He bought out Derian Hatcher, Ray Whitney and Darren McCarty to get his payroll under the $39-million US maximum, and then went out and signed forward Mikael Samuelsson and defenceman Andreas Lilja, players any other team could have had at the time.
He also re-signed winger Jason Williams for the minimum $450,000.
"This Mikael Samuelsson's a big-time player," head coach Mike Babcock said from Detroit. "Andreas Lilja is having a great year. Jason Williams is a great talent.
"Ken Holland and (assistant GM) Jim Nill did a phenomenal job."
Samuelsson, 29, signed a $537,500, one-year deal. He's responded with a career-high 20 goals and 17 assists in 57 games before Tuesday.
"I saw him play at the world championship in Austria last spring and came away impressed," said Holland.
Lilja, 30, signed a $650,000, one-year deal and became a top-four defenceman, playing alongside superstar Nicklas Lidstrom.
"He's actually a guy we wanted to draft, but L.A. took him in the second round (in 2000) a little higher than where we had him pegged at," said Holland.
Defenceman Jason Woolley ($507,000) was another patch-work addition as Holland squeezed players under the cap.
And then his longtime go-to guys took over.
"Our veteran core, Steve Yzerman, Nick Lidstrom, Brendan Shanahan, Chris Chelios, Mathieu Schneider - they've been tremendous," said Holland. "Maybe the year off during the lockout did them some good."
But the biggest reason for Detroit's success has been the play of their top two forwards. Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk have made the jump from young stars to full-fledge franchise players.
"The development of Datsyuk and Zetterberg has been fantastic - Zetterberg especially," says Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman, who watches every game his former team plays. "Zetterberg was rated the best player in Sweden last year, and that's with Peter Forsberg playing there."
Bowman also praised the work of Babcock, another key signing by Holland last summer. Babcock looks to Bowman for the odd piece of advice.
"At least four times a week," Babcock said when asked how often he talks to Bowman. "Yeah we talk all the time. He helps me a lot, I can bounce things off him. He watches tons of games in the league, he always has ideas."
The new NHL is all about special teams and Babcock's team has the No. 1-ranked power play in the league, no small part of why the Wings are flying - 90 of Detroit's 252 goals before Tuesday were scored with the man advantage.
Spear-heading that effort is Lidstrom, who is having yet another Norris Trophy season, entering Tuesday's game with 69 points (14-55), close to eclipsing his career high of 73 points in 1999-2000.
If there's a question mark heading into the playoffs, it's in goal. Manny Legace has had an excellent season, his 2.27 goal-against average and .910 save percentage among the league leaders. Still, with 230 career playoff minutes under his belt, fans in Hockeytown will hold their breath when the puck drops in the first round.
And it won't be easy, despite a great season. Whether it's San Jose, Anaheim, Edmonton, Los Angeles or Vancouver, the Wings won't catch an easy date in the first round.
"That first round is so dangerous, because you're going to meet a good team," says Bowman.
Regardless of the outcome in the post-season, let's remember how this story started. Holland had to chop payroll, cut a top-four defenceman and top-six forward, and find cheap bodies for his third and fourth lines.
"The commitment of ownership to winning creates an attitude that that's what is expected here," Babcock said. "So it's not about individuals, it's about the team."
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A weekly and subjective look at the best and worst eight teams of the NHL:
TOP EIGHT
1. Ottawa. Who needs Hasek? Heading into Tuesday's game, Sens were 9-1-1 since beginning post-Olympic break without the Dominator.
2. Detroit. Lidstrom will win his fourth Norris Trophy.
3. Carolina. May have to settle for No. 2 seed in Eastern Conference.
4. Dallas. A perfect 10-0 in shootouts this season. That's 10 extra points in the standings.
5. Buffalo. Suddenly stumbling with losses in Ottawa and Atlanta.
6. Nashville. The Preds are 7-1-2 since the Olympic break.
7. Philadelphia. Huge game Wednesday against divisional rival Rangers.
8. San Jose. If the Sharks sneak into the playoffs, no one will want to play a team playing some of the best second-half hockey.
BOTTOM EIGHT
23. Vancouver. Free fall. Will it cost Marc Crawford's job?
24. Boston. Playing out the string on a disappointing season.
25. Phoenix. Will Wayne Gretzky want to return behind the bench?
26. Columbus. Even with a healthy Rick Nash, the Jackets still can't win.
27. Washington. It could get ugly as the Caps start a seven-game road trip Wednesday.
28. St. Louis. An AHL lineup playing its heart out.
29. Chicago. Nikolai Khabibulin has some soul-searching to do this summer.
30. Pittsburgh. The Pens may draft first overall for the second straight June.
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TEAM OF THE WEEK: Detroit Red Wings, 3-0-0 last week, including wins in Edmonton and Vancouver.
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CP'S ALL-STARS OF THE WEEK: Daniel Briere (Buffalo), Vincent Lecavalier (Tampa) and Mike Modano (Dallas) up front, Dam Hamhuis (Nashville) and Scott Hannan (San Jose) on defence, and Tomas Vokoun (Nashville) in goal.
