Oilers fire maligned Peter Chiarelli; Keith Gretzky named interim GM

Peter Chiarelli has been fired as general manager of the Edmonton Oilers and replaced on an interim basis by Keith Gretzky, who was previously Chiarelli's assistant. 

Bob Nicholson, CEO and vice-chair of Oilers Entertainment Group, said at Tuesday's news conference that the decision to cut Chiarelli loose was made prior to Tuesday night's 3-2 loss — Edmonton's third in a row on home ice — to the last-place Detroit Red Wings.

Edmonton's ninth defeat in the past 11 at Rogers Place pushed the team three points out of playoff position. Sure, the Oilers are only three points behind Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the NHL's Western Conference but there are three teams ahead of them in Vancouver, Anaheim and Arizona.

"We're not going to outskill anyone. We're a team that needs to find a way to win games 2-1, 3-2," captain Connor McDavid told reporters on Monday.

Chiareilli, who departs with one season left on his five-year contract, arrived in Edmonton in August 2015 after guiding the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final in 2011. But he didn't witness a drastic improvement in play during his tenure as the Oilers missed the post-season twice in his first three seasons.

They lost in the second round in 2017 following a 47-win, 103-point regular season.

WATCH | Oilers drop 3rd straight at home, leading to Chiarelli's firing:

Questionable moves

In late November, he fired head coach Todd McLellan during a 1-6-0 slide and brought in Ken Hitchcock. Following an initial 8-2-1 surge, Edmonton has faded in recent weeks.

Chiarelli, a native of Nepean, Ont., guided the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup in 2011.

A series of moves by Chiarelli didn't complement a top-heavy roster, led by Leon Draisaitl and fellow centre McDavid.

Chiarelli's trades with Oilers

• June 26, 2015: Acquired defenceman Griffin Reinhart from the New York Islanders for Pittsburgh's first-round pick and Edmonton's second-rounder in 2015 draft. Reinhart had one point in 29 games for the Oilers in 2015-16 and was selected by Vegas in the 2017 expansion draft. The first-round pick (16th overall), turned out to be centre Mathew Barzal, who had 85 points last season. The 21-year-old has 45 points in 49 starts this season through Tuesday.
• June 27, 2015:Picked up goalie Cam Talbot from the New York Rangers for a third-, fifth- and seventh-round pick. Neither of the players drafted by the Rangers has appeared in an NHL game.
• June 29, 2016:Taylor Hall dealt to Devils for Adam Larsson: Perhaps Chiarelli's most notorious blunder. Drafted fourth overall in 2011, Larsson has yet to reach 20 points in any of his three seasons with Edmonton while Hall was the 2018 Hart Trophy recipient (NHL MVP) after scoring 39 goals and 93 points in the 2017-18 campaign.
• June 22, 2017: Jordan Eberle traded to Islanders for Ryan Strome: A cost-cutting move by Chiarelli, who watched Strome play 100 games (36 points) before moving him to the New York Rangers two months ago for fellow forward Ryan Spooner. Earlier this week, Spooner cleared waivers and has been largely ineffective in an Oilers sweater. Eberle had 59 points last season on Long Island and has 23 points in 45 contests this year.

Marginal gains on special teams

"I'm certainly not absolving myself of any responsibility on the player personnel [side]," Chiarelli said in November. "This is a collective thing and it's our job to get to the playoffs. We owe it to our fans."

Hitchcock inherited an Oilers outfit that has scored fewer goals than it has allowed (57-66) and is having its troubles on special teams as the power play ranks 15th (20.6 per cent success rate) in the 31-team NHL while the penalty kill is 27th (74.2 per cent).

WATCH | Oilers even having problems with their Zamboni:

Edmonton has either slipped or improved slightly in those areas, with a minus-18 goal differential while sitting 11th of 31 clubs on the power play (21.1 per cent) and 25th on the penalty kill (77.3 per cent) through Tuesday.

Also, pending unrestricted free-agent goalie Cam Talbot has lost his starting job to Mikko Koskinen, whom Chiarelli was allowed to re-sign to a three-year, $ 13.5 million US deal less than 36 hours before he was fired.

Koskinen, a 30-year-old with four games of NHL experience in 2010-11 prior to this season, will have an average salary cap hit of $ 4.5 million, or nearly double his current one year hit of $ 2.5 million.

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