Oilers Update: Alex Chiasson signs a PTO with the Canucks and more
By Phil Gretzky
Recently Alex Chiasson signed a PTO with the Vancouver Canucks. Shine on, Chiasson, good luck in making the Canucks and if you make it I wish you luck except of course when you play the Oilers.
The Canucks are a team in the middle of a rebuild right now so they could probably use a veteran like Chiasson on their roster who can play in the bottom six and be a net-front presence on the PP.
Also, it was reported yesterday that ex-Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli, who has been acting as an advisor to St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong ever since he was fired from the Oilers in 2019, will receive a promotion to VP of Hockey Operations.
Maybe we can convince them to trade us Jordan Binnington in exchange for Mikko Koskinen and Zack Kassian. What do you think? I’m kidding of course, but it’s fun to think about what trades with the Blues might look like now after losing so many of them when Chiarelli was GM of the Oilers, systematically dismantling our talent level with lousy one for one trades time and again.
They’re also bringing in current coaching advisor Ken Hitchcock to be a coaching consultant with the Blues. I thought this was weird at first as it would be a lateral move at best for Hitch, but then I remember hearing he signed a three-year contract back when he came to the team to be the interim head coach after Todd Mclellan was fired and before Dave Tippett was hired. He moved behind the scenes to an advisor after Tippett took over.
That means his contract is probably up or almost up, so it makes sense for him to do this.
Alex Stalock News
Alex Stalock will miss the season with a heart condition.
Stalock was picked up on waivers last season to be on the taxi squad to replace the now-departed Dylan Wells as the number three on the depth chart. He never ended up getting into a game here, and it was hoped that he would push Koskinen for a roster spot after Koskinen had such a lousy season last year and was on the hot seat. Now that’s not going to happen.