Chiarelli’s housecleaning has paved way for Oilers to become NHL contenders
To say Peter Chiarelli’s fingerprints are all over the Edmonton Oilers’ roster is obvious.
When he got his first look at the Oilers’ 23-man roster in his first year as general manager in 2015, he wasn’t in love with the opening roster with winger Jordan Eberle out with a bad shoulder.
Change is always good. But from then until now, this has been almost a housecleaning.
Fifteen of the 23 healthy players and one on injured reserve are gone.
Here are the first four lines for that Oct. 5, 2015, game:
Taylor Hall-Connor McDavidAnton ■ Slepyshev.
Benoit Pouliot-Ryan-NugentHopkins-Teddy
■ Purcell.
Lauri Korpikoski-Anton
■
Lander-Nail Yakupov.
Rob Klinkhammer/Luke
■
Gazdic-Mark Letestu-Matt Hendricks.
Gone are: Hall, Pouliot, Purcell, Korpikoski, Lander, Yakupov, Klinkhammer, Gazdic and Hendricks. Nine of the 13 forwards. Leon Draisaitl was sent to Bakersfield that fall for six games, if you’re wondering why he’s not there.
The four remaining forwards from 2015: Letestu, McDavid, NugentHopkins and Slepyshev.
Letestu had just signed a threeyear contract as a free agent.
“Considering we were a lottery team getting the first pick, you’d expect wholesale changes,” he said. “Peter was the start of that and he’s brought in his people.
“I don’t envy Peter’s position when you take over a team that needs housecleaning. He probably wanted his type of people, a certain type of character player, and I’m sure it took a while to get that done.
“The first year he probably just evaluated things … but to be one of the four forwards left, that’s awesome for me. It’s even tougher now with the salary cap to make guys fit into a team.”
Nugent-Hopkins feels the turnover is the price of doing business, but it still stings.
“I’m the longest-standing Oiler right now; pretty crazy how fast it goes,” he said. “You see guys come and go and to put a number on it (the changes), it is a little bit surprising.”
“But we’ve taken good steps here. Tough part of the business to see guys go, but we made some good additions, some experienced guys to help us out.” Here’s the rundown of who’s gone where:
Hall was traded to the New Jersey ■ Devils for defenceman Adam Larsson.
Eberle was traded to New York ■
Islanders for Ryan Strome.
Pouliot was bought out this
■ year. He subsequently signed in
Buffalo and is starting the season as one of their top nine forwards. Purcell was traded to Florida in the spring of 2016 for a thirdround draft pick, played last year with the Los Angeles Kings and their American Hockey League farm team and attended the Boston Bruins’ camp this year on a tryout. The Oilers took defenceman Matthew Cairns with the pick they acquired for Purcell. He’s playing at Cornell University.
Korpikoski was bought out
■ after the 2015-16 season, played last year in Dallas and Columbus and is now looking for work.
Lander’s contract ran out. He’s ■ scored 11 points in 14 games for AK Bars Kazan in the KHL.
Yakupov was traded to the St.
■
Louis Blues for a third-round pick a year ago and is now with the Colorado Avalanche after signing as a free agent. The Oilers took local goalie Stuart Skinner (Lethbridge, WHL) with the pick they got back from the Blues.
Klinkhammer’s contract ran
■ out. He is playing with Lander at AK Bars Kazan.
Gazdic’s contract ran out last
■ year. He signed with the Devils last year and is now with the Calgary Flames.
Hendricks’s contract ran out
■ last season. He signed with the Winnipeg Jets this summer. Here are the first eight defencemen the Oilers kept in October 2015:
Andrej Sekera-Mark Fayne
■
Oscar Klefbom-Justin Schultz ■
Eric Gryba-Andrew Ference
■
Griffin Reinhart-Brandon
■
Davidson
Here’s who’s gone from the back end:
Fayne, who is in the last year
■ of a four-year contract, played more games in Bakersfield than Edmonton last season and didn’t make this year’s team.
Schultz was traded to the
■
Pittsburgh Penguins in February 2016 for a third-round draft pick. He has won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins and is now making US$5.5 million a season as a second-pairing defenceman. The Oilers took defenceman Filip Berglund with the pick they acquired for Schultz.
Ference missed all of last
■ season, the fourth year of his contract, after hip surgery. He has retired and is working for Sportsnet.
Reinhart was picked by the
■
Vegas Golden Knights in June’s expansion draft.
Davidson was traded to the
■
Montreal Canadiens in February for David Desharnais. Davidson is on the Habs’ roster, while Desharnais signed with the New York Rangers, where he is the fourth-line centre.
Sekera is out until at least
■
December with torn knee ligaments.
So only Klefbom, Gryba and the injured Sekera remain.
They got back no one on their current roster from all those defence moves.
Goal: Cam Talbot, Anders Nilsson.
Nilsson was traded to the Blues ■ for a fifth-round pick, played in Buffalo last year and is now in Vancouver as Jacob Markstrom’s backup. The Oilers took forward Graham McPhee with that pick. He attends Boston College.
New players since October 2015: Forward: Strome, Draisaitl, Patrick Maroon, Milan Lucic, Drake Caggiula, Jussi Jokinen, Zack Kassian, Iiro Pakarinen, Kailer Yamamoto.
Defence: Larsson, Darnell Nurse, Kris Russell, Matt Benning, Yohann Auvitu.
Goal: Laurent Brossoit.
So 15 players gone and only Larsson and Strome to show for it.