The NHL Should Really File A Lawsuit Against Peter Chiarelli
The Blackhawks are in Boston tonight which always makes me think of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final. I LOVED that 2013 Blackhawks team. I think it was the best of the three Stanley Cup winners in Chicago and it was my first playoffs writing for Barstool.
I wrote a preview blog for that series saying that I think the NHL was on the verge of it’s own version of Celtics-Lakers in the 80s. Two teams with star power, both young, both major markets, both Original 6 teams, and both teams already had one Stanley Cup win under their belt. Seguin and Bergeron vs Toews and Kane for a decade. That’s what I wanted. That’s what I thought we had. It was going to be amazing. The one thing I didn’t account for…
This dingus. Absolutely destroyed the Bruins from within. The Tyler Seguin contract was arguably the best thing he did as a GM and then he traded him for 40 cents on the dollar. The Bruins would’ve been able to battle with the Penguins all through the last 5 years had it not been for Peter Chiarelli. It would’ve been incredible to get multiple Stanley Cup Finals against Boston. The Bruins were a real team. The years the Kings made the Finals they literally got to play doormats from the Eastern Conference. No offense to the Rangers or the Devils, but they have to be ranked among the worst teams ever to make a Stanley Cup Final. The Blackhawks got one more Cup after 2013, but they too were slowed by their own bald idiot.
We all missed out on having a true rivlary form at the absolute highest level because Chiarelli ruined the Bruins so badly. The two things I wish I had from this Toews and Kane era that we didn’t get was a Stanley Cup matchup against Pittsburgh so one team could be truly crowned as the best of the decade. And then a Lakers-Celtics type rivalry. The Blackhawks would’ve been the showtime Lakers, naturally. The Bruins would’ve been the lunchpale Celtics. It would’ve been a storyline for the NHL to push into the homes of everyone who didn’t even really care about hockey. Chiarelli’s imcompotence robbed the NHL of MAJOR dollars.
He did have a Stanley Cup ring in 2011 though so he got another job. Where…he took the most talented player maybe ever and was able to surround him with enough talent to make the playoffs exactly ONE time. ONCE with Connor McDavid on a rookie deal. ONCE. Traded Taylor Hall, a winger who in theory would be PERFECT for McDavid because he can finish and play at a similar speed. I am not an expert, but I think having the best player in the league consistently at the bottom of the standings is bad for business.
It’s amazing to me how much damage, in theory, Chiarelli has done to the NHL. I mean maybe if he were able to keep the Bruins together after 2013 the cap would’ve gone up more because the league would’ve generated more revenue from the Bruins than say…the Tampa Bay Lightning. Maybe then the Blackhawks could’ve kept either Sharp or Saad the first time around after 2015 because the cap went up just enough instead of staying largely flat. Then the Blackhawks probably do get at least one more trip to the Final and play either Crosby or Boston. The league would’ve been riding high. Instead…everything is Peter Chiarelli’s fault. In a “butterfly effect” sense it’s amazing how much damage he has done by simply being unable to do his job.