Chiarelli is an awful, awful GM.
He turned Tyler Seguin, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle into Loui Eriksson, Rielly Smith, Joe Morrow, Adam Larsson and Ryan Strome.
Gave Lucic a horrible contract.
Traded a 1st and 2nd for Griffin Reinhart, only to lose him 2 years later.
Gave Sekera a pretty sizeable deal.
Traded Justin Schultz for a 3rd rounder (yes, I know he had failed in EDM but still seems like poor value).
This Eberle for Strome deal is a significant downgrade in talent.
Man, Chiarelli is truly awful.
After last season - it was time for Eberle to go - couldn't consistently score with 97 as his centre, couldn't/wouldn't commit to making the tough play if it meant taking a hit.
He played so soft in the Anaheim series, he couldn't bust out of a wet paper bag. There were at least two goals that could be directly blamed on him refusing to take the hit to get the puck out of the zone. And at $6M for two more years, it was getting time to cut bait.
Strome is likely due for a bounce back season - and having some familiarity with 97 won't hurt either. Pretty sure Dylan will be giving him cues to look for when playing with McDavid, along with skating with him all summer. Both players needed a change of scenery.
Criticizing the market for Schultz - that was the going rate for him at the time - he was making $4M in his walk year - and would've had to be requalified at $4M - no way that was ever going to happen the way he had been playing
Sekera was the steadiest of the D last year in Edmonton - especially early on when Larsson and Klefbom hadn't figured each other out at that point. And don't think that Sekera's presence was not missed after he tore his ACL - he's not flashy, but he has gotten the job done consistently since signing.
Reinhart was given every opportunity to stick in his time in Edmonton, and never played to that level, otherwise he would've played in the NHL all year. Hard choices had to be made - and protecting 7-3-1 was more important than 8 skaters-1. It cost the Sens Methot .
Lucic, is 50/50, but it also served notice that Edmonton can be a destination for UFAs, especially if you want to get on board the 97 train with a team headed for contention. This Oilers team made huge strides this past season and exceeded the realistic expectations placed on it by making the Final 8.
:beer:
