The Edmonton Oilers announced they have fired general manager Peter Chiarelli.

The Edmonton Oilers have dismissed Peter Chiarelli as President/GM.

— John Shannon (@JShannonhl) January 23, 2019

Oilers Dismiss GM Peter Chiarelli

The Edmonton Oilers have parted ways with Peter Chiarelli. This season, the team has a record of 23-24-3 and sit in the 7th spot in the Pacific Division.

Over his 13-year career as a general manager, Chiarelli has split his time between the Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers. Chiarelli’s greatest success was with the Bruins in the 2010-11 season when the team won the Stanley Cup. Chiarelli joined the Oilers organization shortly after he was fired from the Bruins in 2015. The Oilers sacrificed a 2nd round pick as compensation for him to be their GM.

The Oilers are currently 23rd in the NHL and are 3 points out of a playoff spot, having played more games than teams ahead of them in the standings. The Oilers have only made the playoffs once since Chiarelli took over as the GM, where they were eliminated in the second round by the Anaheim Ducks.

What This Means for the Team’s Future

This comes just days after signing goaltender Mikko Koskinen to a 3-year, $13.5 million contract, as well as just recently placing Ryan Spooner on waivers. Ryan Spooner is indirectly the result of the trade that sent Jordan Eberle out of Edmonton. Fans were very displeased when the result of that trade was put on waivers. Chiarelli has been criticized for numerous moves while in Edmonton, such as trading away reigning league MVP Taylor Hall and signing Milan Lucic and Kris Russell to large, long term contracts. It was only a matter of time until Chiarelli was fired. With Chiarelli out of the picture, this opens the way for a new GM to come in and potentially clean up the organization.

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