***Editors Note: Nick Lovett is a friend of mine, and he is a die-hard Boston Bruins fan. Tonight, Nick gives Oilers fans a little glimpse into the world of a team run by Peter Chiarelli. After a solid draft weekend and free agent day, Oilers fans are thrilled with Chiarelli, and rightfully so. What can we expect moving forward? Nick gives us his best thoughts on that. You can follow him on twitter @_NickLovett. Also, check out his new blog, midniterelease.com.******
If you ask the consensus of Boston Bruins’ fans what they think about Peter Chiarelli, I would be willing to bet most do not like him or are pretty indifferent about him. For the most part, I believe Chiarelli was a great part of the Bruins organization; he brought the city a Stanley Cup, a President’s Trophy, and playoff appearances in seven consecutive years. For all the good he did though, he did have his downfalls.
Let’s focus on the good right now. When he came over from Ottawa, he brought over Zdeno Chara, who became the captain of the team immediately. Chara has been one of the most dominant defensemen in the NHL for some time, and even though his production is declining due to injury and age, is still a force. Along with Chara, Chiarelli also picked up Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly during the 2010-2011 season. Both of whom, although not flashy, also helped the Bruins win a cup.
Some of his other key additions include: Carl Soderberg (technically), Jarome Iginla, Dennis Seidenberg, Nathan Horton, Gregory Campbell, and Daniel Paille. Though some of these players are flashier than others, all these players contributed a fair amount to the Bruins during their tenures.
Through drafting, Chiarelli did okay. In the 2010 draft, he took Tyler Seguin number two overall and that turned out to be a great pick. Seguin, although not a great fit in Claude Julien’s system, was able to produce for the B’s and help them win the Cup in 2011.
He also drafted Dougie Hamilton (2011) who has become a young stud NHL defender and his potential is off the charts. His picks of Ryan Spooner (2010) and David Pastrnak (2014) have helped the team out already and the picks of Alexander Khokhlachev (2011), Linus Arnesson (2013), and Malcolm Subban (2012) all have the ability to help the team in the future.
Some of the picks that did not go well are Jared Knight (32, 2010), Jordan Caron (25, 2009), Joe Colborne (16, 2008), and Zach Hamill (8, 2007). His drafting became better as his tenure went on which could be because of scouting, but the fact remains that his first few drafts were disasters.
The worst part of Chiarelli’s management came in terms of contracts. Most people would say that Chiarelli’s biggest failure was the Seguin trade, which I admit, was a bad trade looking back on it, but the contracts he gave out were much worse. The contracts he gave out to certain players, namely Dennis Seidenberg, Milan Lucic, and Chris Kelly, have crippled the organization.
He handed out NMC’s like candy and that is not something you can do and be successful. Though Kelly was a valuable part of the Cup winning team, there is no reason why he deserves $3 million a year with a NMC. Lucic also did not deserve $6 million a year or a NMC. He has been declining every year since he signed the deal.
Despite everything he did that was wrong, again, you cannot dispute the success the Bruins had with him as the GM. The Oilers are getting a guy that does well with trades, for the most part, and does what he can to make the team better while not sacrificing the core he knows can win.
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