Chiarelli on the hook for Oilers’ swoon

ST. LOUIS There is no letting GM Peter Chiarelli off the hook for the Edmonton Oilers woes after he basically stuck with last spring ’s playoff roster. He felt they had the right stuff, but that notion has been proven wrong.

Loyalty goes a long way in the real world, but in sports, it can be a killer.

Chiarelli figured Anton Slepyshev, Drake Caggiula and Zack Kassian would take their playoff efforts and move into top-nine roles, but Slepyshev can’t stay healthy and has one goal, Caggiula has also been hurt and has three goals, and Kassian has yet to score.

Chiarelli should have signed a veteran defenceman with Andrej Sekera out until at least December after knee surgery, but he figured Matt Benning could take on more minutes. That hasn’t worked out.

Chiarelli moved Jordan Eberle and his $6-million salary to the New York Islanders. They saved $3.5 million in the deal for Ryan Strome, but Strome has done a better job as a No. 3 centre than filling a hole as the No. 1 or No. 2 right winger.

That Griffin Reinhart trade, where they gave up the No. 16 pick in 2015, too, is certainly on Chiarelli, because they missed out on two good prospect forwards: either Evgeny Svechnikov (Detroit) or Joel Eriksson-Ek (Minnesota). They were never taking current New York Islanders rookie centre Mathew Barzal with the 2015 draft pick because they liked the bigger Swedish C Eriksson-Ek better, although they also had Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl in the middle.

It was a bad trade, no other way around it.

Chiarelli’s game plan going into this season was to wait until the trade deadline to possibly make a push for Vegas UFA right winger James Neal, along with a dozen other teams, but that was predicated on the Oilers being a Cup contender. They’re a long way from that today.

Caggiula had one of those good news, bad news games alongside Connor McDavid in Dallas.

He scored two goals, one while killing a penalty.

But he was on the ice for three Stars’ goals.

“I thought Drake played well, he was able to keep up and had some pace with Connor (McDavid). Defensively, that line (Patrick Maroon) will have to clean some things up, but they were dangerous,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan.

Caggiula didn’t argue the coach’s assessment as they prepare for the Blues on Tuesday night.

“Had some opportunities but I was on the ice for quite a few goals against,” said Caggiula.

He only had one goal on the season (power play) before Saturday.

“I didn’t change my game playing with Connor, I can’t play any other style. I’m here for a reason. The only thing that’s different with Connor is that you have to be ready to shoot more often, because you’re never sure when the puck is going to end up on your stick,” he said.

Still, he ended up minus-2 on the day.

“It was one of those games where goals were going off skates and shin pads when they shot, but at the same time, we have to take more pride as a team defensively. We can’t be giving up six goals,” said Caggiula.

McLellan moved Leon Draisaitl off McDavid’s right wing, but not to centre on the No. 2 line. Draisaitl on right wing with the second unit seemed a better idea to the head coach.

“Nuge (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) arguably has been our best player, and while Strome’s line wasn’t anywhere near as effective in Dallas, the second half of the game against St. Louis, they were our best line,” said McLellan.

“Leon’s very capable of playing all over the rink. He takes faceoffs and he plays the centre ice position, so we’re fine.”