Dear Peter Chiarelli: The Game Has Changed

Peter Chiarelli was a successful general manager for the Boston Bruins and won a Stanley Cup in 2011. He also helped navigate the team back to the final in 2013, coming up two wins short of a second title in three seasons. From the moment that series ended, however, Chiarelli has been one of the worst GM’s in the NHL.

The reason why? Like so many before him and so many in the future, Chiarelli got stubborn and failed to adjust with the sport. No longer is the NHL about building a big and tough team like it was even five years ago. Now, the NHL is all about speed and skill.

Chiarelli gaffed in a major way when he traded Tyler Seguin to the Dallas Stars in July of 2013. He began to get rid of the talented players on the Bruins in favor of heavier veteran players. The results? Boston missed the playoffs in Chiarelli’s final season at the helm and are still recovering three years later, desperately trying to add legit talent in any way they can.

Ironically, Chiarelli came to Edmonton with a perfect chance to make up for his past mistakes. He had ample talent on the Oilers, with Connor McDavid coming on board to a roster that already had Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on it. Leon Draisaitl would emerge during Chiarelli’s first season at the helm, while Oscar Klefbom wasn’t far behind on the defensive side of things. Edmonton was set up to be an elite team for years.

Two years later, the Oilers are once again in the basement of the NHL and are devoid of talent. Listen to people in other markets, they all agree that the Oilers don’t have enough talent and aren’t built to win in today’s NHL. This is a slow club with only two legit skilled players in the top-six.

Chiarelli has committed the exact same mistakes in Edmonton that he made in Boston, and the Oilers are dangerously close to being in a desperate situation as an organization. Peter Chiarelli must change his ways or he must be fired as GM of the Edmonton Oilers.

Failure for either of those things to happen will result in a harsh reality: The Edmonton Oilers will waste Connor McDavid’s career and he will request a trade before the end of his eight-year mega contract.

Chiarelli’s Cardinal Sin:

Edmonton’s GM is stuck in 2011, thinking the game is still won with power forwards and ‘heavy hockey’. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way anymore. The Pittsburgh Penguins have proven it each of the last two springs, and the Chicago Blackhawks many springs prior to that. This is a game won with speed and skill now.

The Edmonton Oilers had ample skill, but Peter Chiarelli traded it in to be the next edition of the 2011 Boston Bruins, a team that only won because Tim Thomas had the spring of a lifetime, might I add. Now Edmonton is dealing with the after effects of Chiarelli’s decision making and plan.

The club sits 29th overall in the NHL, is six points out of the playoffs as of this writing (Likely to be eight points by the time it publishes) and are on the brink of being irrelevant before we pop bottles at New Year’s.

This is a general manager that traded in Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle for Adam Larsson and Ryan Strome. A GM that acquired a defender in Griffin Reinhart that who is currently sitting on the AHL roster of AN EXPANSION TEAM, passed on Matt Barzal and Alex DeBrincat because of their size, dumped Benoit Pouliot because of one bad season and invested heavily in Milan Lucic and Kris Russell like it was 2009 all over again.

Peter Chiarelli is building a damn good hockey club for 2011. For 2017? It is one of the worst teams in the NHL and I’m not sure that is disputable at this point in the season.

Change Or Get Out:

Peter Chiarelli can do one of two things in this situation in my eyes: He can adjust his way of thinking and adapt to the rest of the NHL, or he can stay the course and eventually get fired, hopefully this April.

Changing course would mean trying to rid himself of Kris Russell’s awful contract and Milan Lucic. Russell isn’t a horrible player, but he’s a good third pairing defender being paid like a top-four guy. That simply can’t happen. Lucic is being paid like a top-line winger, but he’s playing like a low-level third liner at this point in his career.

Chiarelli could stop with the stupidity around size and weight and bring guys on board based on skill level. Instead of “heavy hockey” he could act like an executive and bring guys in that mesh with his superstars. Guys that don’t look like they have cement in their skates and guys with a clue about how to put a puck in a net.

If he can’t do that, then the Daryl Katz needs to wake the hell up for once, step in and fire him.

Bottom line is this: The Oilers were gifted with Connor McDavid. His selection should mean at least one Stanley Cup for this organization. In order to win, however, you have to have a general manager who knows what he is doing in command of the roster. Peter Chiarelli has not proven that he can be that guy to this point. If this team is a lottery team in McDavid’s final year of his ELC, then someone needs to pay.

The Oilers were made a slower, less skilled, worse hockey club this past summer by their general manager. He can’t keep up with the times, and as a result he should be fired for his sins.

Dear Peter Chiarelli, this is 2017 and not 2011. Build an NHL team capable of winning or get out. Connor McDavid does not deserve this crap. Edmonton Oiler fans don’t deserve this crap.