Report: Chicago Blackhawks interviewing ex-Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli for front office role
By Zach Laing
2 years agoIt appears Peter Chiarelli could be on the move.
At least, if his interview with the Chicago Blackhawks goes according to plan. While Chiarelli’s been working with the St. Louis Blues as their vice-president of hockey operation.
On TSN’s Insider Trading Thursday, Darren Dreger noted the Blackhawks are still looking to hire a general manager and/or a head of hockey operations.
“A number of candidates have been identified with varying levels of experience. But here’s an interesting name for you. Sources indicate that Peter Chiarelli, who is working with Doug Armstrong and the St. Louis Blues, has been contacted by the Chicago Blackhawks and will interview for their hockey operations vacancy, among others.“This could move very quickly. The interviewing process is expected to begin this weekend and into early next week.”
Chiarelli’s last role as a general manager, of course, was with the Edmonton Oilers — a role he was fired from partway through the 2018-19 campaign. Chiarelli’s strengths with the Oilers largely came in the draft, where he selected a number of the clubs’ top prospects and players that have come through town. Some include Connor McDavid, Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones, Jesse Puljujarvi, Tyler Benson, Markus NIemelainen, Kailer Yamamoto, Stuart Skinner, Dmitri Samorukov, Evan Bouchard, and Ryan McLeod.
Where he struggled, however, was in NHL talent evaluations. He signed Milan Lucic to a seven-year, $6-million AAV deal, Andrej Sekera to a six-year, $5.5-million deal, and famously put pen to paper on Mikko Koskinen’s three-year, $4.5-million AAV deal that was signed off by Bob Nicholson.
In the trade market, he moved two high-end picks for Griffin Reinhart, Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson, downgraded Jordan Eberle to Ryan Strome to Ryan Spooner to Sam Gagner, and in his final days, made panic trades acquiring Brandon Manning and Alex Petrovic.
Since he was let go from the Oilers, Chiarelli spent the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons as a senior advisor with the St. Louis Blues, then was promoted to his current role this season.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
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