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Peter Chiarelli

Minnesota Begins Search For Paul Fenton’s Replacement At GM

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Saturday: TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports that Minnesota has asked permission to interview Canadiens assistant GM Scott Mellanby.  He has served in that role with Montreal for the past five years after spending two seasons as their Director of Player Personnel.

Friday: The firing of GM Paul Fenton by the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday certainly came as a surprise to many, but not those within the organization, writes The Athletic’s Michael Russo. Fenton was dismissed after little more than a year on the job after a tenure that Russo describes as “death by a thousand cuts.” There was no one thing that caused Fenton to lose his job, but rather mounting evidence that he was a poor fit in the organization. Sources within the team stated that Fenton’s dysfunctional style of running the club caused a negative shift in the culture, both in the locker room and in the front office, and an overall drop-off in morale. Owner Craig Leipold and company were left cleaning up after Fenton’s messes as a lack of trust and communication permeated the entire organization. Whether it was Fenton’s dismissal of analytics, his disrespect for incumbent Wild executives, his mismanagement of the coaching staff, or his failure to maximize trade assets, the GM was constantly at odds with everyone around him, including his owner. As such, many Wild staffers were not shocked that Fenton was fired, even at a strange time in the middle of the off-season, as Russo writes that Leipold has been distressed about the situation “for months” and action became inevitable.

So, now in early August and following a draft and free agent frenzy run by Fenton, the Wild are in search for a new leader for their organization. Given the struggles under Fenton, a first-time GM, Minnesota is understandably seeking someone with experience on the job. Among the early candidates to emerge were former GM’s John Ferguson Jr., now with the Boston Bruins, and Dave Nonis, now with the Anaheim Ducks, and experienced assistants Bill Zito of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Tom Fitzgerald of the New Jersey Devils. However, Russo reports that the team has chosen two free agent former GM’s as the first to interview for the position. Peter Chiarelli and Ron Hextall, both of whom were fired themselves during this past season, have already met with Leipold, president Matt Majka, and executive adviser Mike Modano about the opening, per Russo.

Chiarelli, fired by the Edmonton Oilers in January, has a Stanley Cup title on his resume with the Boston Bruins, but struggled greatly during his time with the Oilers. Chiarelli has also ended up on the wrong side of major trades and long-term contracts too often during his time in both Boston and Edmonton. There is no doubt that Chiarelli is an intelligent hockey mind, but there is some question as to whether he should be rushed right back into a top decision-making role. The Wild saw too many poor trade returns under Fenton, as well as a questionable free agent contract handed out to aging forward Mats Zuccarello, to put someone in control who they can’t trust not to continue that trend, so Chiarelli will have to convince the team that he has changed his approach.

As for Hextall, fired in November by the Philadelphia Flyers, some felt the former star goalie deserved a longer leash as GM. On paper, he left the team in good shape – ironically for replacement Chuck Fletcher, who preceded Fenton as Minnesota’s GM – but received criticism for his slow approach. Hextall may be a fine option in terms of hockey knowledge and ability as a GM, but Russo notes that, like Fenton, he has gained the reputation of being difficult to work with. An “intense” and “hard” boss, the fragile morale in Minnesota may not be ready for Hextall unless the team trusts that he will handle himself differently.

Russo points out that the Wild expect this to be a long, meticulous process and he does not believe that Chiarelli and Hextall interviewing first necessarily makes them the front-runners. In fact, it could very well have to do with the fact that neither has an affiliation with another NHL team at this moment. In addition to the other aforementioned names, Russo adds Dean Lombardi, Garth Snow, Bill Guerin, Chris Drury, Mark Hunter, Brian Lawton, Mike Gillis, and even reigning GM of the Year candidate Don Waddell, whose contract with the Carolina Hurricanes has yet to be renewed, as possible candidates. It is a long list of options with many different backgrounds and experience levels and it will take some time for Minnesota to sort it all out. For now, Chiarelli and Hextall are the only names to interview, but that group will expand as the summer wears on before the team makes a decision possibly months from now.

Los Angeles Kings Request Permission To Speak With Todd McLellan

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With the Los Angeles Kings’ announcement today that interim coach Willie Desjardins will not return to the team, the Kings haven’t wasted any time in beginning their search for the next man to lead their team on the ice. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the Los Angeles Kings have asked the Edmonton Oilers for permission to interview former coach Todd McLellan.

When the announcement came out this morning, The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman reported that the team was already working on a coaching hire, but nothing was imminent. However, the request and rumors around the league suggest that it’s McLellan that the team wants to bring in as their head coach.

McLellan has put together a solid coaching resume with a 434-282-90 record, including seven seasons with the San Jose Sharks and another three and a half seasons with the Oilers before he was dismissed on Nov. 20th this season. However, despite taking an impressive Sharks team to the Conference Finals in his second and third seasons with San Jose, McLellan has struggled throughout the playoffs, totaling a 37-38 record. His most recent tenure had some success in his second season when Edmonton got to the second-round of the playoffs in the 2016-17 season and looked like an up-and-coming team, but he wasn’t able to duplicate that afterwards. Of course with much of the blame of the Oilers placed on McLellan, Ken Hitchcock was not able to right the ship either, with the eventual blame going to now former-general manager Peter Chiarelli.

There are also rumors that the team will consider current assistant coach Marco Sturm, who the team had interest in developing into their future coach.

“No Rush” In Edmonton Oilers’ GM Search

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Even with the trade deadline looming, CEO Bob Nicholson and the Edmonton Oilers are not expected to move quickly in the search for their new general manager. During TSN’s “Insider Trading” segment, Darren Dreger states that there is “no rush” to fill the position and that the team will take their time in vetting all options.

Dreger goes on to say that “the Oilers know that they need to get this one right”, which is a major understatement. Recently-fired GM Peter Chiarelli left the team in a tough salary cap condition and without enough talent on the roster following several poor trade and signing decisions. His predecessors, Craig MacTavish and Steve Tambellini, were at the helm for a near decade-long postseason drought. So long as Connor McDavid is an Oiler, Edmonton will have a chance to make the playoffs year in and year out, but they haven’t helped to improve those odds of late and need to put an end to these wasted years of McDavid’s career. Finally solving the GM problem is the most important step toward pointing this team in the right direction.

In the meantime, interim GM Keith Gretzky is more than capable of handling day-to-day operations for some time. Although there continues to be speculation that the Oilers could be buyers leading up to the deadline, they trail five other teams for the final Western Conference wild card spot and could be a short string of losses away from falling it out of the race completely. Gretzky, whose background is in amateur scouting, would be far more adept at selling off impending free agents for picks and prospects rather than trying to add. He would also be very qualified to handle the college and junior free agent markets later this spring. And, if it reaches that point, Gretzky has run drafts for both the Arizona Coyotes and Boston Bruins in the past and would be a fine option for the Oilers on draft day if his full-time replacement has yet to be found. Gretzky was a wise choice by Nicholson and company as interim GM and should be a solid stopgap for the team as they take their time to make a vital decision for the franchise.

New York Rangers Almost Traded Ryan McDonagh To Edmonton In 2016

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In his most recent 31 Thoughts column earlier this week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned that now-former Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli was close to making a blockbuster trade back in 2016, just days before he traded Taylor Hall to New Jersey for Adam Larsson. Friedman, however, had no knowledge of the details of that blockbuster. However, New York Post’s Larry Brooks got a confirmation from multiple sources that the trade would have been with the New York Rangers.

Brooks reports that just before pulling the trigger on the Hall-Larsson deal, Chiarelli was close to a deal that would have sent the 2016 fourth-overall pick (used to take Jesse Puljujarvi) to the Rangers for defenseman Ryan McDonagh. The belief is that New York was interested in drafting Clayton Keller of the U.S. National Development Team with the fourth pick to begin the rebuild process then. Brooks adds there were other pieces to the deal, but points out that after the team’s first-round exit to Pittsburgh that year, the team felt it needed to re-tool their team with McDonagh being the most marketable player on the Rangers at the time.

Instead, Chiarelli turned the deal down, took Puljujarvi and sent Hall to New Jersey for Larsson, while the Rangers instead packaged Derick Brassard to Ottawa in a deal to get Mika Zibanejad. The team did discuss McDonagh with other teams at that time, including a deal with Colorado for either Nathan MacKinnon or Gabriel Landeskog, but the Avalanche weren’t that high on McDonagh’s value.

Considering how Puljujarvi has turned out in Edmonton thus far and how successful Hall has been since leaving the Oilers, the trade could have altered the outcome for Edmonton as well as Chiarelli, as McDonagh could have helped stabilize the team’s defense. However, there is no guarantee that Chiarelli still wouldn’t have moved Hall later on anyway.

Of course, the Rangers team may look quite a bit different with Keller on their team now as the 20-year-old put up a 23-goal, 65-point campaign in his rookie season last year and currently has 11 goals and 35 points this year and would have been a great piece to build around. Instead the franchise held onto McDonagh until last year’s trade deadline when they sent him and J.T. Miller to Tampa Bay in exchange for Vladislav Namestnikov, propects Libor Hajek and Brett Howden as well as a 2018 first-round pick (Nils Lundqvist) and a conditional 2019 second-rounder.

 

Peter Chiarelli Fired By Edmonton Oilers

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The Edmonton Oilers have finally pulled the trigger, firing GM and President of Hockey Operations Peter Chiarelli according to multiple reports including John Shannon of Sportsnet. Keith Gretzky will serve as interim GM as the team begins a search immediately for Chiarelli’s replacement.

It’s hard to find a more disappointing team than the Oilers the last few seasons, and Chiarelli is finally paying the price for that failure. Despite having arguably the best player in the world doing incredible things on a nightly basis, Edmonton now sits 23rd in the NHL and just six points from the bottom of the league. They dropped below .500 yesterday with a devastating loss to the Detroit Red Wings, though the move to fire Chiarelli was apparently made before the game.

That decision also comes just days after the Oilers puzzled the hockey world with a three-year extension for Mikko Koskinen, despite the goaltender having just 31 games of NHL experience. Mark Spector of Sportsnet reports that the extension was negotiated by Chiarelli personally, a deal that was widely derided for being too expensive and premature. Darren Dreger of TSN tweets that the negotiations started in early December, with it being an “organizational plan” to extend the goaltender. CEO Bob Nicholson refuted the idea that Chiarelli completed the extension by himself, and expressed confidence in the goaltender going forward. Koskinen was in net last night against the Red Wings, allowing three goals on 27 shots.

Countless other moves from Chiarelli have been questioned, most notably the trades of Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle that have not worked out well for the team. Hall went on to win a Hart Trophy with the New Jersey Devils, while the return for Eberle has dwindled into almost nothing with the team’s recent placement of Ryan Spooner on waivers. The Oilers have struggled to find offensive replacement for the talented wingers, and were rumored to be ready to make another deal to address that issue before the deadline.

Perhaps then this move comes as a precautionary measure by the upper management of the Oilers, who have taken the power away from a GM that was fighting to keep his job. Edmonton seemed to be in a playoffs-or-bust mode ever since the mid-season hiring of legendary head coach Ken Hitchcock, another move that has seemingly failed to breathe life into the roster.

Where the team turns now will be extremely interesting, as it’s not all rain clouds when looking towards the Oilers future. Connor McDavid is still just 22 years old and on pace to be one of the all-time scoring greats, while other talented prospects remain in the system. Though Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto haven’t been able to establish themselves as full-time NHL players, they still have more than enough time to grow into their roles. Evan Bouchard too looks like a solid pick for the team and is expected to be back in the NHL next season.

The biggest question now will be how the team deals with the rest of the 2018-19 season. They are obviously struggling to keep up with the rest of the playoff pack in the Western Conference, and may need to try and reset the roster somewhat over the next few months. The team is pushed right up against the cap and already has almost $73MM committed to next season. Getting out from under some of their big-money deals might be job number one for the next GM, in order to rebuild the roster with a group that can complement McDavid’s speed and skill.

Early candidates for the job have already been speculated on, including Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) listing Kelly McCrimmon (Vegas Golden Knights AGM), Mark Hunter (London Knights GM), Ken Holland (Red Wings GM) and several others as names to consider.

Poll: Will The Edmonton Oilers Trade Jesse Puljujarvi?

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Like Wayne Simmonds and Sergei Bobrovsky over the last few weeks, Jesse Puljujarvi has become the hockey world’s favorite trade chip recently as the Edmonton Oilers search for help up front. According to several reports, the Oilers are all-in for the playoffs this season and are not willing to waste another year of Connor McDavid’s prime out of the postseason race. Puljujarvi, likely because of Ryan Rishaug of TSN’s report that the Oilers are willing to part with a “young developing forward,” has become the piece most bandied about in trade speculation.

But would the Oilers actually trade a fourth-overall pick less than three years after selecting him?

It’s important to remember that Puljujarvi, the big talented Finnish winger, was expected to go third overall behind Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine at the 2016 draft. He had just finished a professional season for Karpat in the Finnish Liiga where he recorded an impressive 37 points in 60 games as a teenager and had won both U18 and U20 World Junior Championship gold medals. In fact, Puljujarvi was named the U20 tournament MVP after leading it in scoring with an incredible 17 points in seven games. It was hard to imagine anyone passing on him at #3, but the Columbus Blue Jackets did just that.

Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen was roasted on draft night for selecting Pierre-Luc Dubois instead, opting to go after who he believed was the next best center in the draft. Dubois has since become a first-line staple for the Blue Jackets and has 40 points in 45 games this season. The 20-year old center could very well crack 30 goals and is a key reason why the Blue Jackets are heading to the playoffs this year.

Puljujarvi meanwhile has stagnated in Edmonton, bouncing back and forth between the NHL and AHL and recording just 35 points through his first 128 NHL contests. Even in the AHL the big winger isn’t at a point-per-game pace expected of many top prospects.

In today’s NHL that is becoming more and more populated by fresh faces right out of junior ranks around the world, it’s easy to forget that not every player reaches his potential before the age of 21. Puljujarvi won’t hit that age threshold until this May, and still has plenty of time to develop into the dominant, puck-possessing beast he had shown on the international stage. Whether the Oilers are willing to wait is the bigger question.

With GM Peter Chiarelli desperately trying to fix things in order to get McDavid and Edmonton to the playoffs—likely in order to save his own job as much as anything—the idea of trading Puljujarvi no longer strikes as unbelievable. Still, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on radio recently that the Oilers first-round pick might actually be the better trade chip at this point, given it could potentially be a lottery pick in the 2019 draft. It would be tough for the Oilers to accept that Puljujarvi brings back less than a draft pick regardless of how high, which may lead to them holding onto their young prospect and hoping his play rebounds.

Where do you think Chiarelli will land as the deadline approaches? Will Puljujarvi be dealt for an immediate upgrade? Or do the Oilers have enough other assets to improve the club for a 2019 playoff run?

[Mobile users click here to vote]

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Edmonton Oilers Put On “Full-Court Press” In Search Of Forward Help

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The Edmonton Oilers came into today just two points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. That proximity is not because of their own success though, as almost every team vying for the wild card spots in the west have struggled to find any sort of consistency of late. In face, the Dallas Stars have gone 5-4-1 in their last ten and yet have still pulled ahead of the plummeting Colorado Avalanche in the Central Division. The struggles of the rest of the conference may be a blessing for the Oilers, who are still well within striking distance if they can figure out how to get the most out of their current roster, or make an addition to change up the on-ice dynamic.

It seems as though the front office has focused in on the latter of those two options, as Ryan Rishaug of TSN reports that the team has put on a “full-court press to find help at forward.” Rishaug goes so far as to say that the Oilers may be willing to part with their first-round pick, a goaltender and a young developing forward, though no specific players are mentioned.

With exactly six weeks left before the trade deadline, the league has been deemed a buyers’ market given the amount of teams that know they’re not ready to compete this season. That’s not the case for the Oilers, who can’t afford to waste another prime year of Connor McDavid on a playoff-less team. There’s unimaginable pressure on GM Peter Chiarelli to make this club a winner given McDavid’s talent, but so far the young forward has seen just 13 playoff games in his short career.

Part of that is because of the lack of secondary scoring in Edmonton, something that has plagued the team since McDavid came into the league (and even before that). The Oilers have three players with 40 or more points, but their fourth-highest scoring forward is Alex Chiasson with just 22. Chiasson’s 17 goals make him one of only four forwards with more than four, not counting the seven Drake Caggiula scored before being traded out of town.

Interestingly, one of the players with four goals is Jesse Puljujarvi. That name will immediately come to mind for anyone who reads “young developing forward” in Rishaug’s tweet, though there is nothing to indicate that is the player he is referring to. Puljujarvi has just seven points this season and 35 total in a 127-game NHL career, clearly not the production the team was hoping for when they picked him fourth overall in 2016.

If the Oilers are actually committed to improving through trade, there are certain to be a number of names available as the trade deadline approaches. Even if Artemi Panarin or Mark Stone don’t hit the open market, there have already been reports that teams like the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers are willing to listen on nearly any of their veterans, while other teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers will have to quickly decide what to do with some expiring assets.

Edmonton Oilers Acquire Brandon Manning From Chicago

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The Edmonton Oilers have already made one trade today and now general manager Peter Chiarelli continues to make roster moves. The Edmonton Oilers announced that they have traded forward Drake Caggiula and veteran defenseman Jason Garrison to the Chicago Blackhawks for defensemen Brandon Manning and Robin Norell.

For Edmonton, the team adds another defense-first defenseman in Manning to their lineup after acquiring Alexander Petrovic from Florida earlier today. Edmonton has lost five straight games and has fallen into sixth place in the Pacific Division and the hope is that adding a more physical and defensive players could help give the team a boost.

Chicago signed Manning to a two-year, $4.5MM deal this offseason, but with a number of young defenseman showing they were ready for the NHL, Manning became expendable. However, his contract and struggles on the ice in Chicago suggested the team wasn’t likely going to be able to sell off Manning. The 28-year-old hasn’t been effective as he has just a goal and three points in 27 games, while maintaining a minus-14 rating and averaging just 15:28 of ATOI, his lowest number since the 2012-13 season. Manning is also well known to Oilers’ fans as he was the player who checked Connor McDavid into the boards, breaking his collarbone in McDavid’s rookie season. McDavid might not be thrilled with the move as rumors are that he was close to Caggiula and the Edmonton star has referred to Manning in the past as “classless.” The Oilers hope that Manning and Petrovic, acquired for Chris Wideman and a third-round pick, will shore up the team’s defense with more defensive-minded players. The team has been without a number of players, but they expect to have Kris Russell back soon, which should bolster the team’s blueline for the remainder of the season. While Petrovic will be an unrestricted free agent next season, Manning still has another year at $2.25MM.

The team also picked up the rights to Norell, who was a fourth-round pick in 2013, but has not been able to break into the NHL. Norell played two full years with the Rockford Ice Hogs in the AHL, but Chicago loaned him to Djurgardens IF of the SHL. The 23-year-old failed to show that he can be a two-way player and is in the final year of his entry-level contract, suggesting the Blackhawks were ready to part ways with the prospect if they were willing to loan him out. Edmonton will have to qualify Norell this offseason as he’ll be a restricted free agent.

Chicago does quite well on their side of the trade as the team was going to have a logjam shortly on defense. With seven players already on the roster, the team is expecting to get back defenseman Brandon Davidson as well as rookie Henri Jokiharju is expected back after the World Junior Championships conclude in a few days. The team now has more flexibility after moving out Manning as Garrison makes the league minimum and should be easy to place on waivers and retain him. Garrison spent most of the 2017-18 season with the Chicago Wolves, assigned there from the Vegas Golden Knights. The 34-year-old Garrison has played 17 games for Edmonton and has a goal and a plus-one rating this season.

Caggiuli, on the other hand, has shown promise as a goal scorer, but has had issues on the defensive end of the ice. Caggulia tallied 13 goals last season with Edmonton and has seven goals and 11 points in 29 games this season. Caggiula was posting impressive ice times before new head coach Ken Hitchcock took over, but has seen his playing time dip quite a bit in the last six games as he’s played less than 10 minutes in four of them. However, he was playing well under former head coach Todd MacLellan, suggesting a change of scenery or coaches could be a positive effect for the team and give Chicago yet another young addition to try to work into their lineup.

Mark Spector of Sportsnet was the first to report the trade.

Edmonton Oilers Acquire Alex Petrovic From Florida

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After a rough recent stretch, the Edmonton Oilers added to their defensive corps when they traded for Florida Panthers defenseman Alexander Petrovic in exchange for Chris Wideman and a conditional third-round draft pick, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie. This may not be the Oilers only move as Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson writes that Edmonton may not be finished making trades.

With Edmonton owning two third-round picks in the upcoming 2019 draft, the Panthers will receive the better of the two picks between their own and the New York Islanders’ third-rounder the team received in the Brandon Davidson deal back in February of 2018.

Despite starting 9-2-2 under Ken Hitchcock when he replaced Todd McLellan on Nov. 20, the team has since struggled, losing five straight, all in regulation. Suddenly, the team finds itself in sixth place in the Pacific Division and moving further and further away from a playoff spot. For Edmonton general manager Peter Chiarelli, this is a desperation move in hopes of saving his job as the hope is that the 6-foot-4, 216-pound defenseman will add some size and toughness to the Oilers’ blueline. Petrovic, a stay-at-home defenseman should provide some defensive talent for a team that has been without several key players on the blueline, including Oscar Klefbom and Kris Russell, who are both on injured reserve as well as Andrej Sekera, who has been out all season.

The 26-year-old Petrovic has struggled finding solid footing in Florida recently as he hasn’t been handed significant minutes with the Panthers despite the fact that the francise was incredibly high on him just a couple of years ago. In fact, Florida opted to protect Petrovic over Jon Marchessault, who they instead traded to Vegas in the expansion draft last year. Petrovic was most well known for a hit against Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane that broke the star forward’s collarbone just before the trade deadline in 2015. That physical play was what led Florida to protect Petrovic. However, Petrovic has averaged just 17:23 ATOI this season, which is an improvement over the 14:39 he averaged last season, but far from the numbers that the Panthers had expected when he arrived in Florida in the 2012-13 season when he was 20 years old. The hope is that with a change of scenery, especially with him returning to his birthplace of Edmonton, Petrovic may fulfill some of those hopes of being a top defensive, physical player.

Wideman, who was just recently brought aboard in Edmonton via Ottawa, moves onto his third team this season. Wideman was acquired on Nov. 22 from the Senators in exchange for a 2020 conditional sixth-round pick, a relatively low price for a defensive defenseman. However, despite being a defensive-minded coach, Hitchcock didn’t trust Wideman, evident by him averaging just 11:26 of ATOI in the five games he appeared in.

Both players will be unrestricted free agents next season as Petrovic is finishing out a one-year deal he signed this summer for $1.95MM and was likely not returning to the team next year anyway considering the lack of playing time the blueliner has been receiving the last two years. Wideman is on a one-year, $1MM deal and must prove that he belongs if he wants to hold a NHL roster spot in the future.

Pacific Notes: Chiarelli, Haula, Tanev

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The Edmonton Oilers have been a team that has languished in mediocrity the last couple of years until the team fired head coach Doug McLellan and replaced him with Ken Hitchock. Since then the team seems almost unbeatable as the Oilers have produced a 9-2-2 record under the veteran head coach. Much of that credit might fall to general manager Peter Chiarelli.

With the sudden success of the team, The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman (subcription required) interviewed Oilers’ CEO and vice-chair of Oilers Entertainment Group Bob Nicholson, who stated emphatically that if Edmonton makes the playoffs, Chiarelli’s job is safe.

“Yeah. There’s no question,” Nicholson. “I think there’s a lot of things that Peter hasn’t gotten credit for. He’s really started to build. You’re starting to see some of them come up now with the [Caleb] Joneses and the [Evan] Bouchards. We have a lot of assets, which this organization hadn’t had for a while. Peter deserves a lot of credit for that.”

Chiarelli has been highly criticized over the years after being hired in 2015, which included trading No. 1 overall pick Taylor Hall to New Jersey for defenseman Adam Larsson. He also made a few questionable acquisitions, including signing Milan Lucic to a seven-year, $42MM deal, which already looks like an albatross of a contract as there are still five years remaining, while Lucic is playing more of a bottom-six role for the team. Chiarelli also traded the team’s first and second-round picks to the New York Islanders for defenseman Griffin Reinhart, who played just 29 NHL games and is mired in the AHL for the Vegas Golden Knights. That first-round pick turned out to be Mathew Barzal.

However, the addition of Hitchcock and the signing of goaltender Mikko Koskinen have looked like solid moves this season. If the Oilers can continue on their torrid pace, Chiarelli may have done enough to stay on for a while longer.

  • While Vegas Golden Knights’ Erik Haula was listed as “month-to-month” a month ago, Las Vegas Review-Journal’s David Schoen reports that general manager George McPhee admitted that Haula actually had surgery in November after suffering the lower-body injury after being driven into the boards by Toronto Maple Leafs’ Patrick Marleau on Nov. 6. “He did have surgery,” McPhee said, who added that the injury was not an ACL injury. “It’s a unique injury.” McPhee has no timetable on Haula’s injury and wouldn’t even speculate as to whether last year’s 30-goal scorer would return for the regular season or even the playoffs. “It’s really hard to know,” McPhee said. “It’s going to be some months, but we don’t know because it’s just such a different injury than any of us have seen before.”
  • It’s possible that the Vancouver Canucks have waited too long to move defenseman Chris Tanev as a trade chip. According to Harman Dayal in The Athletic (subscription required), Tanev’s value has fallen quite a bit in the last few weeks and may not be a tradeable asset anymore. It’s believed that his inability to stay healthy is one problem and even though Tanev has played in 29 games this year, there are rumors that he’s hurt now and isn’t playing at his usual level of play. Whether his underwhelming play is a result of playing injured or rapidly declining play, it’s unlikely that Tanev could bring in anything back in value at the moment.

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