Report: The Oilers hire Keith Gretzky as Assistant GM (Updated)
By baggedmilk
7 years agoLadies and gentlemen, it looks like the Oilers are bringing in a Gretzky! No, I’m not talkin’ about Wayne – I’m talkin’ Keith! According to TSN rumour overlord Bob McKenzie, the Oilers are close to bringing in Wayne’s younger brother Keith as the Assistant General Manager.
Keith Gretzky started his scouting career with the Arizona “don’t call me Phoenix” Coyotes back when Wayne owned a chunk of the team back in the early 2000s. Keith Gretzky started as an amateur scout with the Coyotes in 2001 and was promoted to Director of Amateur Scouting in 2006. From there, Gretzky continued his career with the Boston Bruins as an amateur scout and was then promoted to Director of Amateur Scouting later that same year. If you look at their website, Gretzky is still in that role with the Bruins, but it looks like that will be coming to an end shortly.
Gretzky worked with Chiarelli in Boston and it makes sense that Peter would bring in people he trusts to fill out his management team. As for the job itself, Gretzky has had varied success at the draft table and it will be interesting to see how he approaches the draft, and scouting, with the Oilers. I personally don’t know too much about Keith Gretzky’s history in scouting, but Peter Chiarelli obviously liked him enough to offer him a position as his right hand man. Bruins beat writer Joe Haggarty summed up Gretzky’s time with the Bruins:
The 49-year-old younger brother Wayne Gretzky took over as Director of Amateur Scouting in 2013 for the Bruins, replacing Wayne Smith, and has overseen three largely successful drafts that have filled the Boston prospect cupboard.Gretzky’s best pick to date was David Pastrnak with the 25th overall pick in 2014, but he’s also hit on a number of players in the first two rounds of each of the past two drafts with first-round picks Zach Senyshyn and Trent Frederic standing out as risk picks taken higher than most others had them ranked.
The big question will be what happens to guys like MacT and Scott Howson now that Gretzky will be occupying a seat at the big table. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if one or either of those guys get turfed in the coming days/weeks/month. Regardless of what the future holds, it’s clear that Chiarelli is continuing to shape the team as he sees fit and that usually means bringing in familiar faces.
***UPDATES***
The Oilers also announced Kelly Buchberger will now serve as the club’s Vice President of Player Development, Duane Sutter has been promoted to Vice President of Player Personnel and Frank Jay and P.J. Fenton have been brought on as Amateur Scouts.In addition, the Oilers have hired Andre Brin as Manager of Hockey Communications and Research, Shawn May has been promoted to Manager of Hockey Communications and Media Relations and Justin Mahe has been promoted to Manager of Hockey Analysis.Former Senior Vice President of Player Personnel Scott Howson has moved on to explore new opportunities and the club did not renew Analytics Consultant Tyler Dellow’s contract.
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