empty the prospect and draft-pick cupboards at this point:
"I'll let you know by Friday."