News Article: Chiarelli breaks his silence

[Tyrolean]

Inducted into the Oiler hall of shame alongside Kevin Lowe ..

 

[Chet Manley]

I'm surprised he thought he had 5 years to build a contender. The team had already been rebuilding (collecting assets) for seemingly ever.

 

[Paralyzer]

Chia should take a page from Hollands book. If you compare Hollands first year, he made some solid moves without panicing. Look at December last year. Our losing streak was one of the league's worst. But he didn't budge and decided to change it up with farm hands. It worked out in the end, and then he pulled some trades in the deadline that made the Oilers better, without sacrificing good assets. Puljujarvi as one too. Hes sitting him down and not rushing the trade to rid of him. I love it. Chia can make as many excuses as he likes, but in the end, he needs to man up and take responsibility for his actions.

 

[space321]

The dude is actually dumber than I thought lol

 

[BudBundy]

Hindsight blackwashes? many of Chiarelli's moves.

The NJD board was pretty bummed to lose Larsson who was currently their best defenseman and trending upward. Hall was trending poorly and was utter shiet for NJD that first year. Was shiet after his "MVP" year.

Even the terrible Lucic trade "shouldn't" have been this bad this early. He was the #1 ranked UFA that took less money than he could have gotten.

Reinhart deal sucked. Everything after 2017 omfg bad. But Chiarelli does not get the credit due for 2016-2017 and many other good moves and drafting.

Devils fans were doing nothing but laughing uncontrollably when Hall dragged that carcass of a team into the playoffs. And what “Lucic trade”? That deal was a garbage deal the minute it was signed and every knowledgeable hockey writer said so. The only variation was “how many years before it’s an albatross?”

 

[Dan Kelly]

About 1.5 years to be exact, then the wheels fell off !

 

[Aerchon]

Devils fans were doing nothing but laughing uncontrollably when Hall dragged that carcass of a team into the playoffs. And what “Lucic trade”? That deal was a garbage deal the minute it was signed and every knowledgeable hockey writer said so. The only variation was “how many years before it’s an albatross?”

Bored so...

Hall dragging the Devils team into the playoffs once in his second year is fun to point to but as clear as day the giant exception in his rather dubios career.

I meant Lucic signing and the vast majority only had concerns about Lucic not living up to his contract in the final year or 2. He is signed until 34 not 38... Lucic has had an extremely durable career. No one expected his mental state to fall apart and with it his hockey skills. His skating hasn't really even declined yet from his norm but his game is brutal.

 

[frag2]

Hindsight blackwashes? many of Chiarelli's moves.

The NJD board was pretty bummed to lose Larsson who was currently their best defenseman and trending upward. Hall was trending poorly and was utter shiet for NJD that first year. Was shiet after his "MVP" year.

Was he? He was still close to a point per game even after the trade. Just because his teammates, like the Yotes after, weren't carrying their weight, those teams' failures can't be pinned only on Hall. Conversely, Larsson was brought into stabilize the D and he failed the team more than helped the last 2ish years.

Even the terrible Lucic trade "shouldn't" have been this bad this early. He was the #1 ranked UFA that took less money than he could have gotten.

The only other team that was willing to pay 'more' were the Habs and you're basically looking at Marc Bergevin, a garbage GM just like Chia himself

Reinhart deal sucked. Everything after 2017 omfg bad. But Chiarelli does not get the credit due for 2016-2017 and many other good moves and drafting.

Perhaps because his bad trades were that much worse than any positives his other moves brought. Being lucky that one season doesnt mean he actually did a good job.

 

[McShogun99]

Bored so...

Hall dragging the Devils team into the playoffs once in his second year is fun to point to but as clear as day the giant exception in his rather dubios career.

I meant Lucic signing and the vast majority only had concerns about Lucic not living up to his contract in the final year or 2. He is signed until 34 not 38... Lucic has had an extremely durable career. No one expected his mental state to fall apart and with it his hockey skills. His skating hasn't really even declined yet from his norm but his game is brutal.

I thought Lucic would have given us 4-5 good years before he became useless. Never thought it would be 1 good year.

 

[Zaddy]

Hall for Larsson was a distrastrous trade. If Larsson was a meh top airing D, thats ok. But hes a #4 D at the best of times. Hall went on to win the Hart, Larsson went on to do uhhhh... not much?
Eberle for Strome? Huh. What became of that trade
Talbot was actually a really good move. But its widely speculated the deal was agreed to with MacT and Chiarelli only executed it. But Ill give him full credit. Talbot was good to near elite for 2 years
Klefbom- I will give him credit. Draisaitl was overpaid from day 1 based on comparables. But deal turned out well in the end but LD went beast mode

And you cant just go "1 good move cancels out 1 bad move". The bad moves were way more disastrous than the good moves were beneficial. Like you cant cancel out the Reinhart trade (top 5 worst trade in the past 10 years league-wide) with the Eberle for Strome deal, which was pretty much a near fair swap

After his 1st year, you could see his tendencies from his Boston days showing up, this should have raised major red flags. By his second year, he had completely lost it. After that he was in free fall

That's some selective reasoning right there. Hall has had exactly one great season since leaving Edmonton, outside of that he hasn't done jack squat. Larsson has had one great season here too and was a big piece of the puzzle for that 16/17 playoff team, so in terms of impact for their teams it's been a wash more or less. Saying Larsson is a #4D at the best of times is also disingenuous seeing as he has played as a top pair D when he's been at his best.

As I've argued 100 times, value-wise the Hall-Larsson trade wasn't great, but I still think it was the right thing to do. Hall is incredibly overrated. Larsson has filled a need on the backend and been able to shelter some of the other Oilers D from tough minutes. That's valuable. Of course you would've wanted him to play at that 16/17 level for a longer period of time, but again Hall hasn't been great outside of that 1 season either so...

And anyway, the idea was that Lucic would be able to offset some of the offense lost by Hall, as well as add another dimension to the team. If his game hadn't fallen off a cliff I don't think many people would even talk about or care about Hall. In fact very few people did during that 16/17 season.

 

[Oil Dood]

That's some selective reasoning right there. Hall has had exactly one great season since leaving Edmonton, outside of that he hasn't done jack squat. Larsson has had one great season here too and was a big piece of the puzzle for that 16/17 playoff team, so in terms of impact for their teams it's been a wash more or less. Saying Larsson is a #4D at the best of times is also disingenuous seeing as he has played as a top pair D when he's been at his best.

As I've argued 100 times, value-wise the Hall-Larsson trade wasn't great, but I still think it was the right thing to do. Hall is incredibly overrated. Larsson has filled a need on the backend and been able to shelter some of the other Oilers D from tough minutes. That's valuable. Of course you would've wanted him to play at that 16/17 level for a longer period of time, but again Hall hasn't been great outside of that 1 season either so...

And anyway, the idea was that Lucic would be able to offset some of the offense lost by Hall, as well as add another dimension to the team. If his game hadn't fallen off a cliff I don't think many people would even talk about or care about Hall. In fact very few people did during that 16/17 season.

I will be in the minority here I am sure but the Hall Larson trade is not even in Chia's top five worst moves. At least Lars has provided us some valuable minutes. His worst moves IMO are:

1 - Caggulia for Manning
2 - The Reinhart trade(Barzal was there)
3 - Strome for Spooner
4 - Eberle for Strome
5 - The Lucic contract

I did not like the Hall deal at all but when Lars is playing at the top of his game Klefbom becomes a better player. That has tremendous value.

 

[BigFuzzyDice]

That's some selective reasoning right there. Hall has had exactly one great season since leaving Edmonton, outside of that he hasn't done jack squat. Larsson has had one great season here too and was a big piece of the puzzle for that 16/17 playoff team, so in terms of impact for their teams it's been a wash more or less. Saying Larsson is a #4D at the best of times is also disingenuous seeing as he has played as a top pair D when he's been at his best.

As I've argued 100 times, value-wise the Hall-Larsson trade wasn't great, but I still think it was the right thing to do. Hall is incredibly overrated. Larsson has filled a need on the backend and been able to shelter some of the other Oilers D from tough minutes. That's valuable. Of course you would've wanted him to play at that 16/17 level for a longer period of time, but again Hall hasn't been great outside of that 1 season either so...

And anyway, the idea was that Lucic would be able to offset some of the offense lost by Hall, as well as add another dimension to the team. If his game hadn't fallen off a cliff I don't think many people would even talk about or care about Hall. In fact very few people did during that 16/17 season.

This is blatantly false, Hall has been awesome since leaving edmonton. He put jersey on his back twice and carried them up to the podium, had this season not been shortened he was working the yotes into a great draft position too. Don't underestimate the value of a lotto ball specialist to any team looking to tank and rebuild through the draft.

 

[MoontoScott]

Bored so...

Hall dragging the Devils team into the playoffs once in his second year is fun to point to but as clear as day the giant exception in his rather dubios career.

I meant Lucic signing and the vast majority only had concerns about Lucic not living up to his contract in the final year or 2. He is signed until 34 not 38... Lucic has had an extremely durable career. No one expected his mental state to fall apart and with it his hockey skills. His skating hasn't really even declined yet from his norm but his game is brutal.

Tend to agree with your first paragraph.

He's a gifted offensive player but my instincts tell me that his best hockey might be behind him.

He was looking for essentially a new 7 year deal priced at about 10M per?? but given all the things that are happening now I don't think its in the cards.

It will be interesting to see how the virus and the economic sell-off will impact free agent signings this summer-not just in hockey but in pro sports around the globe. I think the world has changed in the last 3 weeks. A lot of people have a lot less money than they used to--myself included. Yup, should have sold when the market went parabolic. Ah well, as the expression goes--men make plans and the Gods laugh.

 

[94 Oil Drops]

He actually did a pretty good job until the last season when he went off the wall with some of his trades.

This roster has a lot of Chia players, so does our farm team.

He was a good drafter (with the exception of POOlurarvi or whatever that goof's name was but was a horrible trade negotiator. That's the way I view him in a nut shell. I hated him for what he did right before he left here and still do.

I will however thank Peter for drafting Jones, Bear, and Yamamoto. That was nice.

 

[McShogun99]

One of Chia’s biggest mistakes happened before he even started. He took the job while Nunerous OBC members still had influence in hockey operations. That’s what Holland did right. He cleaned house right when he started the job.

 

[guymez]

Interesting read

but I think when he states " do things my way"--I am having a flashback to the Yakopov draft and how every oiler scout and Baghdad Bob had the Oilers taking the D man the BJS took 12 hours before the draft only to have the owner decide on something else.

I am sort of hoping Katz sees Holland and his work in Detroit and lets Holland run the ship without monday morning QBing on the situation

I think that there is far too much smoke around Katz and friends meddling in hockey operations to ignore. No doubt in my mind that was an issue.

That said Holland doesnt take this job unless he has full control.

 

[Soundwave]

Every team in the top 10 would've taken Yakupov no.1 overall in 2012, people need to just get over that.

He was an unbelievable talent in junior, basically a mini-Ovechkin. It simply didn't translate to the NHL because he's stubborn and not willing to work on his weaknesses.

At minimum he should have been what Tarasenko is now, would you take Ryan freaking Murray over Tarasenko?

That said in the long run, things worked out fine for the Oilers, they ended up landing Draisaitl and winning the jackpot draft lottery of all draft lotteries, the McDavid one.

 

[MoontoScott]

I think that there is far too much smoke around Katz and friends meddling in hockey operations to ignore. No doubt in my mind that was an issue.

That said Holland doesnt take this job unless he has full control.

We don't seem to hear Kevin Lowe's name much anymore since the new boss showed up.

 

[guymez]

We don't seem to hear Kevin Lowe's name much anymore since the new boss showed up.

For sure....or Paul Coffey or any of the other boys on the bus.
Time to look forward IMO.

This is Hollands team.

 

[Soundwave]

For sure....or Paul Coffey or any of the other boys on the bus.
Time to look forward IMO.

This is Hollands team.

It's more like

When things are going good = Lowe is not involved.

When things are going bad = OmG! Lowe must be Emperor Palpatine secretly controlling all things behind the scenes.

Where was all this "Lowe/OBC are puppet masters in 16-17 when everyone was falling over themselves to give Chiarelli credit. Then when things went bad, suddenly it must've been Lowe that did it somehow.

The truth is Chiarelli's tenure is basically a case study in what happens when you essentially gut the entire forward group around McDavid + Draisaitl + RNH and give them nothing to work with.

 

[JayE]

Chiarelli was disastrously bad, but I disagree with people who are over-critical of the Eberle for Strome deal. Strome was a competent player (and has turned into far more than that with the NYR) and saved $3 million in cap. Now, trading Strome for Spooner was egregious.

 

[McDNicks17]

It's a little terrifying looking at the prospect pool Chia had to work with.

1. Laurent Brossoit
2. Anton Slepyshev
3. Jujhar Khaira
4. Bogdan Yakimov
5. Dillon Simpson
6. Mitch Moroz
7. Greg Chase
8. Marco Roy
9. Brandon Davidson
10. Joey LaLeggia

That was arguably the team's top 10 prospects when he took over. Oh lawd.

 

[MoontoScott]

It's a little terrifying looking at the prospect pool Chia had to work with.

1. Laurent Brossoit
2. Anton Slepyshev
3. Jujhar Khaira
4. Bogdan Yakimov
5. Dillon Simpson
6. Mitch Moroz
7. Greg Chase
8. Marco Roy
9. Brandon Davidson
10. Joey LaLeggia

That was arguably the team's top 10 prospects when he took over. Oh lawd.

To be sure it wasn't all Chia's fault. 15 years of bad decisions by a multitude of characters gave us the list you have here. What ever happened to Moroz?

So how is the lock down going in small town Ontario? The streets are quiet here in Cowtown.

 

[McDNicks17]

To be sure it wasn't all Chia's fault. 15 years of bad decisions by a multitude of characters gave us the list you have here. What ever happened to Moroz?

So how is the lock down going in small town Ontario? The streets are quiet here in Cowtown.

He's still gutting it out in the ECHL for some reason. 2 points in 16 games this year. Oof.

It's been weird here. There's actually more people out for walks now than before.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

It's more like

When things are going good = Lowe is not involved.

When things are going bad = OmG! Lowe must be Emperor Palpatine secretly controlling all things behind the scenes.

Where was all this "Lowe/OBC are puppet masters in 16-17 when everyone was falling over themselves to give Chiarelli credit. Then when things went bad, suddenly it must've been Lowe that did it somehow.

The truth is Chiarelli's tenure is basically a case study in what happens when you essentially gut the entire forward group around McDavid + Draisaitl + RNH and give them nothing to work with.

where were all the people crying about the Hall-Larsson trade when the Oilers were playing really well while Larsson was eating up huge ES minutes and going+21? meanwhile, Hall put a 53 points on a bad team
same thing.

oh, and the OBC couldn't wait to get rid of Hall, 6 months before Chia arrived
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