Edmonton Oilers CEO Bob Nicholson, left, and new president and general manager Peter Chiarelli hold up an Oilers jersey with Chiarelli's name on it during a press conference in Edmonton on Friday.The Canadian Press
Darryl Katz, the Edmonton Oilers' owner, is rarely seen and almost never heard. He wasn't sitting there, front and centre Friday, staring down the barrel of the television cameras, when the new man in charge of hockey operations, Peter Chiarelli, was introduced. But make no mistake about it. The massive house cleaning undertaken by the Oilers on Friday had Katz's stamp all over it.
Deep in the recesses of a news release announcing that the triumvirate running the Oilers show for most of a decade – Kevin Lowe, Craig MacTavish and team president Patrick LaForge – were either losing jobs or having their responsibilities clearly redefined.
Katz, who grew up a fan of the Oilers' championship teams that featured Lowe and MacTavish as players, praised their "heart, integrity, dedication and capability." But the operative post-script was this: "It was simply time for a change."
Now, some may argue that the time was long overdue for a change, but there is also truth in the old saying, better late than never.
Six days after the Oilers unexpectedly won the 2015 NHL draft lottery, suddenly everything had changed.
Connor McDavid was riding in on a white steed to save the on-ice product and now here was Chiarelli, fresh from a mostly successful run as the Boston Bruins' general manager, being handed two titles – general manager and director of hockey operations – leaving no doubt who was in charge.
Lowe is transitioning out of hockey operations, but will remain vice chair of the Oilers Entertainment Group. MacTavish remains in the organization for now, according to Bob Nicholson, the team's chief executive officer, but his role has yet to be defined and likely will be diminished, if he decides to stay on at all. LaForge, the brains behind the first-ever outdoor hockey game, stepped down as president and chief operating officer after 15 years.
Now the central voice in the Oilers' hockey operations department, Chiarelli said his plan was to take it slow in the beginning, until he learns what he's got at his disposal.
"The way I manage, there's nothing really flashy," Chiarelli said. "In the past, I've made some trades and I'm not afraid to do that. It's about getting to know the people, the players and really instilling an attitude and philosophy about winning – and the sacrifices it takes to win, on and off the ice – and the mentality we all have to embrace.
"There's nothing magical about it. There's nothing magical about me. It's about hard work. It's about connecting and communicating – and that's what I have to do. It's how you take the next step and it has to be a measured approach and that's kind of how I operate."
Nicholson, the former head of Hockey Canada, said he didn't know Chiarelli all that well until Steve Yzerman, general manager of the 2010 Olympic team, wanted to bring in one fresh voice – Chiarelli – as part of the management team for Canada's attempt to defend gold in 2014.
In Chiarelli, they get a manager with an established record of winning in the NHL's salary-cap era. Chiarelli became the Bruins' general manager in May of 2006. By his third season in Boston, the Bruins won the Eastern Conference regular-season championship and had the second-best record in the NHL. The Bruins won the 2011 Stanley Cup championship, made the final in 2013 and won the President's Trophy in 2014, in part because they were able to sign Jarome Iginla as a free agent.
But the structure of Iginla's contract – and the fact that the bonuses he earned two years ago were charged against this year's cap – put the Bruins in a salary-cap hole this past year, and forced them to deal away a core defenceman, Johnny Boychuk. Chiarelli also received some criticism for trading away a future superstar in Tyler Seguin to the Dallas Stars, in part because he didn't fit into the Bruins' button-down culture.
Of course, if Chiarelli was prepared to move Seguin in his previous incarnation, is he prepared to move Taylor Hall now that he's with the Oilers?
"I've actually made a few trades involving good young forwards, so that's not something I'll shy away from," said Chiarelli, who swapped Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs when Kessel was 21. "That [Seguin] deal was a trade that had underlying reasons I won't get into. He's a terrific player; he was our leading scorer; that's what I'll say about that one.
"In this business, you can't be afraid to make trades. The way the parity is developing, the way the cap is closing in, the margins are really small, so those are ways to improve your team – but it has to be at the right moment. There are some very good young players on this team; it doesn't mean I'm going to trade any of them, but those are deals you can't be afraid to make."
Chiarelli's comment conjured up memories of what happened to David Poile when he left the Calgary Flames in 1982 to take over the Washington Capitals, an awful team. Shortly after arriving, Poile pulled off a major deal, trading away two of owner Abe Pollin's favourite players, Ryan Walter and Rick Green, to the Montreal Canadiens for four players – Rod Langway, Brian Engblom, Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin. The trade turned the Caps around almost immediately. It provided an upgrade in talent and also helped change the perennial losing environment that had previously engulfed the organization.
The hope is Chiarelli can do something similar. There is a tendency for every team and manager to fall in love with his own players – and sometimes value them more than others do around the NHL. The Oilers need reinforcements in goal and on defence and may be forced to trade away one of their high-end forwards on the grounds that you have to give to get in the NHL – and Edmonton has two more high-end centres, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, coming down the pipe down.
It will be far easier for Chiarelli to make, or approve, a big deal than it might have been for Lowe because he doesn't have any particular loyalty to the incumbent group of players or coaches.
"There are a lot of areas that have been well-chronicled that we're going to have to look at – the goaltending, the back-end, the style of play – but there's a lot of good, exciting things here too, a lot of young legs, and complementary players that can help build a foundation," Chiarelli said.
"They play fast. I'd like to see them play a little harder; and that'll be a challenge."
Getting them to play harder, and smarter, will be the challenge for the next coach. Chiarelli's primary task will be to hire the right man to do that and then shape the roster so it is genuinely capable of playing harder. To do that, he will need to be bold, but not precipitous, patient but not paralyzed. His track record would suggest, however, that he is the right man for the job.