With one of hockey’s most respected general managers in Edmonton Wednesday to talk to the Oilers about a job, the feting of Peter Chiarelli is as much about symbolic change in Edmonton as it is about improving the Oilers organization’s hockey acumen.
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Newly-minted CEO of the Oilers Entertainment Group, Bob Nicholson, hosted the former Boston Bruins GM Chiarelli — and, we believe, Chiarelli’s entire family — in Edmonton Wednesday on a site visit for what can only be the de facto general manager’s job in Edmonton. They may entitle the position as something else, but he’ll be making the important hockey calls in Edmonton, should Chiarelli and the Oilers come to an agreement.
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Which raises two points:
1. If the question now becomes, ‘does Chiarelli — a lifetime hockey scout, eight-year GM, and the architect of a Bruins team that went to two Cups, winning one — have more chops as a GM than MacTavish?’ The answer is obvious. Yes, he does. Pete Chiarelli is a better, more experienced GM than MacTavish.
2. More importantly for most Oilers fans, Chiarelli has no roots in the Oilers organization. He is not a member of the old boys club that has overseen the leanest era in Oilers history, and presumably, his hire at the top of the hockey chain will end the nepotistic bent that has crippled this organization.
What this also confirms is that Nicholson, who joined the team a year ago after 16 years atop Hockey Canada, wasn’t kidding on Tuesday when he promised, “I’m going to be rolling up my sleeves and being much more hands-on with every part of this organization.”
Call the job he and Chiarelli are talking about by any title you wish. It’s the head hockey job underneath of Nicholson, which would put Chiarelli — or any future candidate Nicholson may anoint — in charge of scouting, drafting, trading, and most prominently, hiring a new head coach.
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Most importantly for Edmonton, Nicholson’s clear wish to add some credibility atop his hockey department is the first step to repairing the Oilers’ image league-wide. MacTavish is only two seasons into his term as Oilers GM, and despite that short tenure he has presided over a rebuild that has gone backwards.
Top hockey people will not leave stable, well-run NHL front offices like those in Anaheim, Detroit, Los Angeles and Chicago to take a job in Edmonton. Chiarelli, or a comparably experienced hire, changes all of that. Connor McDavid changes it even more.
As good a job as Todd Nelson did in an interim role after Dallas Eakins was fired, it is clear now that he will not be the head coach next season. Edmonton has already reached out to the San Jose Sharks about speaking with recently-departed head coach Todd McLellan, as Sportsnet reported this week. Chiarelli has a long relationship with Claude Julien, whose tenure in Boston is believed to be up in the air, with the Bruins GM chair open. He also coached Edmonton’s AHL affiliate in Hamilton years ago.
Ken Hitchcock would be a viable candidate for Edmonton, his hometown. Hitchcock is coaching out his contract in St. Louis this spring, and it is believed that anything less than a three- or four-round run will end with a Blues coaching change.
Even Mike Babcock might take a phone call from Nicholson, should he part with the Red Wings, now that McDavid and an experienced new GM is in play. Remember: As CEO of Hockey Canada, Nicholson worked closely with Babcock when the latter was Team Canada’s head coach at the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Games, and Chiarelli was on the management team for both of those Winter Olympics.
What does this mean for MacTavish, who is back in Edmonton after a scouting trip to the U-18 World Championships in Switzerland? At best, he’s about to lose some power within the Oilers front office.
And Kevin Lowe? Well, Lowe worked with Chiarelli on the Olympic management teams, and his role has become more that of a supporting opinion within the front office. He could well remain as one of a new GM’s lieutenants, which would rile some in Oilers Nation.
We’ve spoken to Chiarelli about Edmonton, and he has always been candid about his belief that there is much work to do before the Oilers can be considered a contender.
McDavid gets them closer, sure, but Nicholson’s wish to improve the organization’s top end may be even more important, in the short term.
