Oilers Entertainment Group vice-chairman and CEO Bob Nicholson says Peter Chiarelli will return as president and general manager of the Edmonton Oilers.
In a press conference on Thursday, Nicholson said he knows “there has been a lot of different comments being made” from Oilers fans regarding the club’s general manager. However, he continues to believe in Chiarelli’s plan moving forward.
“Over the last number of months, we’ve been meeting with our season ticket holders. There has been anger and disappointment of where we ended up and we will have a plan coming out here, in the near future, about how we’re going forward,” reveals Nicholson.
In the 2016/2017 campaign, Chiarelli led the Oilers to its first playoff berth in 11 years. Chiarelli’s key acquisitions (Patrick Maroon, Milan Lucic and Adam Larsson) played a big role in securing a playoff spot.
Nicholson says the playoffs are “definitely the goal next season,” and all personnel in hockey operations, including head coach Todd McLellan, are under a “period of evaluation.”
“This organization is evaluated on wins and losses. We’re going to do an [internal] evaluation, and make decisions that we feel are right. We are going to take the appropriate time to make these decisions right now,” says Nicholson.
Hired on April 24, 2015, Chiarelli has led the Oilers to a 114-109-23 record in three seasons. The 51 per cent win percentage ranks Edmonton 25th in the league under Chiarelli’s tenure. Furthermore, the power play (18.8%) and penalty kill (79.9%) ranks 21st and 22nd, respectively, over the last three seasons.
With the NHL Draft (June 22-23) and NHL Free Agency (July 1) coming up, all eyes will be on Peter Chiarelli and his plan this off-season.
