I got to speak to one of my sources last night and boy was it a doozy. Chiarelli could be on his ass tomorrow if the Oilers lose to Anaheim and the Milan Lucic trade request that wasn’t official this summer is now official.
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**Preface: Use your own judgment here. I’m only a guy who happens to know someone within a professional hockey organization. I’m not an insider per se, but I hear things and I’ve been given permission to pass them on to you. All of this could come true or none of it could. It’s more likely the latter because things change all of the time. My advice, treat this like water cooler banter and don’t take it too seriously. It’s all entertainment at the end of the day anyhow, right?**
I don’t know if this information is 100% accurate but some have said that Chiarelli has family in Anaheim. So if he gets axed, it’ll be convenient for him… I guess he won’t have to fly anywhere with the team after that…
If It was a good place to can Todd McLellan, should be as good as any to give Chia the pink slip.
Just so I can clear things up here. On Twitter, I will try my best to find the positive in the moves the Oilers make. I’m not a fan of joining the mob for the sake of it. I’ve never agreed with all of Chiarelli’s trades but I have tried to shed light on the pros of the deals. Has he screwed the team, sure. Have some of the players he’s brought in failed to live up to expectations, absolutely.
It’s a calamity of errors that seems to be getting worse and worse.
I’ve wondered if the weight of having this “GM on the hot seat” news daily has affected the Oilers? I mean, it’s his own fault more or less but I still think that the negativity finds a way through the cracks to the players.
I won’t be upset if the Oilers choose to relieve Peter Chiarelli of his duties. It’s been over four years and for whatever reason(s), it hasn’t worked out. It didn’t work out for Todd McLellan and things aren’t looking good for Chia no matter how many players he flips to spark this team.
Speaking of player flipping and PC…
"Pete, and Keith especially, deserve a lot of credit for trying to help us here."
I've alluded in the past that Chiarelli's duties as GM would be reduced and Keith Gretzky's responsibilities would increase.
Is this just a simple comment or did Gretzky engineer these trades? https://t.co/UCQ7E9xyAC
— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) January 1, 2019
I had heard that the team reached out to Kings AGM Mike Futa and the Oilers are in California but IF the Oilers make changes, it’ll be one of Craig MacTavish or Keith Gretzky taking the interim tag into the trade deadline should someone else not be hired instead.
Apparently, Gretzky orchestrated the Manning/Petrovic trades.
How would you feel about either of those gentlemen taking over the GM duties (officially) until the summer?
I’d be okay with Wayne’s brother taking over. His record at the draft since his time in Boston is encouraging. Not sure on MacTavish. He dealt away a lot of really decent Oilers (Gagner, Horcoff, Hemsky, Dubnyk, and Petry) in his time. Now whether that was all him or they were influenced by Kevin Lowe, I’m not sure. You just don’t want him bringing in more Nikitins and Belovs.
Milan Lucic Wants OUT!
I have to say that I was very happy to hear this. I was absolutely disgusted with Lucic’s effort and subsequent actions in Los Angeles last night. He’s so buddy-buddy with those Kings players (ex-teammates) that he doesn’t bother to show up. He had ONE HIT in the game FFS!…
What topped it off for me was the altercation with Leipsic, a player a third his size… That’s the guy he goes after?! Drew Doughty and Jeff Carter each get their licks in on Connor McDavid and Lucic’s reaction is to go after the smallest player on the Kings?! WTF Milan?
This is the same feeling I had during the 2015-16 season when the Oilers young guys were getting run and nobody was stepping up for them even though they had tough guys on the bench.
I texted in to Reid Wilkins post-game show and about Lucic’s actions and Rob Brown’s answer sent rage down my spine…
He wanted out of the game.
F*ck me… Seriously? That’s about as candyass as you can get.
Then I hear about the official trade request later in the evening and I’m elated. Good. Get out Milan. I’ve tried in the past to go to bat for him and he’s probaly a stand up guy outside the rink, but this behavior and these actions are pure selfishness. If he wants to go party it up with his boys in LA, do it.
He should be a man, waive the NMC, and let the Oilers send him to Bakersfield to “regain his confidence”. Since there’s not a team in the league that will take him off the Oilers’ hands, i’m sure his “leadership” will be well recieved in the AHL.
It wouldn’t be the first time a player with a huge ticket went down. The Rangers sent Wade Redden, 33-years-old at the time, to their AHL club. He was two years into a contract that would pay him $36M.
Lucic is not doing anything to help the team on the ice, so what’s the point of having him out there if he’s not going to hit or get in the other team’s faces?
https://twitter.com/TheOilKnight/status/1081822661850755072
I hope the team left him in LA.
If this is true, this is not at all good, he is A and should be a leader. Only way is to scrach him for rest of the season untill he wants to remove that NMC. Terrible waste of money.
— Pirjo Tepsa (@Tusen_bitar) January 6, 2019
If this is the end of the Chiarelli/Lucic era in Edmonton, so be it. Let’s move on.
New rumor blog to come out later! I guess Edmonton has been scouting Philly, the Habs, and the Islanders closely for a winger.
