Former Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli was part of the group of NHL general managers entrusted with assembling the 2014 gold-medal winning Canadian Olympic team in Sochi.Charles Krupa/The Associated Press
As the long-time head of Hockey Canada, Bob Nicholson learned something about navigating tricky political waters. One of the most important things to learn was changing the narrative and how sometimes, perception became reality. So now that Nicholson is the boss of all bosses at the Edmonton Oilers – promoted to CEO of the Oilers' entertainment group this past week – part of his job is changing the narrative with regard to the Oilers as an old-boy network.
For most of the sputtering times they've had in the past nine seasons, the Oilers have relied on their alumni to run the show – Kevin Lowe, Craig MacTavish in the most prominent positions, but Steve Smith, Kelly Buchberger – all these guys – came through the organization, bled Oiler blue and orange and were entrusted by a former big-time fan, now owner, Darryl Katz, with running the team.
It hasn't worked. The Oilers are spinning their wheels and so when the news broke Thursday night that they were poised to add former Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli in a senior hockey position with the team, perhaps as early as Friday, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise. Nicholson's connection to Chiarelli is through their mutual international hockey experience – Chiarelli was part of the group of NHL general managers entrusted with assembling the 2014 Canadian Olympic team in Sochi.
Chiarelli was there in Russia, with all of his colleagues, and with Nicholson, part of the team overseeing the operation. So they know each other and Nicholson knows that Chiarelli is a smart, capable guy – a Harvard grad – who took over a Boston Bruins team in disarray and in a short time re-established their credibility as an organization.
They won a Stanley Cup, made it to the final another time and as recently as two years ago won the Presidents' Trophy. And best of all, Chiarelli has no tangible history or connection to the Oilers. When the hire becomes official, the perception will be good and the narrative will change.
Here is Edmonton, suddenly being progressive, going outside the usual pool for managerial talent. Chiarelli can come in and offer new ideas and help push the operation back on track.
In short, it isn't just a smart hire, it's also a politically sound hire. Edmonton needs to distance itself from its recent failures and other than winning, there's no better way to do that than to recruit established managerial talent from other organizations that can help it get back on a winning course.