Peter Chiarelli Named President of Hockey Operations, General Manager for Edmonton

Michael Clifford

2015-04-24

USATSI 7298426 154511096 lowres

Former Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli has been named President of Hockey Operations and General Manager for the Edmonton Oilers.

The reports have been there for days, but this afternoon, the Edmonton Oilers made it official that the team would be moving on from the Kevin Lowe/Craig MacTavish era and hired former Boston GM Peter Chiarelli. Officially, Chiarelli is both President of Hockey Operations and General Manager, but the most pertinent note here is that he is in control of the roster moving forward (with Bob Nicholson having the final stamp of approval, it seems).

This certainly feels like a move made a couple of years too late, but better late than never, as they say (not sure who, but they). With Edmonton winning the McDavid lottery, they have secured potentially the best talent to come along since Sidney Crosby. That's in addition to Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and a host of other talented forwards. Oscar Klefbom looked good for the Oilers down the stretch, and I suppose they're hoping Darnell Nurse may be ready next year. With McDavid, the Oilers now have a three year window with which they can pay a potential superstar next to nothing on an entry level contract to go with all that elite skill. That should be the initial timeframe for the Oilers to start succeeding as a franchise for the first time in nearly a decade.

Who Needs What

The Oilers have much of their core locked up: from NHLNumbers, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle, and Pouliot all have four years left, while Yakupov and Andrew Ference have two. Justin Schultz and Martin Marincin are restricted free agents, while Derek Roy is unrestricted. I wouldn't say any of their free agents are "must-signs" but I wouldn't be surprised to see Roy get some consideration for depth purposes. Also, I would imagine Schultz is brought back, though he's certainly not developed to what the team had hoped he would be.

By my crude math, without those free agents, the Oilers may have $10-million to spend in the summer (assuming they spend to the cap), assuming Nurse and McDavid are both on the roster next year. Given how far away they are from contending, that's not really enough to make a huge difference. It might net one high-end defenseman. They need more than that. That's another reason I think Chiarelli starts shuffling the deck.

In net, it seems like there's a lot of clamouring to upgrade from Ben Scrivens. He's under contract for another year, and for his career going into last year, he had performed similarly to guys like Ryan Miller, Corey Crawford, Antti Niemi, and Jonathan Quick. Admittedly, Scrivens didn't have a complete sample, and last year was a disaster. It's fair to say the whole season for everyone on that team was a disaster, though. I don't see the harm in the Oilers bringing in a competent backup, but this team is more than a year from contending, and giving Scrivens another crack with a (hopefully) improved roster would seem prudent.

In all, what will happen two, three, or more months down the road with Chiarelli at the helm is pure guess-work. Oilers fans can take solace, though, that at the very least, the team has a new captain at the helm. Now it's up to Chiarelli and co. to prove that they're different from the previous regime.

Daily Ramblings – April 24th

Bruins Fire Peter Chiarelli

UPCOMING GAMES

	Jun 04 - 20:06	EDM	vs	FLA

Starting Goalies

View on GoaliePost App

Top Skater Views

	Players	Team
	GRACYN SAWCHYN	FLA
	JJ PETERKA	BUF
	MATEJ BLUMEL	DAL
	MARCO ROSSI	MIN
	MAVRIK BOURQUE	DAL

Top Goalie Profile Views

	Players	Team
	MICHAEL HRABAL	UTA
	JUUSE SAROS	NSH
	THATCHER DEMKO	VAN
	LINUS ULLMARK	OTT
	CAM TALBOT	DET

LINE COMBOS

	Frequency	WPG Players
	25.2	GABRIEL VILARDI MARK SCHEIFELE KYLE CONNOR
	15.4	NINO NIEDERREITER ADAM LOWRY MASON APPLETON
	12.7	COLE PERFETTI VLADISLAV NAMESTNIKOV NIKOLAJ EHLERS

DobberHockey Podcasts

Audio Player