Former Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli Hired by Edmonton Oilers
Nine days after being relieved of his duties with the Bruins, Peter Chiarelli has a new job.
The former Bruins general manager has been named the President of Hockey Operations and GM of the Edmonton Oilers, the team announced on Friday.
“I am honored to join such a great organization with a long history of success. There is a strong, young core here with good complementary players,’’ Chiarelli said. “I hope to bring it to the next level with a measured approach. [Owner] Daryl Katz and [CEO] Bob Nicholson have a great vision here for the team and Rogers Place. I am very excited to be a part of it.
“A week and a half ago I got bad news, and today I got terrific news. Really excited to be part of this organization that has a long and rich history; I come from an Original Six team with a long and rich history, so I know to respect the legacy, to embrace the legacy, and the same is going to apply here.’’
The Oilers have struggled to put together a contending hockey club in recent years, despite having held the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2010, 2011 and 2012. They won the rights to pick first in this year’s upcoming draft – their fourth top overall pick in the past six seasons – giving them the first chance to select highly-touted prospect Connor McDavid.
“Each organization has their own challenges,’’ Chiarelli said. “I have to make an assessment of where the team is, where the roster fits, where the direction that we’re going to go in. I have a certain direction that I want to follow, and that will apply to the challenges. I was part of seven eight years in Ottawa where we had a real fast, skill team, part of nine years in Boston where we had a skilled, heavy team. The game is changing, so it’s finding a balance, and that’s kind of my objective here.’’
The Oilers have failed to make the playoffs since their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006. Their last winning season came in 2008-09, when they went 38-35-9.
After Chiarelli’s hiring on May 26, 2006, the Bruins quickly became one of the top teams in the NHL. The B’s made the playoffs in seven of Chiarelli’s nine seasons as GM, won four division titles, a Presidents’ Trophy, two Eastern Conference titles and the team’s first Stanley Cup championship since 1972.
The Bruins announced they had fired Chiarelli on April 15; team president Cam Neely said that the search for a new GM would “begin immediately,’’ but no timetable was set for when a hiring would be made.
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