Edmonton Oilers: How Peter Chiarelli Became Top NHL GM

Edmonton Oilers president of hockey operations and general manager Peter Chiarelli was named a finalist for the 2016-17 NHL GM of the Year Award  Tuesday.

After years of being run by underqualified managers, the Oilers hired Chiarelli in April 2015 to find balance. Thankfully, he has exceeded expectations to this point and has done plenty to put the team back on the right path. And Chiarelli has likely exceeded expectations to this point.

In his two years on the job, Chiarelli has turned the basement-dwelling Oilers into a Stanley Cup contender. When Chiarelli took the position with Edmonton, he knew significant changes were needed – something the previous regime always appeared hesitant to do.

Edmonton Oilers

Since taking the helm, Chiarelli has added 13 new players through trades, the draft and free agency since taking the helm. As a result, the Oilers improved greatly, and look different. They’ve improved by a remarkable 33 points from last season and finished one goal short of advancing to the Western Conference Final after a decade-long playoff drought.

No other GM in the league has improved their team as much as Chiarelli has improved the Oilers since 2015. He’s already proven to be the among best front office hire in Oilers history. He achieved more in the last season alone than Steve Tambellini and Craig MacTavish did in their combined prior seven years as GM and has completely changed the look and culture of the team.

Chiarelli’s Skillset

This isn’t his first time transforming a franchise; Chiarelli was able to accomplish plenty in his nine years with the Boston Bruins. Like the Oilers, the Bruins were a mess when Chiarelli was hired as GM in 2006.  Just five years later, Chiarelli had built the Bruins into Stanley Cup champions.

The 52-year-old did not have a generational player like Connor McDavid in Boston but did have a team with excellent depth and strong defence. The Oilers are leaning in that direction but still have some work to do.

Even when it came to unpopular moves, Chiarelli made the right choice. Fans can think back to the Taylor Hall trade, where he shipped off the star winger for steady, right-shot defenceman Adam Larsson. The trade marked one of the biggest and most highly-criticized moves in recent years for Edmonton. However, it added strength in a weak area, and it paid off in the end. Overall, the trade ultimately proved to be what the Oilers needed to get back to the playoffs.

Not many GMs around the league would have had the guts to pull off such a controversial move that could have backfired if the Oilers didn’t improve defensively. This alone makes him deserving of the GM of the year title.

It appears more changes are coming this off-season. The Oilers window to win the Stanley Cup is open and Chiarelli will exhaust every avenue this summer to put the team over the top.