The Edmonton Oilers Have Finally Fired GM Peter Chiarelli
This has got to be the most overdue firing in NHL history. Obviously you have to feel bad anytime somebody loses a job but what Peter Chiarelli has done to the Edmonton Oilers is borderline criminal. From the Milan Lucic contract. To trading Taylor Hall one-for-one in exchange for Adam Larsson. To trading Jordan Eberle for Ryan Strome in 2017, and then trading Ryan Strome for Ryan Spooner in 2018, and now putting Ryan Spooner on waivers in 2019. Like just actually try to process that right now. Peter Chiarelli traded away Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, and what he got in return was Adam Larsson and a player who just cleared waivers. Oh and he also decided to trade FOR Brandon Manning, the same god awful player who broke McDavid’s collarbone his rookie season, just a few weeks ago. Unbelievable.
And the worst part of all? He has wasted what would have been the most valuable years of Connor McDavid’s NHL career. Probably the most important player in the NHL right now and Peter Chiarelli has failed to put a playoff team around him in 2 of the 3 full seasons McDavid has had already. He was handed one of the greatest players in the world on an Entry Level Contract, and the Oilers still failed to make the playoffs in 2 of those years.
Again, that is borderline criminal behavior.
But now the Oilers have a chance to bring somebody competent in. Now the Oilers have a chance to right the ship and to give Connor McDavid a GM that is worthy of his greatness. They’re still kind of fucked Salary Cap wise so the next GM is obviously going to have his hands full when he comes in. Lucic still has 4 more years on his deal after this one at $6M AAV. They’ll get some relief with Cam Talbot’s $4.2M coming off the books next year as well as Tobias Reider’s $2M. But with McDavid and Draisaitl making as much as they do, the new GM is going to have a rough time putting a solid team around these guys with some legitimate depth. But the good news? He can’t possibly do a worse job than Chiarelli has done so no matter what, the Edmonton Oilers got better today.
Have yourself a day, Connor.