Edmonton Oilers fans have endured enough stupid trades that have kept the team on the verge of becoming contenders for far too long.
For many, the acquisition of Brandon Manning was the tipping point, and a loss to the last-place Detroit Red Wings just put it over the edge. After four years, Peter Chiarelli has been fired from the Edmonton Oilers — and will not have another General Manager job in the NHL again.
Peter Chiarelli has been fired by the Oilers. Done deal
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 23, 2019
Believe it or not, this piece is tough for me to write. Growing up a Boston Bruins fan, I idolized the man who constructed the roster that would bring my childhood team its first Stanley Cup in almost 40 years.
However, I do believe Peter Chiarelli hindered the Bruins potential to continue to be a sustainable powerhouse for the next decade when he moved on from Tyler Seguin in 2013. Sure they have a lot of young talent now, and the team is still having success.
But that young talent could have been the supporting cast for a future Stanley Cup contender led by Seguin and David Pastrnak. Not only right now but continued dominance years after the likes of Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and David Krejci are all long gone.
Many were ecstatic when the Oilers hired Chiarelli as the club’s GM and President of Hockey Operations. Why wouldn’t they be? They knew the team was going to be drafting a generational talent in Connor Mcdavid that June, and now they have a guy who has won a Stanley Cup and had a reputation as one of the most respected General Managers in hockey in charge of building the supporting cast.
It seemed as though the last decade of failure was now nothing more than a long lost memory.
But as everyone knows, that would not be the case.